Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-01-13
IHow FIRST PUBLIsHEDl
LOVES LkBOUR Won i,
AN EVENTFUL STORY.
BY JAMES GRANT,
AUTHOR OF .sTHE ROMANCE OF WAR;" 'THE
BLACK WATCH" "FAIRER THAN
FAIRY" ETC., ETC.
IHow FIRST PUBLIsHEDl
THE Right Of Translation 10 Reserved. J
CHAPTER LIv.-TaE DEAD PAST.

CHAPTER LIv.--TaE DEAD PAST.
Despite The shifts and sneers of Uncle
Grimshaw and of her fashionable aunt
Mrs. ChilliDgton, Melanie had adopted {
darx-alf bat blsck-dress and Jet orna-
ments, as the only tribute her limited
means would allow her to pay to the
memory of her dead love, as she naturally
deemed him TO be.
And now she seemed to leave the days
of her girlhood-neilher careless mol
quite happy days, certainIy-behind her
and endesvored In vain to probe hel
future.
"My poor Montague is lost to me-" she
said once, in IN irresistible burst of grief
"but thank heaven, not for ever!"
"AhI" said Uncle Grimshaw, In per.
plexity, and not without anger.
"He has been faithful in his love to
me, despite the dupIicity of Others; and
/ doubt not that when we meet in the
next word nothing shall part u.s."
"Ahi" said Uncle Grimshaw sgain,
with shrug of his shoulders and rasp
up of his side-tufts with both hands
''But all that won't pay day and way in
this"
"Ever one sordid idea," thought Me-
isnie, drying her tears, in very shame that
he should see them.
The visits of her aunt, who came more
frequently now than before, were ever q
source of annoyance to her; she WAS so
cold and hard. SO wor dly and matter-of-
fact, having not one iota of womanly sym
patty ABOUT her.
$50, SO; this Captain Lonsdale is
gone," she said. "Can't you forget all
about him now-ss II he had never ex-
isted-as il ell this episode had never
happened in your life? 1t is easy enough,
il you will only make the effort"
"Oh, heaven, aunt! Let me die-let
me die, II can't forgeti" walled the
girl.
"Stuf, People don't die OF your illu-
sorry eilment," was the harsh response of
the old woman Of the world, whose senti-
ments 5elied her venrable beauty, her mass
OF silky white hair aid pretty little hands
and feet. "What is done can't be undone,
and tears are useless as well as unbeeom-
ing now. They spoil the eyes and red
den the nose"
"Just Whist often say" added Mr..
Grimshaw. there Is no use in crying over
spilled milk"
ga vulgar aphorism, but very true
one. Do try to forget him, it is getting
quite long time ago now; and, then,
: Hurmah is such long way off," said
Mrs. Cnilliugton, little irrelevantly, but
with well-bred smile.
"I am SO glad we have licked the Bur
mese. As an Englishman l am proud Of
that. My conscience, l ami"
"The next best thing for ones peace Of
mind, TO having good conscience, is to
have none at ALL" said Reggie, who, re-
clined in his usual corner, felt deeply for
his sister.
This remark made Uncle Grimshaw
vince. He thought OF the missing trust
money ot his dead brother-in-law; but of
that his niece aud nephew knew nothing.
SIT Is said that we shall now hsve
rubies and sspphires fer song" said
Mrs. Chillington, slowly tanning herself,
despite the season, by mere force of
nabit; "but that will render them too
common for ordinary wear, and prisoners
have reported"
"rhe Burmese don't keep prisoners:
amt they csnnibsls?" interrupted Mr.
Grimshaw, who il he was, as he boosted,
intensely English, was also intensely
ignorant OF the world at large, and hoped
by this time that the subjects of King
Thebsw had made s pleasant meal of
Montague Lo1sdsle.
ain all this affair there is one comfort
for you, Melsnie," ssid he, after q
pause.
"One comfort-in what-hoW?" she
asked.
swell, that as your engagement to him
was but little known, if at all, save to
ourselves. you will be spared all imperti-
nent pity and speculation on the subject,
unless this ridiculous assumption of q
sombre dress and black ornaments in
duces them"
"Exactly so. l have said this till am
weary of IT," ssid Mrs. Chillington, who,
as If weary of the subject, summoned her
carriage and drove over to Rsvensbourne
Hall TO report progress, as Melanie's
heart foreboded.
'Bncle, you do not aud never will I'M
derstsnd me-" she ssid in low, soft
voice after long pause.
"Why?" he asked sharply.
because think when people grow old
pardon me-to your years, at least,
they seem to become often bepumbed
and, fear, incapable of suffering"
"Do thew" he snarled. 81 wish you
al shall never be happy again." said
Melanie almost to herself, IS her chin
dropped on her breast.
"That remains to be proved. Do you
think, now, that If you learned to love
another man you would be wronging
Captain Lonsdale?"
eyes; as much as il he had been my
husband-in memory, mean"
"Had been-yes-that is in the past
tense; but he never was your husband"
"He would have peen-but for fate"
"Anyhow, you are not, and never were
his wife; so you can't affect to be his
widow"
"Save in besrt-in sentiment"
"Bosh. And this black dress is utter
bosh, too" exclaimed Uncle Grimshaw,
departing In anger. And so ended one
OF the many bitter conversations to
which she was now subjected. Oh, how
could they DE SO blunt, SO coarse, so ut
terly unieeling to her st this lamentable
luncture of her life?
She wrHng her slender hands In an
guish and Impotence, but was thankful
to be left for little time in peace.
Never again should she see him-never
sgain. There could be no more stolen
walks now in the Rsvensbourne woods,
no more meetings at the trysting place
beside the river, where the cid trees cast
q shadow on the floating water-lilies,
with him she loved, with him who heard
all her troubles, and In the sense of whose
strong presence she had felt so confident
and safe.