Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1885-07-18

his doings narrowly, and felt that the
natural worth of Mr.. Douglas, COM
bined with his unusual worldly advan-
tages, rendered that gentleman ssfoe-
man worthy of his steel. Z
1t happened that both were present
one evening at the house of Mr.. and
Mrs. Armour, the relatives Miss Army
tage had crossed the sea to visit. It
was a musical party and the rooms
| were tolerably full of a company some
what more select than the usual crush
OF a promiscuous dance. The peculiar
beauty of Phyllis had an additional
glow. She had been singing we'll
enough to give almost unqualified
pleasure to even critical ears. Her
uncle was delighted to see his favorite
admired and fattered and made the
queen of the hour, and she bent her
graceful auburn head, wreathed with
sprays of tiny fern and clustering
stephanotis, graciously enough to the
pleasant tribute. 1t was evident to the
experienced eyes of Mr.. Moorhouse
that John Douglas had reached that
point at which suspense became in
tolerable, and was consequently on
the brink Of declaration. He did
not give Phyllis credit for the amount
of feeling she did possess. He knew
that, independent of passionate affec-
ton, his adversary had brides to offer
which were not likely to be under val
ued by Miss Armytage or her friends,
and he recognized that there was but
one way in which he could secure his
own triumph. He took q sudden re-
solve and determined to speak first.
In this case he trusted. himself to win
AS for keeping what he had won let
considerations of that kind come after
wards. 1t was not in his nature to let
another man succeed where he chose to
strive for favor, or to find himself, pos
sibly supplanted and set aside at a
moments notice, if it cost him the sac
rifice of his own deliberate plans to
prevent it. His grasping desire to take
possession of q prize dearly coveted by
a better man, did not appear to him
unfeeling and unjust in his momentary
ardor for victory, nor did the fact that
he merely wanted to parade as his
trophy the woman truly loved by his
rival move him to pause and consider
his way, or count the possible price of
his achievement. He only felt that if,
in this particular instance, he did not
get his own way, his Occupation like
Othello's would be ssgone.''
So, with the immediate purpose of
securing the rejection of Mr.. Douglas,
he took Miss Armytage, during rather
crushing performance in the music
room, into the solitude of the conserva-
tory, and there, feeling for the mo-
ment quite pleased with what he was
doing proposed to the young lady and
was accepted without conditions.
His success induced him, even in
that first moment of qualification, to
he thought she would not refuse to &C
cept, and he proved to be correct, for
she made no difficulties when he ex-
planned to her that before he could ar
range for so important a step as mar
riage it would be necessary for him to
go to England: He should be obliged
to consult with<Sir James Moorhouse,
his father, upon many details respect
ing property and similar matters which
it would be announcement and unsatis-
factory to discuss in correspondence,
and, therefore, he thought it wiser to
have the engagement known only to
themselves for a time.
Phyllis had no particular desire to
hear her contract with Mr.. Moorhouse
publicly announced. She intended to
be the future Lady Moorhouse, and
she was not disposed to fdget about
the preliminary arrangements. She
was not, as have said, of generous,
loving nature, which might have felt
some pain at keeping her happy secret
from the ears of her kind old uncle and
his wife. The latter was a woman with
whose cordial temper and simple char
acter she had no sympathy. She found
her aunt agreeable to live with, but
there was no real intimacy between
them. Consequently she was not
anxious to declare her news until her
lover chose to speak openly.
John Douglas made his plunge the
next day, of course in vain. He knew
quite we'll who had been beforehand
with him, and though his proffer OF
himself was refused with outward kind
ness, he felt keenly that she whom he
loved so unseltishly had little feeling
for his disappointment.
For while Mr.. Moorhouse enjoyed
himself thoroughly. Everything was
quite to his mind. He had beaten his
opponent in the race, and the man SO
defeated had found it intolerable to
stay and look on at the complacent
mastery of the victor. With the excuse
ofjoining some friends in foreign travel,
he had disappeared.
But, though the successful man wore
his letters secretly, he soon began to
feel them and chafe at the restrictions
they implied. He did not seem in a
hurry to go to England, as Miss Army
tage had expected him to be. He was
not seen with her so constantly as he
had been, and there was a nameless
something missing in the quality of his
attentions, not to speak of their dimin-
ished quantity. Then he began to feel
bored at a certain calm expectation
that he should perform his duties
toward her, quite visible to his con-
seriousness in the manner of PHYLLIS.
1T is really no engagement at all, .
he said to himself Neither her friends
nor mine have been spoken to. She
must know that it only depends upon
our own inclination