The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1889-05-11

against the world, let it say what it will
Come, now, you've never called me Horac
yet, Celia-Celia, my pet and my darling
All | see, must charm those tremblin
lips into speech. Now, when l hold yo
so, whisper it ever, ever so softly, and loy
will make me hear
"Horace, Horace, oh, you know l low
you; how can / help it?'' cried the woman
but as she spoke she loosed herself fror
his embrace and stood looking wistfull
away toward the blue and shining sea.
All was so calm, so sweet, so sunny tina
summer day on the Riviera, it seemed a
though life should know uaught of sin, no
wrong, nor pain, and as though humal
souls should be free to enjoy the warmth
and the beauty of their short young da,
gladsomely, as the gay butterflies tina
chased each other wantonly from flower t
/ flower.
Warburton threw himself on the sand al
her feet; no troubles of conscience disturb
ed him; it was another triumph won; bein!
won already he could take it calmly, ant
he watched the woman little curiousll
as the color slowly faded from her cheek!
and her hands clasped each other hel pless
ly, while her proud head bowed itself be
meath the shame that covered her.
"Who would have thought it; the crea
ture has something of conscience, mus
ed the man. at is troublesome, but il
makes the game more interesting" He
let her alone a moment or two, languidly
enjoying her beauty, and intellectually rel
ishing the study of weak, tempted, strug
Cling human soul-sinee that soul was q
woman's, though he must not let the strug
gle be too long continued, lest the issue
might grow doubtful; so much he recog
too, that after the bat
tie with her own higher self the woman, il
her weakness and her weariness, would bt
all the easier conquered by an external
tempter.
Bah there was scare psychological
phrase a woman could 90 through on hel
downward path of which this man did not
know the outward signs: he had played
both Mephistopheles and Faust combined
in his own person too often not TO recog
nize every point Of vantage.
That night Mrs Burrell was gayer than
her wont. The house where they were
STAYING was full of those odds and ends of
English society SO often to be found abroad
people Whose purses, regulations, health
and happiness have gone to wreck and
who make the best they can of the remain
der in out-of-the-way places where their
histories are unknown. With her youth,
her beauty and her husbands wealth, Mrs.
Burrell reigned queen of place where
there was little of attractive womanhood to
be met, and it scarcely needed her gift of
song to win her all the admiration aud
fiattery even she could wish. She had
sung again and again as though she could
never tire, and her reckless laugh echoed
through the room and grated on her hus-
bands fastidious ears even more than the
songs she had chosen, yet never had his
pitiful heart ached so much for the woman
he vet loved.
Some answering magnetism in his own
nature rendered him conscious of the storm
or passion that was surging within her,
aud divine, self-forgetting pity made him
long to help the wife whom he yet knew
TO be false TO him at heart.
The evening was over at last, and the
brilliant woman stood in the centre of her
own room loosening her magnificent hair
from the coils that had eneircled her regal
head Gilbert stood watching her for a
moment or two before retiring to his own
apartment, which opened out of hers. \
sudden, foolish impulse took possession OF
the nan. self.restrained as he had grown
Of late, and he stepped up TO her.
Celia, Celia, dear wife have you not
one word to give me p he said, half brok.
enly; but cold good night was the only
answer to his appeal, and, stung to the
quick, Gilbert Burrell turned away in
silence
Ii was midnight, yet the woman he left
paced her room, and her little hands
elenched themselves passionately. 1t seem
ed TO her she held her whole life in her
own power, and might choose to mould il
as she would Duty had little meaning to
her, yet not for nothing had she lived these
last few years with one whose sense Of
honor was high aud nature pure Insen.
sibly that ideal her husband reverenced
had influenced her Now she did not
think so much Of her wealth aud her lux
uries as she weighed the choice she had to
make; perhaps she got used to them, and
so valued them the less. Yet with what
she called love on one side, and against it
only an intangible something that held heI
back Though she could not name it even
10 herself she hesitated.
At length she throws herself upon heI
bed dressed as she is, aud sleep settles oI
her eyelidS. Conscience for the time i
silenced in her breast, but it keeps hel
husband sleepless as it whispers of tn,
wrong he has done the woman that h
loved, aud night deepens toward the dawn
Some impulse makes him rise at last an'
90 to her room. He shades the night ligh
/ with his hand aud bends over her as sh,
lies flushed and smiling in her slumbers.
+ Horace Horace r whisper the warn
and pouting lips, and Gilbert grows ghastl.
pale and his hand trembles. His braiI
seems to reel and there is strange nois
in his ears. He sinks into low chair b,
the bed and tries to calm himself, but tina
odd noise only grows the louder. Surely
surely it is not his own heart throbbing ST
wildly? Is it the wind rising or the SCUM
of the distant water? he wonders vaguel
as it grows louder and louder and eve
seems more near.
Fire Fire Fire comes cry upo
the night, and then the rush of hurryin
feet, and Celia springs from her couc
quivering with terror.
Save me, save me, Gilbert VIII
don't you save me 2" she cries, but Gilbei
turns from her, hurrying to the adjoinin
room, where his child and hers lies alon
in its innocent helplessness.
The father seizes the boy in his arms
but Celia grovels at his feet in utter sell
abandon. The surface polish has droppe
from her, and all the wild animal instint
of representation awakens within her an
conquers every nohler instinct,
A bitter smile curls Gilberts lips for
moment, and his soul is full of unutterabl
contempt-then his face changes.
Men think quickly in such moods as hi,
and he glances at the beautiful creatur
more.in pity than scorn. No wonder Iii
is sweet to her, since youth and beauty an