The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-05-16

attained"
Isabel Wardroper glanced at her OWL
handsome face reflected in the piel
glass of their hired lodgings in a fash
ionable London square. Handsome ii
undeniaDly was. But there was aworn
look about the eyes that limited at COM
ing wrinkles, and that very morning
her Partisan maid had found among
her bundant tresses the first gray hair.
Il hope you are not mistaken, ma
ma" she said, despondently. "But you
must own yourself, that he is very slow
IN speaking-if, indeed he really has
anything to say. | sometimes think
that 1t was Genevieve whom he loved"
she added, trying to speak as indif1er-
emily as she could.
"Genevieve A mere uniformed
child, and dependant on my kindness
to boot !" said Mrs. Wardroper, half
angrily. "What next, Isabel? Why,
he scarcely spoke to her the last time
they met. 1t was at Mrs. Hunters.
| happened to be watching him at the
moment. He went up to he quite
eagerly as soon as he saw her enter the
rooms, and then his face changed he
looked at her coldly, and barely spoke.
1t was almost rude, if such man could
be guilty of rudeness. And | thought
Genevieve felt it, poor girl. She col
ored to her eyes, and watched him over
her fan as he walked away, with quite
a heart broken look. And, to my Ger
tain knowledge, she never met him
again, for he sailed the next week, for
Europe. Genevieve may have been in
love with him-I don't say no. A hand
some, attractive man, and she young
girl full of romance-it would be moth
ing strange. But he was not in love
with her, my dear-you may take my
word for that. And that is all you have
to consider in the matter you know"
Isabel listened in silence to this we'll
meant attempt at consolation. She felt
utterly small, mean, and contemplate,
as matter of course, but she had now
gone too far to recede.
That evening Isabel sat alone in her
boudoir, elegantly dressed, with a book
in her hand, while she did not even
pretend to read. Eager expectancy
shown from her eyes as Capt. Joyce
was ushered into the room.
He saw it and his heart smote him.
He had been going on idly, trying to
forget the heart wound that he had re-
ceived, in IsabePs pleasant society,
while she, deeming him in earnest all
the while, had evidently given him her
heart.
"Why could not Genevieve have been
as affectionate, as gentle, as susceptible
to kindness?" thought he with kind
of groan.
And then, because the wound still
burned and throbbed at the thought of
that once beloved name, and because
he was angry with himself, and almost
ashamed of the rare capacity for con-
stancy with which he was endowed, had
determined to put himself beyond the
spell of those memories forever, and so
said to Isabel the words that she had
been SO longing to hear.
But even in thus repudiating the
past, its blissfulness and its pain, he
was manly and true, and said to her,
Il will speak plainly once for all,
Isabel, because no such secret as this
ought to exist between us, if you be-
come my wife. l must tell you the
truth. l loved your Cousin Genevieve
dearly-I fear l love her yet. l left
America because she tacitly refused
me, by refusing to give me pledge OF
her affection that l asked. But | long
to forget her, Isabel, l long and pray
to do SO. If you are willing to help
me dc this, be my wife. l will be a
true and loyal husband to you, my
dear, and from the moment when you
accept me, l will never mention her
name again in your presence and
with you to brighten my home, | have
no doubt that | shall soon be able to
banlsk her image from my heart. Are
you willing to take me on such terms
Look up and tell me, Isabel, and be
as sincere with me as | have been with
you, my dearest girl
Sincere How he would have stared
at her in utter wonder, if she had dared
to utter one 1.-THE of the tumultuous
thoughts that were surging and boiling
in her undisciplined heart.
At that moment she felt that she
hated HIM, and that no power on earth
was strong enough to induce her to be
come his wife. But then came the
thought of her mothers genteel pc
nury and fastfailing health. During
her mothers life, if she refused Thu
offer, they must both endure a semi
martyrdom, in order to keep thei
proper place in society. And afte
death, the annuity expired, leaving
Isabel alone in the world, without {
penny or friend.
at is my business to marry. NJ,
feelings have nothing to do with tn
NATTER" she thought, swallowing dow
her anger and her pride.
And that same evening, before sh'
retired, she gladdened her mother
heart by flashing before her eyes thu
magnificent diamond which was Capt
| Jovca,c uift nc an apuonar,apt rive