The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-18

$50 friends long enough by flirting in a corner.
and our Office as screen is no longer needed Au
revoir.r
| Mr. Wiltse met the somnambulistic eyes in
! turning back toward the figure in the armchair.
| SO wide, so solemn, so meaningful, yet so unin-
telligiole were they that disagreeable suspicion
| crossed his practical mind Had fragments of
his talk with Miss Mari caught her earl He
dropped into his seat. with air of merry negli-
gence, his eyes lit by the unused smile which
made them pleasanrest to look upon.
/ Miss MARI tells you believe in ghostsW
/ he said Il wish you would show me one, some
] day!'
'sShe gazed at him for an instant as if not
| quite entering into his meaning-an expression
that recalled the Scotch saying of one whose wits
are touched, that ''he is not all there" Then
she, too smiled very brightly.
SHOULD | pass into the far country before
/ you do, 1 will grant your wish" said Orpah
| Wayne.
| PART Ii.
/ The full cup was to be returned to safer keep
| ing than Miss Mari, with the kindest intentions,
could Offer In direct phrase, the Georgia
| girl was going home. Tom Wltse would escort
/ her to New York, where neighbors of her mother,
an old planter and his wife, would take charge
| of her
On the eve of her departure Hannah Hurst,
the wooden, was sent by Miss Mari to pack her
| trunk.
| 'She has genius for packing Sea mad said.
/ "Leave everything to her. Your gowns will
come out looking better than when they went
| in"
| AS she bestowed the guests belongings in the
one small trunk Hannah passed in and out from
| the adjoining dressing-room with garments
thrown loosely over her arm and small parcels in
| her apron. She had had her orders, and carried
them into execution with less difficulty than she
had anticipated. Packages of gloves,
stockings. handkerchiefs, laces, slippers,
| ribbons and other things in which
young girls delight. went in be-
| tween folded gowns and underclothing while
down upon the moonlighted lawn, over the tree
| tops and pale reaches of turf, beyond elm bor
| dered streets, dark roofs and steeples to the
river showing like twisted silver cord in the
| valley. The air was sweet with honeysuckle-
SCENT and still, but for the pulse of band play
ing far away that it was only at intervals she
heard anything except the drum throb.
| She started gultily as Miss Hurst asked
| question:-"Which of these muslins goes in
| frstl'
'Thank you," catching her breath audibly.
| s'It does not signify. How lazy and selfish am
| to allow you to do that"
''You are welcome"
| When the wooden woman spoke the opening
and shutting of her mouth were like the raising
| and lowering of box-lid Sometimes it creaked
She had dry, sharp face, and small, black eyes,
the black of polished stove in which fire is never
kindled. Her arms worked in packing with the
regular play of machine. 1t is doubtful if she
had uttered word of endearment in forty years,
| or If her lips had given or received kiss in
thirty. The Southern GIRL lissome of limb, soft
voiced and legato in utterance, world of dream
| and passion underlying eyes darkened by the
languid lids-marveied compassionately what
compensation the hard, narrow life of the spin
ster could hold in missing all that glorifed hers.
Her tender heart bled for the loveless creature.
II wish you knew my mother" she said gen.
tly. 'She would thank you, as l cannot, for
your exceeding kindness TO me- stranger in
strange land. Will you not pay us visit some
day. LAY. r. : ). ~, l., ,,s 80 - = 8, ~
hand to CAD"
Orpah would not be rebuffcd.
| 'But when Miss MARI marries she can spare
you little while. Of course, you will live with
her STILL but she will not be dependent on you
entirely for companionshp"
Hannah folded skirt, and patted it smooth,
tucking it we'll into the four corners of the
trunk, the thin lips fast shut A puff of wind
brought few bars of music so far up the hill
that Orpah recognized passage from Schubert's
'Serenade." Keeping time TO it from memory
with her hand on the window-sill she continued
her Establishments
''Sea says she could not keep house without
you. Her husband will hardly be more neces-
sary to her than You are. hope he will not be
Jealous laughing her fresh, girlish laugh at the
feeble little jest
''That amt probable. I've known 'em both too
long. She'll he thirty the 7th of September.
He's just six months older s'pose every body
Will KNOW IL next week. It's TO De announced at
Mrs. Terrell's lawn party Wednesday,"
| Miss Hurst was, after all, woman. She
could not resist the temptation to carry bit of
lawful gossip. Or did another motive crack and
| splinter the wooden surfacel The black eyes
| saw far, and the brain behind them was astute.
Had she looked askance at her auditor her
| luton might have faltered. The girl sat up
| right, all alive with happy expectation, pome-
granite glow in her cheeks, her lips
| Il knew it, she cried, her voice breaking be-
| tween laughter and tears. 81 was sure the
| Prince had found the way to the Enchanted
| Castle. No one could be so loving. so bountiful
| in blessings to others who had not known love
| for herself o! do hope he who has won her
heart-the full. mature affection of this peerless
| woman-is worthy of the prize. Dear, dear
| Sela, wish could see and know him."
| The tray stuck at one corner, as Hannah ad-
| justed it, and she pushed harder at that point,
| lending emphasis to her next observation.
| ''She and Tom Wiltse hez behaved real sensi-
| BILE. I'll say that for em. They've been en-
| gagged nigh on to six years and though folks hev
| suspicioned EN-, they couldn't prove it. Livin'
in the house with her, as hev, never see
| mite of nonsense about either of EN-"
| She shut the trunk, sat on the top and leaned
| forward to examine clasp and strap.
| IN jest take your traveln' dress downstairs
| to DO brushed. An tux notice to-day, there
was button off your left boot. I'll fetch that
along, an send em back in half an hour or sor
! She gathered up boot and gown, and marched
| or
| Orpah did not speak The instinct that turns
the face of the dying to the wall had laid her
head on the chair-back, and directed her eyes
| outward toward the tree-clumps, the black
shadows and pale reaches of the lawn; the streets
winding down under meeting elms toward the
| cleaning silver thread separating town from the
| hill country The air was freshening. One
could hear quite distinctly the invisible band
playing the Wedding March from 'Lohensrin."
PART I'LL
| Hypocrtes declared that Tom Wiltse was not
handsome; that those who held to the contrary
| belief were misled by certain clearness of
| limb and feature, a mixture of hauteur and
| grace in bearing, the exquisite agreement of
clothes with the man. and man with the clothes
"a combination indescribable. and by some for
j ;tahl