Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-05-27
BETWEEN TWO STOOLS.
III
Temple Bari

FROM MISS NORA WICHERLEY, PEMBRIDGE
SQUARE, W., TO MISS AGNES CREwE, NEwN-
HAM COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE:
PEMBRIDGE SQUARE, Jan. 30th.
My DEAR AGNES: This letter reaches
you from a very sad and unhappy person,
from person who would hesitate before
she swore that square was not round, and
that black was not white. Thank you for
your reply to my letter, and for the infor-
nation respecting Mr.. Talbot. My sorrow
for the distressing incident | conffde to you
seems to strike you as excessive. The fact
is, even you, dear Agnes, do not under
stand-not, however, through any want of
perception on your part-it is | who have
never done justice to Mr.. Broke in my let
ters to you.
And now prepare yourself for a shock
Prepare to be surprised, disgusted, disap-
pointed. Perhaps after the confession
am about to make l shall forever have lost
my place in your esteem; nevertheless,
am icresistibly compelled to make it. Last
night went to dinner at the Cunliffes' in
Cavendish square. The Cunliffes' are not
quite in our own SET being, to tell the
truth, in a rather better one, but we occa-
sionally dance and dine at one another's
houses On the strength of an old friendship
l was very glad to go out. [ had been
miserable, so strangely miserable all the
week, not even daring to confide my woes
to those about me. Mamma and my
sister would have been very shocked to
hear of the ''good chance" l had thrown
away.
To return to the events of last night, for
that it was an eventful evening think you
will own.
''You are late, DEAR" said Mrs. Cunliffe,
rustling forward as l came in, in my will
low-green dinner dress, which | know goes
well with my hair and complexion, al
though my people do think it hideous.
was beginning some explanation about
mamma and the carriage when suddenly l
felt my face flush violently, and my words
began to tumble over one another's heels.
Fortunately for me, Sybil Jupiter came in
at the moment and my hostess went on to
her, without | think, noticing my confu-
Sion. DO you know what | saw?
saw two men talking together by the
mantlepiece, Of whom one was Stephen
Broke and the other Reginald Talbot!
For the next few minutes life was
dream. In a dream shook hands with
Mr.. Talbot and returned Mr.. Broke's icy
bow. (What right-what right has he to
be so cruel so intolerent, so unjust?) I
found myself contemplating the two sharply
contrastedS figures as thoughsthey had been
those of a picture or a drama. Uet me
say, in justice to my own breeding, that
L had taken a chair at respectful dis
tance from the mantlepiece, and was ex-
changing dream syllables with..Sybil Jupi-
ter.)
Reginald Talbot-tall, graceful, unutter-
ably refined, with that half-dreamy, half
critical air which you know SO WELDON
fronted me as an image from my past, nay,
from the depths Of my own being He was
so familiar and yet so strange. Stephen
Broke, with his air of bien etre his wide
awake face Ga little pale and stern to-night),
his whole person breathing as unmistaka-
bly, Of London and a full, active life, as
did the other of academic cloisters and re-
fined seclusion-Stephen Broke, l suppose,
cut very sorry figure! Oh, Agnes, Agnes,
how shall tell you? Very soon the shape
Of the dream shifted little, and L found
myself walking in to dinner on Mr.. Talbot's
arm, mechanically exchanging polite COM
monplaces with him. We took our seats
at the long, fiower-covered table opposite
SyDll and Mr.. Broke, who were almost in
visible behind the leaves of a great green
plant. tried to wake up from the dream,
L told myself that this was the moment for
which l had been longing with all my be-
ing; that here beside me was the man whose
image had never left my heart through
many weary months of absence; on whose
lIghtest word, on whose smile or frown my
whole existence hung; for whose sake I
had thrust away something unutterbly
great and precious! Oh, Agnes, how can
| go on?
L listened to his words and I found them
courteous and intelligent; looked at his
face, and saw that it was refined and hand
some; but the spell was broken, he was no
longer presence, but person. l can tell
you exactly the shape of his head, the. color
OF his eyes, and | may remark that his nose
is not so good as l had believed. I was
sitting next to Reginald Talbot, talking to
him with the greatest ease in the world.
meeting his frank glances no less frank.
and all the time was hardly conscious Of
it! was vividly conscious, indeed, of moth
ing save the presence of Stephen Broke on
the other side of the table; of the words
that he was saying, of the rapid glances he
shot at me from time to time through the
big plant.
An awful sense Of humiliation, of terror.
rushed across me. What had l done !?
And then it flashed through my mind that