The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1884-04-12

the page at some shorter poems. Inc |
leaves fell apart naturally at her favor
lite lode to JOY" and she read the lat /
verses slowly, pondering over the end |
one of all, and thinking:
THAT IL true poetry, and what n
splendid man he would be who answered
to the description"
With this She rested her chin on her
hand, and looked STEADILY out of the
window. She saw two persons coming
up the street in earnest conversation
Mabelle's eye wavered her cheek paled,
but she was not near-sighted. and she was
in her sane mind-in possession OF all her
faculties. She knew it was no delusion
There was Angela. slowly advancing,
and that man who carried her roll of
music and looked earnestly into her face
was Mr.. Fordyce. Cel tainly there was
no possibility of a mistake in the mat
ter. They advanced slowly, paused
at the gate to exchange some parting
words, when there was a shake of the
hand, look from the gentleman, ac-
companied by bow in which there was
more of good intentions than of elegant
performance; an appealing glance from
the lady.
Mr.. Fordyce walked briskly away
down the street, and Angela rang the
front-door bell.
"Why, child, you are almost in the
dark; i can't see my way" she said as
she came in. "Do let us have the gas
lighted. and some tea. L am dying for
a cup of tea
angela, was that Mr.. Fordyce who
came with you to the gate?'
"Mr. Fordyce?' repeated Angela, in
changed voice, WHICH strove to break
into an Indifferent laugh; "yes ma belle
it was. Dear old thing he is! What
| then?"
Had he walked far with you?"
"From Carlton Road, Just above the
Berghauses. 1t was there met him."
"And he turned back with you?'
"He did. Really, have had enough
of this catechism. You are not a cheer
full sister. Here am /, half dead with
cold and fatigue, and you begin to cross
question me as if l were a witness sus-
pected of dishonesty. You do forget
yourself strangely, sometimes.
She rang the bell sharply and desired
the servant to bring some tea. Then
she lighted the gas with her own hands,
and when Mabelle looked at her, she
saw flush on her cheeks and light,
as of triumph, in her eyes.
The words of the verses she had been
reading seemed to ring in Mabelle's
ears. Was her sister without it-that
moral quality which holds compacts
sacred
| "Vows once made, kept evermore;
Truth maintained 'twixt friend and foeT'
Or was she one of those women who
will pursue any by-path through life
which promises most ease to the feet,
and the pleasantest banks to rest upon,
even though to do it she must 90 forever
with "a lie in her right hand?"
The tension of doubt and distress be-
came almost unbearable to the young
girl. The cloud which for few weeks
had been lifted, settled more heavily
than ever over her head. Perhaps
Angela might not suffer, but she did.
Whenever she saw Grace, she felt an
impulse to cover her face with her
hands; she wished she could sink into
the earth and be forever lost to sight.
When she saw the letters in the thin
foreign envelopes. with the outlandi sh
stamp, and the round black address tc
Miss Fairfax, and saw those others with
the small, clear, delicate tracery, adj
dressed to philip Massey, Esq, H. B.
NJ. Consulate, Y, China" Mabelle
felt as if the world were upside down
were one vast, black, hideous lie, anc
she part of it.
For the first meeting between Mr.
+ ordyce and Angela, wnich had shocked
her and sent chill foreboding to hel
heart. was not the last; but. warned by
the result of it, Angela had never agar
allowed Mabelle a chance of expostu
lating with her. Her affairs wer,
cleverly managed. The girl could now
: only guess, surmise, suspect; wear on
her heart with cOniectures which sh
could not substantiate, and rack he
brains with consideration of the prob
lem whether she must leave Philip t,
his fate or betray what she thought O
her sister, and possibly be found wron!
I after all.