The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-25
A GROUP OF IMMORTALs.
Conclu ded.

in perfect health a, the time, two whole months. Its fortunes were now made. The sweetness of the place, the liveliness of the society. the handiness of health station near London and within a few hours reach of Paris, the excellent cos mopolitan cookery, introduced at the sug- gestion of Mir. Bolingbroke-all these contributed to success quite unprece- dented iu the history of such ventures For my own part, felt convinced th at the graces and accomplishments of the Bolingbroke family had more to do with the fourishing condition ofthe house than all the aforementioned causes put togeth- CT. l, for one, was rooted to the spot, unable to tear myself from Lionelle.
 It was odd that, although she had car ried on many graceful fllrtations during those two months, none were of nature to make me, with whom she firted most of all, in the feast degree jealous, and none, as far as could discover, had come to climax except in my own case The young Hindoo barristers, the curates, the half.dozen middle-aged iders, had each in turn valued, strolled, sang, or played croquet with Lionelle; but she contrived so nicely to restrict Irritation within its proper limits, that while all those men paid homage to her, not one had been permitted to fall in love. Even more creditable to her tact was the fact that on the other hand the women had not become jealous. She was so sympa- thetic, so ready to be taken into feminine confidence, so apparently free from van lty, that only the real ungenerous or ma. licious could possibly have picked quar. rel with her. AS a rule, moreover, very young maidens do not frequent valetudi- marian resorts and, except the pretty American damsel alluded to, who were sure to get plenty of admiration wherever they went, and needed not to begrudge Lionelle's share, had few possible rivals. Our ladies were, for the most part elderly splnsters or sober matrons, only too glad to have the sparkling, C ,ressing vision of my Lionelle ever before them.
 My Lionelle, did sayp
 Mine, as yet, by virtue of adoration only. Into the future hardly dared to peer.
 did, however, begin to put to myself m secret few of those questions that naturally occur to man suddenly bent on marriage. Could the income that had never been too much for one suffice for two-for household? Would the much- travelled, versatile, brilliant Lionelle be happy by an ordinary mortal's 6reside i? Was wise to throw in my fortunes with those of iauiily addicted to rowing perhaps not by any means unacquainted with adventure3 Lastly, and above all was l not bound to fathom the meaning dc 1G 1t she was something more than a mere paragon of beauty and excellence? Was she pheneminal among her sex in a subtler sense separated from the rest of human kind by virtue of supernatural en- dowmcnts or unexampled destiny? Was she, indeed, exempted from the wonted fate ot human kind, doomed to perpetual youth, undying loveliness, an existence that ended not after the fashion of others i?
 It may seem strange that l should go to the length of asking myself such ques- tons as these-entertain, even for a mo- ment, propositions so diametrically op posed to every day experience and the accepted order of things. But the un. usual and mysterious had ever charms for me. From my youth upward, the doml- hating characteristics of careless, yer satile nature had been tendency to pen. citrate into the regions of the unknown, to lift the veil from the inscrutable, to study the sphinx-like aspects of life. From the hrst moreover, a certain indefi- niteness, an airy unreality about Lionelle had fascinated me even more than her faultless outward self and her dazzling gifts. She seemed hardly to have solid, tangible past, much less to look forward to any clearly marked-out future. Even her domestic relations savored of the un- real. Devoted, affectionate as she was to MT. and Mrs. Bolingbroke, doubted whether she was their daughter; nor could at times believe that she was any. thing more than a sister by adoption of the handsome, agreeable and accom- plished, albeit somewhat cynical, artifi- cial Julian. If, then, not of such kith and kin, what was her lineage1 allowed my fancy to run wild, and accorded her an origin as that of the Undiues and half fauns of romance, those uusubstantial, inefably lovely creations of the poet we believe in and become enamored of as if they were real personges.
 But to be mated with fateless child of immortals, to wed being whose feet touched our familiar globe without be- longing to it, to have to wife fay, an elf-child wearing the guise of mere woman-that was wholly another matter Swayed, therefore, by two inclinations, two resolves, one moment wishing one thing. the next drawing back, I was at the same time prey to another kind of terror. could not help entertaining suspicious that Lionelle would take sud- den flight before my mind was made up. Some day we should all wake up to find the incompatible Bolingbroke family van- ished, gone forever, without warning and without farewell, returned to that un- known whence they had come. Lionelle once thus lost to me, so felt convinced, should never recover her again.
 And not vague suspicion only pointed to such catastrophe. Ever on the alert in so far as Lionelle was concerned had gathered from stray remark here, cursory hint there, that departure i'm. pended.