The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-04-08

{
velvet dress. at the rounded arm raised
to the mantelpiece. and cleaning white
from under the Lace thrown back above
1t, ar the little dusky head bowed sadly
: towards the freight. and then he came
back with three hasty strides. and catch.
ing the girl in his arms pressed one last
passionate burning kiss upon her lips
, a kiss ne had no right to give-a kiss OF
farewell, perhaps, TO all that might
have been, but kiss that disturbed heI
eomposure and proud coldness as no
thing else could have done.
Had it been less dark in the room l..
must have seen the change in her face
and stayed after he had kissed her. but
the dusk hid it. and she uttered nc
word; she only freed herself hurriedlv
and pushed him away. then stood trem-
bling until he had left the room. and
she heard the front-door shut loudly be-
hind him; then she just fell down vel
vet heap upon the rug, and sobS-con-
vulslve, stitied, passionate sobs-shook
her form again and again; yet she only
said TO herself:
How dare he treat me like that? II
l die for love of him, will never send
for him hack--neyer tell him the truth.
But surely he will come back of his own
free will to ask for pardon presently,
He viii find be cannot live without me:
and then-and then"
Ala, for the then and then that never
comes.
a few days later, Miss Ayre said to
her sister, very gently. and She did not
iook al her while she spoke:
Lance Gorslen has not been here for
a long time, Madeline"
No"
Madeline was counting her knitting
stitches absorbedly.
Did you have any quarrel with him.
child? You are very hasty and apt to
take offence, ! know, at trlfies"
y eS-am II | did not know
Il thought hoped once-one even
ing when you and he were in the con-
servatory SO long, that it was getting
settled all right, Madeline"
What do you call all right Susanna?
| am going TO be an old maid Ike YOU,
dear, with an uncertain laugh.
Nonsense" very sharply. DO you
mean to tell me You have refused Lance
Gorden? You viii never get such an
| other chance, you silly. particular. CO.
| quettish girl. | have no patience"
Perhaps he refused me- said Made
line. getting up to look FOR some wool.
"NOnSensei How could man refuse
I a lady?"
Men can do very odd things. as you
! would have known if YOU had had more
experience with them, my sister,
We'll. suppose Lance will come and
| say goodbye to us before lie starts for
| India. OF course lie is in a desperate
hurry, ordered off SO unexpectedly; but
Before he starts for where?" very
| sharply.
India. Did not You see his regiment
IS one of those ordered out at once?
| This war, you see, makes"
But before Miss Ayre could finish her
| sentence her young sister had gone;her
kpitting lay on the carpet, tiny table.
with Madeline's pet ferns upon il, was
| overturned, and the loose woods the
! girl had been sorting We're scattered up
on the floor, but Madeline herself had
| vanished.
| Her room door upstairs was locked
| and dead silence reigned within, for
| Miss Ayre troubled herself to go up
| presently and apply her ear to the key
| hole
"She is not crying, certainly" said the
! old maid, conSoled. Perhaps after all
she did not care for him. though | am
| certain he did for her. Heighol don't
believe girls have hearts nowadays
really don't. They Will flrt, fiirt, flirt.
| with first one and then another, saving
! anything and meaning nothing. until
| they really have no capacity for real af-
| fection left in them. 1t is great pityl"
CHAPTER ".
Ten years had passed, and the wheel
of fortune had made many turns, dash
! ing some of her favorites to the bottom,
raising few to insecure eminence.
| Poor Madeline Ayre was at the bot
/ tom; there had come mercantile crash
in those ten years, that had overwhelm-
| ed her father with its ruin and desola-
| ton; then the old mans health had sank
! beneath the stroke, and, one week after,
Miss Ayre' s life was taken by sudden
attack of fever.
Madeline stood orphaned, and with
out relations or money, to tigh: her way
! single-handed in the battle of life, and
! earn her daily bread by teaching
Ten years had passed, and she was
woman of nine-and-twenty instead of a
! girl of nineteen: there We're silver
threads in the abundance of her dark
hair, a sad pathetic look i'll her eyes
and the bright witchery of manner was
only seen at rare intervals now.
But she was charming STILL so charm
| ing and pretty tnat every now and again
some man, meeting her sweet glance, OF
| hearing her sweet voice. fell in love
| with her. and she might have been mar
| ried over and over again had she not
been constant to the love of her life,
constant to what was but a memory
now, for she had had no word or sign
from Lance Gorden since they parted
| that wintry afternoon III anger.
She had heard of him sometimes by
casual mention in newspaper; but he
had passed out of her life after robbng
it of all its brightness, and she could
only think that he did not care
She tried to tell herself that it was
better so, that he never had loved heI
really, and that she was happily parted
from one so inconstant, so jealous, SO
suspicious as he; but all the same she
loved him yet, and no other man could
take his place.
The sun was shining on the beach al
Folkestone, and the band was playing.
and Madeline was finding it very hard
to draw her little pupils s attention from
, the sights and sounds outside TO the
lesson-books within, when the school
room door opened, and a pretty fair
haired girl of about eighteen entered.
Miss Ayre, come out to the harbol
with me, please; it is 50 lovely thl:
morning. Let that child's lessons go,
am sure she has had enough for one
} day. / enjoyed the ball SO awfully las
night" the young lady went on. as She
, and Madeline strolled along to the har
Dor.
did you?" smiled Madeline, with tn,
| sympathy that made her so charming
/ did you have very delightful partners?
. II had one delightful one." with q
) blush, "the incest man ever met. III,
i danced with me four times, Miss Ayre
: and we sat out twice.
3 @IIe must have been quite struck
: What was be hkey"
i @Middle-aged dark, stern, grave, mill
: tary, you know. Major Gorden Is hi
! name. / was half afraid of him at first
but still he was so charming, | like
talking to him better than ony one
{ ever met emphatically. "IIe was 81
/. clever and SO reyerential.. don't yo'
I know? Most men are so silly. and pa
such stupid compliments: Major Gordel
: never paid me one"
NO: can quite imagine that was
I CHARM said the goyerness mechanical
ly.
Whst was there just in the sound o
a an ordinary name to take her thought
y back to pain and regret?
what regiment did be belong te
!. Flora?" she Inquired falteringly.
q The st" said Flora Maxwell, an
d Madeline breathed again, for that ha
: not been Lance Gorden's regiment.
y The two ladies stood watching th
boat come in from Boulogne. aid re
4 marking upon the different peopl
a around them. until, suddenly, Flor
+ Maxwell flushed up. bowed smilingl,
t and whispered:
q There he is. Miss Ayre,r
And Madeline turned to see ia
\ bronzed man, with dark hair turnin
o grey and a fine figure, bowling to an
= looking at Flora.
just for an instant the whole seen
II grew misty and dark; Lance Gorden
= face and Fiora's. the boat, and tn
J. crowd, were lost TO Madeline,s sight 8
It with some instinct of -preservatio
4. sne IuThcu anu ilieu " VAIN away
few steps.