Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-07-01
4 MANS MISTAKE.


% Ntc0s NY ~SAhnt WIS ~,
mind. It's ell over now, and you VIII
never have 10 so through i again. you
KNOW"
Tho speakers we're the sole occupants
OF a irst-class carriage, 10 which they
wcre rapidly whirling along toward Lon
don from the North. One was decidedly
pretty girl Of some nineteen or twenty
years. Not even the fatigue OF which
she complained could deprive her face
OF its piquant vivacisv, and the very pro
test OF WEAKNESS was uttered with O
vigor telling of considerable force still
In reserve in the slender frame.
Her companion was man on the bor-
ders Of middle eye. There was certain
out-ofsdoor expression on his bronzed
and bearded countenance and q general
suggestion OF field sports in his largely
built figure which stamped him at once
~ country gentleman. Perhaps kind
ness and honesty were more legibly writ
ten on bis countensnce than any great
amount OF intellectual power. One
could not picture him bordering very
deeply for instance, over the Mystery
of I.ife.n OF becoming the shining light
OF q Browning society. Yet his was a
face which few women could have been
trusted TO criticise impartially. At all
times il was good and pleasant counte-
nance--and aow that il was radiant with
the light OF love, tho brown eyes fairly
trimming over with tenderness as they
followed every movement OF the daintily
arrayed figure by his side. no woman. at
any rate. would have hesltated to pro-
nounce Mr.. Collingwood a handsome
man.
A mischieyous smile broke over his
COMPANIONS face nc bis emphatic asser-
ton OF the final nature of the ceremony
that day accomplished.
"Indeed, Jack So you have quite
made up your mind that. in the event OF
your quitting this mortal scene before
me, nm TO play the part of the Hindoo
widow for the rest of my days? What
a pity you did not insert clause in
those tremendously long, dry settle
ments, arranging a suttee in all due
form
The shadow OF shade passed over
her husbands face ut her light reioin-
der. She saw it at once and placed her
hand on bis, in haste 10 heal the wound.
"You didn't think / meant it, Jack,
dear? You know that If you were to be
taken from me-"
The eager protest got no further. 1t
was cut short in sudden but not alarm
ing manner
The two had been married that morn
ing in the village church where whole
generations of Mr.. Collingwood's fore
fathers lay sleeping. In one respect
IL had been o singular wedding. The
bride had neither parent nor relation to
give her into her husbands care, nor
even the poorest apology for q home
from which to make her debW Ill her
new life. She was Just a solitary waif
cast upon the worlds wide shore and
gathered up by Jack Collingwood into q
big, simple heart, there to be guarded
thenceforth with tho tender reverence
many Il princess Of the blood longs for
in vain.
Kathleen Raymond had been the
bosom friend of Mr.. Collingwood' syoung
stepsister in Hanoveriae pensfonndt
dc demoiseHos." The motherless daugh-
ter Of an impecunious Irish officer, her
fathers sudden death had left the young
girl singularly alone in the world, and
when she quilted the "pcns'Onnat
where she had known Mabel Colling-
wood no other prospect lay before her
but to Join the great crowd Of lonely
women who are fighting for their own
living.
But before beginning the much-dread-
ed search for employment she had been
persuaded by her more fortunate friend
to take a long holiday among the hills
and dales of Wesishire. The orphan
girl received I'm welcome to the hos
pitable old Dover house, where Mabel
lived with her widowed mother, and
there the bright weeks of that summer
slipped gently ny in happy idleness.
And then a most wonderful and yet
exceedingly natural and simple thing
happened. Mabel's half-brother. the
Squire of Annerseley, the eligible bach
elor of the countryside, the cynosure
of every matchmaker in the neighbor-
hood, fell swiftly, irretrievably, head
over ears in love with the little penniless
wait whom the fates had cast up at his
threshold.
There was no one living who had the
right TO say him nay in the matter
when once Kathleens shy consent bad
been won, and the preparations for the
marriage were fastened on as rapidly as
possible.
To Mr.. Collingwood himself it was a
never-ending source of wonder that this
Il "
quickly gained. In his honest eyes kath-
leen stood so far exalted above all ordina-
~ human girls, so far removed from the
crowd of young ladies whose attentions
had often overwhelmed him with terror,
1t almost seemed to him that he was
taking an undue advantage of her mex
perience in linking her bright girlhood
TO his own more mature existence.
1t is needless TO say this was not the
view of the situation taken by the world
in general, and in particular by the
Squire's elder sister, who for years had
been at the head of his bachelor house
hold. When Jack, blushing and STAN
mering like lad Of twenty, carried the
news of his success TO Miss Collingwood
be was received with an air of lofty con-
sideration, aud to the long story Of
hopes, doubts, and delights she replied
only with cool
"Of course, Jack.
"Why of course?" asked her bro
ther. sharply.
+" Miss Raymond is clever girl, Jack,
and when the prize was actually laid at
her feet IT was not likely she would fail
TO secure her advantage"
!. "She is not whit more clever than
good" answered the Squire. "She
would not have accepted an emperor I'M
less-unless she loved him as she loves
me-"
The Squire said it brsvely, but no
blushed again like boy.
"There are few girls in Miss Ray
mons position, Jack, who would fail TO
love the possessor OF f5,00e year."
Mr.. Collingwood left the room in
speechless indignation.
The wedding was to take place from
the Dover house. fohte dc mieur. Even
the fyousseau indispensable for the