Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1884-08-08

tightly round his neck, laid her
pretty head with its crown OF
bronze ripples con6dingly on his
robust black cloth shoulder.
My father no doubt experienced
a slight shock; he was unaccustom-
ed to such audacious treatment
from the young. But he liked it,
he certainly liked it; and planting
firm parental salute on the breezy
coils he left us to pour out our
mutual woe at leisure.
That night l found it impossible
to sleep. The atmosphere was so
close and oppressive there seemed
Nbe no air to breathe, and a dull
&eling of underlined apprehension
saunted me persistently through
lOng hours of wakefulness and
miserable brief dozes, refusing to
be charmed away by the voice of
reason. Haggard, unrefreshed,
and still conscious Of the same
vague foreboding clawing..at m y
heart, 1 left that bed of suffering at
an unwonted hour in the morning
and descended to the library, now
a desert of bare boards, dotted
about with precipitous islands un-
der dusty cloths. Here a pipe,
that unfailing comforter of detected
manhood, restored some balance to
my disordered mind, but l still
felt very depressed, and was pre-
pairing to go forth and seek an
early swim, when the door opened,
and to my amazement Elga glided
into the room, pale and dropping,
with dark lines under her brown
eyes. After mutual exclamations
and greetings demanded the rea-
son of her wan and detected ap-
pearce. She did not answer at
first, but turned her face away and
tormented the braid on her travel
| ing dress in silence. well, ifyOu
will know, dear friends she said
at last with a charming gesture OF
resignation, Il think your old
foreign office has bewitched me.
No, it is not that unhappy T., who
has the evil eye, for l have a feel
ing as if some danger was hanging
over you, and l could not sleep all
night for it. Oh, Harry continued
the impetuous damsel, suddenly
throwing aside the dignity with
which she was wont to treat me,
now that the worst was out, 'cOme
away with us to-day. Never mind
a thousand governments and clerk
ships! 1 will not go without you.
Something dreadful will happen (;
you feel it too. You look fit for the
hangman Yourself 1t took me a
long while to restore Olga to calm
ness. l laughed at her prognostica-
tions and was careful to betray no
similar feelings on my own part.
She was more or less convinced at
last of the utter ruin it would be to
my future prospects TO desert my
post, and we were reasonably re-
signed if not cheered by breakfast
time.
Well, l saw them all off from
Euston station, and trailed away, a
hapless victim, to my dreary task
in the exulted gloom of Whitehall.
That day seemed interminable, yet
there was nothing to look forward
to at the end of it, and still with
the previous nights weight on my
spirits, started on my way back
to the howling wilderness in Ian
caster Gate.
Near Hyde Park corner, where
very few carriages remained to
make hay Of the dust, was star
tied from melancholy reflection by a
great bang on the back. Turning
sharply round, l confronted that
athletic giant, Jack Oliver, who
had been at the same college as
myself, and whom 1 had not met
since we took our respective de-
grees at Oxford three years before.
AT Oriel l had been wont to write
Jack down as an ass, because his
invariably boisterous spirits and
perpetual athletics we're at times
perfect nuisance, but in my pres
ent forlorn condition his jolly face
and infections laugh were a real
Godsend.
We dined at the club together,
and afterward went to the theatre,
then smoked a pipe or two in CON-
pany at divers lodgings, so that
it was toward 1 o'clock when L left
him to return 10 Lancaster Gate.
Walking along under the park
ratings, the trees made occasional
ghostly rustlings overhead; the air
was very still and heavy, in expec-
tation of a travelling thunder storm.
The tall shut-up houses facing the
park looked as forbidding as so
many mausoleums in the moon
light, and only the footsteps Of a
stray wayfarer here and there, or
the welcome rattle of an occasional
4 l.~alrA fI.n OBJ afrn Cfrll-