The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-05-29
ADDENBROOKE.
IBelgravia.l
I'll never do you wrong for your own sake.
-.4iPs Vel That Ends Ven.
[Belgravia.I

Lydia could not help wondering why
on ear til Addenbrooke should be so anx-
ious to marry her.
She was standing at the window, her
eyes mechanically following the familiar,
insignificant figure OF the professor, as he
plodded down the gravel walk to the gate,
and when he had passed from view she
sat down in the nearest chair and contin-
ued her reflections. 1t was very
strange. She had no love to
give him, and had told him so quite
frankly; he must know, as every one
knew, of that miserable affair with Law
renee Fleming. Was he not Jennings
intimate friend, the last person who had
seen him before he went to Africa?
Moreover, her glass had taken to reflect
ing a woman who was sad and pale and
old before her time; surely not the woman
with whom a man would be expected to
wish to begin his life.
When we have become to ourselves a
daily burden it is so hard to realize that
our presence can be desired of others.
And yet she had been aware of Alden
brookes devotion from the days OF the
good but obstinate little boy with a taste
for chemical experiments, to those OF the
modest young man, who lurked unobtru-
sively in doorways for the purpose Of say
ing goodnight to her, and was always at
hand to fill up vacancies. She had been
aware OF it, but had given it little heed;
hor hn
thought of that devotion moved her
strangely.
She had seen herself drifting on to mid
die age, haggard, loveless, unloved; the
sorriest of spectacles, the emotional woman
whose emotions have wrecked her. Alden
brooke and Alden brooke's love inter
posed themselves like a shield between
her and her fate.
She had given him no answer, but she
knew by now what her answer would be.
The door opened, and Mrs. Grey, her
mother, came into the room.
She sat down in silence chill, comfort
less presence-and regarded her daughter
IRON the distance.
These two women lived together with
out profit or pleasure to either. Mrs.
Grey was capable of making sacrifices, but
she lacked the priceless gift of home
making while Lydia, on her part, chafed
beneath the restrictions OF relationship
i'll which neither affinity nor affection
bore a part.
$50 it was to be Johnny Addenbrooke,
after all, F" reflected Mrs. Grev: "a Cover
ST. professor of no particular distinction.
Well, Lydia was getting on; and if a girl
means to marry she had better manage to
do so before she is five and twenty. And
there has been nothing, it seemed, in that
affair with young Fleming Mrs Grey
was disappointed. 1t is true that Flem-
ing's father kept glove shop in Regent
St, whereas the Addenbrookes had been
gentlefolks for generations; but nobody
minded that sort of thing in these days.
Lawrence Fleming went everywhere, did
everything; his new book from Africa had
made him more of lion than ever hence
he was more to be desired as a husband
than poor Johnny, who went nowhere
to speak of and did nothing but his work.
Lydia rose slowly, and went over to the
writing-table.
As she took up her pen the whimsical
thought struck her that when the other
children had carried their pence to the
sweet-shop JOHNNY had ALWAYS preferred
to invest his capital in mysterious com
pounds at the chemists. y faint smile
lowered about her lips as she wrote
When the letter was finished she laid her
head moment on the desk and shut her
eyes, The old dream, from which she was
turning forever, had rushed with cruel
vividness into her consciousness:
Behut dich Colt, es war IN schon gewesen;
Behut dieh Colt, es hat NIGHT sollen sein.
She rose, stiff and cold, and went over
to her mother.
Lydia was graceful creature. tall, slight,
family colored. Some people thought her
beautiful; others could see no beauty in
her whatever.
Mamma, she said, in her strange, pa
thetic voice, "Prof. Addenbrooke has
asked me to marry him, and / have writ
ten to say yes.