Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-11
silornina slrmo srrialo.
AMONG THE PHIuSTINES. "
By MRS. NORA LIPMAN HUssEY
CHAPTER VIII.

1uAI 4 Els III.
The August days fled rapidly. Septem-
Der came. a royal month, and all our
Southern landscape languished in the
blaze Of her passionate warmth.
The visitors at the Castle began to speak
Of leave-taking. Reluctant and vague
was the talk, for so cOngeniaI a party of
friends and such hOme-like hospitality are
not easily given up.
In the meantime-while BERTHE was
paying court in his merry, desultOry way
% Ruth. and the Walton girls were fiirt-
ing in turn with goOd-natured Charley
Dudley was learning more and more to
admire the little Polish maiden, who was
s0 child-Ike in her enjoyment, and so I'M
child-like in her strength of heart and
mind.
Every day the question of her educa-
ti0n took greater hold upon me. To send
her of among strangers seemed cruel for
since McRhea's talk with her she had be-
come such "a sensitive, shrinking little
thing. And to burden Lois with her
training seemed also a kind of cruelty, for
] knew that 10 Lois the child represented
some dark mystery in McRhea's life.
had been led to this knowledge by a
few pleading words some days after Lis
ba's arrival.
The chIld's eyes are wonderfully like
McBhea's." I had said to her
And unspeakabls horror crept into her
eyes.
You are very acute man. Dominic.
see YOU have fathOmed my thoughts. But
ii YOU love me YOU will not say that to
anyone else Promise me You Will nOt.''
This was after my talk with Lesley. [
thought it best to say nothing of that ;'and
/ gave her the promise.
The horror in the eyes, the resolute
closing Of the tull lips, and, above all, the
Quickness with which she turned to other
topics told me volumes. | knew at once
that Lois believed the child to be the
cause of McBhea's silence that summer
when love had grown great in the heart of
both Of them.
Therefore il seemed to me the perfection
0t cruelty to ask that Lois should mould
tine heart and brain Of the child.
Liska was thoroughly Bohemian
dreamy, speculative, rebelling at set
rules and reveling in the flights of an I'M
naturally developed Imagination, painful
Us nervous in her organization, and, as
have said before, since that talk with Nc
Rhee about her mother, very shy and SEN
sitive
Il positively do not know what to do
with the child" Robert said to me one af-
teuoOn, when we were walking into Rys-
10th. 'She becomes more and more un-
like the comfortable, ordinary people
around her. Except for her extraVa CANT
funduess for Lois and you and Miss Char
Iotte. she seems actually to have a horror
of every soul in the house. To take her
with us 90 the city seems To me to be an
uuWise course. 1 have an Old-fashIOned
notion that children Of her age ought to
le kept pretty close at their text books
+Ta some extent YOU are right I inter-
rIptad. You must not take the child
with YOU. suppose YOU give her TO Char
l0ue and me for "a while? The Farm is suf-
hciently secluded, isn't itY'
You don't mean it, MAXWELL"
But / do mean it. I've become
strangely attached to the child. I've a
fancy that Ia like to train her really Won
dertul mind. You see, Iye always had a
weakness for experimenting"
1T Is certainly good of YOU to put the
case that way. But don't see how it can
DE managed. You have a heavy law
practice on your hands. And | am NOR
ally sure yOu'u be offered the vacant
Judgeship.'
"IVe already made up my mind on that
point l answered. firmly. ''Fve been a
t0lerably successful man in my life. By
one venture after anOther-nOt so much
by law. for that's slOw-but by other
means ! have accumulated very respec-
table competency. Now if l choose to sit
down and enjoy the results of my labOrs il
is uobody's business, guess. While 1 was
IN New York working myself sick over
that miserable bankrupt business, l swore
Thar ia come back to Georgia and settle
down to life comfortably, with my Jerseys
ana my carp for companions"
WELL he said, cutting the grass with
his cane. "this relieves my mind of a con-
f9unjedly heavy burden. For my part,
yCu are welcome to the child. As for
expenses, etc, YOU must talk with Nc
Rhea.'
THAT settles matters then. But per
haps ! ought to tell YOU that | overheard
conversation between McRhea and the
child, from which l discovered that she is
the daughter OF MOntani"
The deuce YOU didr' facing me sud
denly. See here, Maxwell, it strikes me
YOU have missed your calling. You'd
have made a second LecOq.''
What | know about the child has been
revealed to me by purest accident" | an
swered, laughing slightly. l could make
pretty even chain of circumstantial evil
dence of IT.. | know. But | don't care to
exert my mind to that end. don't care
To come 10 any conclusion at all. But,
frankly, if somebody doesn't make it his
duty TO remove the shadow from that
child's life, | shall feel called upon to see
her righted. Do you understands"
Yes; I guess 1 do. But look out that
You do not co ne in contact with McRhea.
He's the very devil sometimes, Max. Her
l
can't think Oin would tell me a deliber-
ate lie. and he SAYS he feels sure she has
right TO the name she bears-Careyna.'
Il am compelled to think your cousin a
scrupulOuslV honorable man who has been
much sinned against. He seems to be
h0pelessiy in this singers power"
Robert laughed long and loudly, but
made no other answer.
We had reached our destinatiOn-the
village post Ofice-and, being annoyed by
his sarcastic mirth. | walked off down the
one long street of the village towards the
hills beyond the town.
When I returned to the Castle the twi-
light was making dim picture Of the
family, sitting, as usual, on the north YER
anda.
The sound of their cOmmingled talk and
low laughter, coming to me sOf.eued by
the distance, awakened old memories in
my heart.
Yes. ! thought, l would return to the
Farm. and give myself up to the rather
doubtful pleasures of old bachelOrhCOd.
There had been time in my life when
had reared my different air castles-a
happy home, a loving wife. and. if it
please God, merry-yOiced children to make
music in the halls of the old homestead.
But all these dreams had found an end IN
a grave under the mountain oaks of the
Rvsfoth battle-ground, and | had gone
forth from the tomb of my afiianced wife
a prematureIy aged man, in whose heart
the l0ve-s0ng was hencefOrth to be but a
faint. sad echo.
The wanderer has returned Lois ex-
claimed, as l walkedup the steps. "Run
Liska. tell Thomas to serve tea at once
It is against our rules to break into the
regular order of things, you know" she
continued. addressing the others, ''eXcept
for this autOcrat of ours. Mss Charlotte
long ago inaugurated a system of spoil
strictly"
(Which is certainly very cOmmenda
ble.r my sister retOrted, laughing. ''Es
pecially, when l affirm in self-defense
that il is a system invented by yourself
Robert viii bear me witness that wheT
.Fntared according ~ act Of CONGRESS- m tn,