Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-20
THE SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, JULY 90 1854.
aAnd what have you got him to prom

isef'
ssNever to insist on disclosure against
my viii: never to claim me openly as his
wife till / think it is time; never to let
any one know what has passed between
us if / choose TO keep it still a secret-to
keep il for years-tO keep it forever.
Never to do anything in the matter him
self, but to leave it to me. For this he
has given me his solemn word of honor.
And know what that meansl'
Mrs. POrticO, on the sofa, fairly bounced.
''YOu do know what you are about. And
Mr.. Benyon strikes me as more fantastic
even than yourself. never heard oil
man taking such vow. What good can
il do him!'
ssWhat good? The good it did him was
that it gratified me. At the time he took
it he would have made any promise under
the sun. 1t was a condition | exacted
Just at the very last, before the marriage
took place. There was nothing at the
moment he would have refused me-there
was nothing / couldn't have made him do.
He in love to that degree-but don't
want to boast,n said Georgina, with quiet
grandeur. "He wanted-he wanted" she
added, but then she paused.
'He doesn't seem to have wanted much~
Mrs. Portico cried, in tone which made
Georgina turn 10 the window, as if it might
have reached the street. Her hostess no
tieed the movement and went on: "0h,
my dear, if ever do tell your story, 1
will tell it so that people viii hear it!'
''You never viii tell it. What mean
is, that Raymond wanted the sanction
of the affair at the church-beeause he
saw that / would never do without it.
Therefore, for him, the sooner we had it
the better, and, to hurry il on, he was
ready to take any pledge"
''You have got it pat enough" said
Mrs. Portico, in homely phrase. II don't
know what you mean by sanctions, or
what you wanted of 'emr'
Georgina got up, holding rather higher
than before that beautiful head which, in
spite of the embarrassments Of this in
terview, had not yet perceptibly abated of
its elevation. "Would you have liked me
TOTO not marry?'
Mrs. Portico rose also, and, flushed with
the agitation of unwonted knowledge-it
was as if she had discovered a skeleton in
friend for moment. Then her conflict
ing sentiments resolved themselves into
an abrupt question, uttered-for Mrs.
POrtico-with much solemnity: "GeOr-
gina Gressie, were you really in love with
him?'
The question suddenly dissipated the
girls strange, studied, wilful GOODNESS;
she broke out, with quick flash of pas
sion-a passion that, for the moment, was
predominantly anger. "Why else, in
heavens name, should have done what
l have done? Why else should l have
married him? What under the sun had l
to gain?''
A certain culver in Georgina's voice. a
light in her eye which seemed to Mrs.
POrtico more spontaneous, more human,
as she uttered these words, caused them
Tsr-r F,fr.
than anything she had yet said. She took
the girls hand and emitted indefinite, adj
monitory sounds. "Help me, my dear old
friend, help me-" GeOrgina continued, in
a low, pleading tone; and in a moment
Mrs. POrtico saw that the tears were in
her eyes.
'SYou're a queer mixture, my child" she
exclaimed. 'Go straight home to your
own mother and tell her everything; that
is your best help.7
"You are kinder than my mother. You
mustn't judge her by yourself"
t'What can she do to you? How can
she hurt you? We are not Lying IN pa
gan times" said Mrs. Portico, who was
seldom so historical. Besides, you
have no reason to speak of your mother
to think of her, eyen-sol She would
have liked you to marry man of some
property; but she has always been good
mother to you"
At this rebuke Georgina suddenly
kindled again; she was, indeed, as Mrs.
Portico had said, a queer mixture. Con-
scious, evidently, that she could not sat
isfactorily justify her present stiffness,
she wheeled round upon a grievance
which absolved her from self-defense.
'EWhy, then, did he make that promise, if
he loved me? No man who really loved
me would have made it-and no man that
was man, as understand being man!
He might have seen that l only did it to
test him-to see if he wanted to take adj
vantage of being left free himself. 1t is a
proof that he doesn't love me-not as he
ought to have done; and in such case as
that a woman isn't bound to make sacri-
ficesv'
Mrs. Portico was not a person of
nimble intellect; her mind moved vigor-
ousIy, but heavily; yet she sometimes
made happy guesses. She saw that
Georgina's emotions were partly real and
partly fictitious; that, as regards this last
matter, especially, she was trying to ''get
up'' a resentment, in order to excuse her.
self. The pretext was absurd, and the
good lady was struck with its being heart
less on the part of her young visitor to re-
proach poor Benyon with a concession on
which she had insisted, and which could
only be a proof of his devotion, mas
much as he left her free while he bound
himself. Altogether, Mrs. POrtlcO was
shocked and dismayed at such a want of
simplicity in the behavior of young per-
son whom she had hitherto believed to be
as candid as she was stylish, and her APP
probation of this discovery expressed it.
self in the uncompremising remark:
''YOu strike me as a very bad girl, my
dear; you strike me as very bad grip
ITO BE CONTINUED NEXT SUNDAY.
HORsFORD'S ACID PHOSPHATE.
Very Satisfactory in Prostitution.