San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-12-06
A WREATH OF ORANGE
BLOSSOMS.
CHAPTER I.

blazing July day; the hottest day the
year had seen. The streets Of London
wore an aspect of thorough laziness. e.. =
pedestrians seemed to shuttle rathc'
TO walk along, so affected were Il
the suns rays, which poured will ),
less fury upon the parched roads.
But although the streets were not very
busy, the parks were-Hyde-park es-
pecially. Rotten Row was well filed with
the elite of the fashionable world, and the
side walks, as usual, held their hundreds
of onlookers.
Among the promenadrrs was tall and
stately lady dressed in black silk, and
whose face was concealed by a heavy
black veil, through which it was impos-
sible to penetrate.
Her bearing, proud and naughty in the
extreme, attracted the attention of num-
bers of people, and many scores Of eye
glasses were fixed very carefully, in or
der. probably, to view her the better.
Up and down, down ard up she walked,
keeping her eyes well fixed on the Row,
and scanning every rider who passed.
Suddenly she paused against the rails,
clutched them tightly, and bent her head
forward.
At the same moment, two riders, a lady
and gentleman, passed, chatting merrily,
and as they went up the Row, she looked
fercely after them.
Thus she stood until they had gone out
Of sight. Then she muttered in hard,
cold tones:
Then Alice is right, and she-she has
taken my placei Oh, my God! can this
be indeedl But let her beware May
my most bitter curse rest upon you, Grace
Thornew
Now she moved away, and after pene-
trating the crowd of idlers, passed rapidly
out Of the park.
No. IS, Queen square, Brompton, was,
at the time Of our story, in the occupation
of Mrs. Danvers, widow of Captain Dan
vers, and said to be worth considerable
amount Of money.
At No. So she resided with her daugh-
ter Ethel, "The Dark Queen" as she had
been called by her schoolfelows on ac-
count of her complexion and her proud
bearing.
Ethel was close upon twenty years Of
age. and more beautiful woman could
hardly have been found either in this or
in any other country.
She was in every way striking con-
trsst to her parents, for whereas her
father had been tender-hearted gentle
man, with kind word for everyone, and
her mother was the same, Ethel was to-
tally different.
Her rule was not to ask but to COM
mand. The least thing would offend her,
and she did not have to open her lips to
inform any one that she was offended ;
they could tell that by the flashing eyes
and the clenching of the delicate hands.
At eighteen, Ethel had been introduced
to society, and being beautiful girl, with
plenty Of ready wit, it is no wonder that
she had plenty of admirers, and more than
once she had had, not only the opportuni-
ty of marrying rich man, but also Of ac-
quiring title.
But all attention bestowed upon her
was useless; she was as firm as a rock,
as cold as ice.
To ALT
No. There was one whose presence
she sighed for-one whom she loved
most passionately, according to her own
fashion-one for whom she would have
laid down her very life, and that one was
Rowland Saxby, the son and heir of Sir
Rowland Saxby, the well-known inventor.
But, alas for Ethel, Rowland did not
return that love. Did he know that she
entertained any love for himf He must
have known, for she showed it plainly
enough both by words and looks.
He was frequently present at Queens
square, but when there he always acted
as frieud-nothing more. Ethel, praised
by all the men, could not account for this.
She could not understand why it was
that she appeared to be unable to attract
Rowland to her side.
She grew thoughtful and listless, and
h"r mother noticed it, and became alarm
il consequence. One day she asked
IL what allied her, and after some
&C, Ethel flinging herself upon her
lnees, and burying her face in her moth
er's lap, sobbed out her unhappiness.
Her mother listened calmly and atten-
lively, and when her daughter had fin
ished, she said, as she stroked the long,
dark tresses:
"Mv child. all this is vsrv, vsrv foolish.