The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-09-19

Thar study q new face. Miss Jane was
very unhappy; she feared she had made
some terrible mistake without having
the faintest idea what it was; SO that
between her anxiety and Heryey's 81
lence, the dinner was but q dull affair,
in spite Of Efie's lively chatter and flow
of eager. childish questions.
At length it was over. Hervey held
the door open for his sister and her vis-
ltor to pass, promised to join them very
soon, and then made . dash up to his
room, crammed some miscellaneous ar
ticles into q portmanteau, rang his bell
violently, and by the time It was an
swered, forgot what he rang for. kicked
the portmanteau out of sight, and.
returning TO hedining. room, rested his
elbows on the table, his head upon his
hands, and INDUCED in along reflection.
His forty years sat more heavily on him
that night than he ever remembered to
have felt them before; his brow seemed
marked with deeper lines, his very hair
appeared to him to have grown grayer,
and a look Of suffering had come into
his eyes since they rested, three hours
before, on Effe Treherne's face in the
freight. The misanthrope had re-
ceived q shock for which Miss James
philosophy could in no way account;
there was something at the bottom Of it
she felt confident-and so, indeed, there
wasl
The of Hervey Davanent's
somewhat unromantic life, the Sc
cret of his gloomy mi%santhropic-
al notions. had at last come to
to the surface dragged from its hiding
place by the face and voice of Efie
Treherne. With painful %distinctness
they recalled to Hervey's remem-
brance the garden of q pretty villa
on the South Coast on a sultry July
evening twenty years before. A young
girl, with Efie's hazel eyes, pale golden
hair, and winning voice, sat on q low
garden chair, ~listlessly pulling o great
crimson rose to pieces, and strewing its
velvety petals over her white dress and
OF the grass at her feet. Her face was
very pale, her eyes had o strange I'M
rest in them, though her voice was calm
enough, as she told the dark-eyed, eager
faced boy, who leaned Familiarity wei
the back of her chair, that she expected
q friend the next day-the gen.
tleman to whom she was enga.
ged. This IA in reply to some impas-
stoned remark of the boys as he secret
~ carressed one of the soft, golden curls
that hung over her shoulders. He re-
membered, boy though he was, how
the evening sky suddenly became over
cast, how the flowers seemed to lose
their perfume, and how the blue sea in
the distance grew troubled and sighed
in sympathy with the desolation that
had fallen upon him. In the few Sec
onds that silently elapsed after those
simple words Of Alice Leigh's he seemed
to die and be buried, to experience q
succession of infinite changes, to rise
again q man, like in outer resemblance
only to the eager-faced boy of the past.
He had known Alice Leigh five weeks
long, glorious, golden, utterly I'M
clouded weeks. The first shadow that
ever fell upon them was their annihila-
tion. Alice was engagedto be married
and Hervey Davenant was dead and
buried-passed away out Of sight and
mind as though he had never been.
With a smiling face and unclouded
brow Hervey said farewell to Alice aud
her father-to the bright dreams and
golden yisionsof the precious five weeks,
to hope and faith and trust and happi-
ness. With a gay adieu he left the vii
10, smiling bitterly to himself, as he
proceeded down the path, at the sweet
ness, the power, and the cruelty of a
woman. A few short weeks before he
was q human being instinct with life and
hope; now he was a ghost doomed for a
certain time to walk the earth hopeless
and joyless because Alice Leigh was
engaged to be married.
aMust you leave us Ehie? %,
Efie Treherne bowed her head over
her embroidery, blushed wildly, won
dered where on earth ssaunt Jane" was
plainly she was very much at home
amongst them-and finally glanced up
in mute appeal not to be questioned any
further.
But Heryey Davenant was sitting
by her side IN the sofa, effectually cut
ting Other retreat, very grave, very
resolute, though not quite SO grim look
ing as on that evening a month before,
when she glanced up SO curiously from
the rug.
"Tell me, dear-must you leave us ?"
he repeated, sternly. He meant
to have an answer.
sNo I mustn't !; but I should" was the
rather vague reply, after much hesita-
ton and sundry glances in the direction
Of the door.
why should you? Are we not very
happy, Efie?"
"Yes; but, but"
"But what. dear? ?"
II wish you wouldn't ask me so many
questions, Mr.. Davenant," the girl
said, desperately.
Il have just me more to ask, dear
only one," Hervey whispered, drawing
close to her. Listen Efie."
"Oh, no, no-please!'-and Efie's
little hands were clasped over her eyes
in protest.
But Hervey drew them both away
with one of his and looked earnestly
and tenderly into her face. It was a
tell-tale ~countenance; but Hervey had
watched it once before and misinter-
preted what it said; he meant to have a
plain answer this time.
Look at me, Effie-look up into my
face and listen. I love you, my darling
Il love you. Can you ever learn to
care anything about me?" he asked,
very slowly and earnestly.
"Oh, Mr.. Davcnant, let me go!
Please, please
Answer me first, dear. Imust-I
willhave . reply have a right to it!
Can you ever learn to love me, dear?"
mo, Hervey,"-the reply came from
the depths of the couch wherein she
had taken fuge-''because-because-
iknow already"
aMy darling"-and Hervey kissed the
golden head very tenderly-"my own
little darling!"
Presently Miss Jane entered the room