The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-10-30

golden hair.
She thought was not well. She did
not know that it was fear which had
blanched my face and made me trem-
bic; she could not tell that it was hor-
Tor which curdled my blood. Without
any fusS-she was so anxiously coDsid-
crate for me-without seeming to make
any ceremony, she was so gracefully
kind; she would not let me sit in the
draughts; with her own hands she Sc
lected some purple grapes for me. This
| could never be the woman who had
drowned little child.
When dinner was over and we were
IN the drawing-roOm again, she drew a
chair near the fire for me.
You will laugh at the notion of a
/ fire in May" she said; but / find the
early Summer evenings chilly, and 1
cannot bear the cold
| | wondered if she thought Of the chill
of the water in which she had plunged
the little child. | looked at her. there
/ was not even fieeting shadow on her
/ face. Then she fingered for half a min
ute by my side.
! As she drew near to me 1 felt again
/ that 1t was utterly impossible that nv
! suspicious could be correct, and that I
! must be mistaken.
! Il hope" she said, ''you will not
/ think what am going to say strange.
/ l know that it is the custom for some
! wives to be jealous of their husbands
| friends-some might be jealous of you.
| want to tell you that / am not one of
! that kind. l love my husband so utter
/ ly, 50 entirely, that all whom he loves
/ are dear to me. You are brother, friend.
everything to him-will you be the
| same to me?"
A beautiful woman asking, with those
! sweet, sensitive lips, for my friendship,
/ looking at me with those calm tender
! eyes, asking me to like her for her hus-
bands sake - the sweetest, the most
( gracious, the most graceful picture l
had ever seen. Yet, oh Heaveni a muir
deress if ever there was one. She won
dered why | did not respond to her ad-
vances. l read the wonder in her face
"You do not care for hasty friends, -
she said well, Lance and are one;
if you like him you must like me, and
time will show
You are more than good TO me-" 1
stammered, thinking in my heart if she
had been but half as good to the little
helpless child she had flung into the
sea.
| have never seen a woman more
charming,-of more exquisite grace,-of
more perfect accomplishment
fascination of manner. She sang to US
and her voice was full OF such sweet
pathOs it almost brought the tears in
my eyes. / could not reconcile what I
Chain Pier, though outwaTdly the same
woman | had seen on the Chain Pier
and this graceful gracious lady could
not possibly be one. As the evening
passed on, and ! saw her bright, cheer
full ways, her devotion to her husband,
her candid, frank, open manner, came
TO the conclusion that / must be the
victim either of mania or of some ter
I rlble mistake. Was il possible. though,
| that | could have beenI Had | not had
| the face clearly, distinctly, before me
/ for the past three years?
One thing struck me during the even
ing. Watching her most narrowly, l
could not see in her any under-CuTrent
of feeling; she seemed to think what
she said, and to say just what she
thought: there were no musings, no
reveries, no fits of abstraction, such az
one would think would 90 always with
sin or crime. Her attention was given
always TO what was passing; she was
not in the least like a person with any
thing weighing on her mind. We were
talking. Lance and /, of an old friend
of ours, who had gone to Nice, and that
led to a DEPRESSION on the different
watering places of England. Lance
mentioned several. the climate Of which
/ he declared was misrepresentation
mysterious places of which one reads
/ in the papers. where violetS grow in De-
/ cember, and the sun shines all the year
/ round. / cannot remember who first
/ named Brighton, but | do remember
/ that she neither changed color nor
/ shrank.
Now for test, said to myself. |
/ looked at her quite straight in the face,
/ so that no expression Of hers could es-
! cape memo shadow pass over her eyes
/ unknown to me.
do YOU know Brighton at all?' l
/ asked her. l could see to the very
depths of the limpid eyes. No shadow
came; the beautiful. attentive face did
not change in the least. She smiled as
she replied:
/ Il do not. know Bournemouth and
! Eastbourpe very well; | like Bourne
mouth best"
We had hardly touched upon the sub
| ject, and she had glided from 1t, yet
with such seeming Inconsistencies. |
| laughed, vet | felt that my lips were
| stiff and the sound of my laugh strange.
Everyone knows Brighton. | said.
1t is not often one meets an English
lady who does not know il.
/ She looked at me with the most charm
ing ami frank directness.
i spent few hours there once. - she
said. From the little | saw of II |
took it for city OF palaces.
1t is beautiful place, | said.
She rose with languid grace, and went
to the table.
Il think | Will ring for some tea, she
said Il am chilly and cold in spite of
the fire. Mr.. Ford, will you join meE'