San Francisco vindicator., 1889-02-16
II ~ lave YOU, and YOU aloney"

And then IT dropped ItOIu heT 70"
laxed fingers, and deathly paleness
crept over her features.
.'You are not i'll, Mabelp'
..Oh no, only only little fatigu-
ed, think.
And Mabel quietly tainted.
Three DAYS passed y-four-tive-
ana i week-and still Mr.. Delatield
never came near Mabel Leslie. She
waited. waited. and wondered with
s;ckening heart, and at last made up
her mind. vi,
"Uncle," she said one evening, with
4 faint starlight sort Of smile, II am
GOING home tomorrow"
Tomorrow. pet! Why, your visit
;sn,t half made out. And what will
Ernest say? n
The burning scarlet suffused Mabers
cheek.
II think we have all been mistaken
about Ernest, uncle. He doesn't care
for me-
O,d Mr.. Leslie looked sharply from
one of his nieces to the other. But
Mabel was perfectly calm, and Octavia
never looked up from her reading.
.sThen all can say is, that he has
behaved liked a scoundrelr' he broke
forth.
mo. uncle, we have no right to say
that interposed Mabel with shud-
der. as If his blunt words hurt her. III
have been foolish-that is all Let Us
forget 1t"
Octayia Hardwicke exulted-the coast
was at last clear.
Mr.. Delafield met her in the street
the day after She was prettier than
eyer-her cheeks glowing like roses,
her dark ewes sparkling as If each
were q well Of diamonds He stopped
to enquire about her cousin Mabel
"Oh, didn't YOU knowP" she artlessly
cried. Dear Mabel went home yes
| terday."
Went homer
Eyes. Some rustic love-affair,
shrewdly guess, though, OF course, she
wouldn't contide ia me, knowing that
was Your friend"
III am much obliged to YOU" he said
coldly. did she leave any message
for mefr
mo, none"
He lifted his hat and passed on. Oc-
tavia looked after him with genuine
French shrug of the shoulders
.Itcuts more deeply than | thought,
abe cogitated; 'but he will get over il
in time"
Miss Rardwicke had based her cal
culations on wrong premises this time.
however. Sic had fatally damaged
poor Mabel's cause, but she had not
advanced her own by SO much as q
bairs-breadth. Mr.. Delatield never
came to see her again.
II was wear afterwards when
Ernest Delafield met Miss Leslie on the
shining beach at Long Branch. He
stopped involuntarily; she bowed
coldly.
'.Mabel-but perhaps I ought not tc
call YOU SOP"
you ought not, indeed" she re-
turned with frigid demeanOr.
you are married. then2"
mo. am not. | should suppose
, Miss Hardwicke would have told yol
that"
POSSIBLY she might; but | have no
, seen Miss Hardwic in q year.
: Mabel opened wide her scOrnful blu
J eyes.
"Can that be possible after all you
. tender relations with her?'
I .sTender relations! do not under
stand YOU, Miss Leslie. My relations
! with Miss Hardwicke were never angh
] but those Of friendly kindness, and no
! even as much az that Of late"
ait Il very stranger broke almos
7 unconsciously from Mabels lips.
| mabel, will you explain This mys
3 tery to meP confess that it is alto
! gether seyond my powers Of compre
tension"
! III can only tell you what ! know.
, said Mabel; ''and perhaps in this IN
| stance | owe it to you to be frank.
. And she told him the whole. Hl
9 brow darkened as he listened
"Octavia Hardw exc has been tn
! evil genius Of our livesn he excIaime
I between his set teeth. my Made
9 had we not met here, BY the mere
!. chance, her malice would have SCI
!, arated us forever! And now will 70
\ listen to my defence-call it what 70
Y willpn
Her soft eyes beamed limprdly 3
7 him asAle finished his tale.
g I'VE have each misjudged the othe
II Ernest VI" SHE said. But, tran
Heaven, it is not too late now to beg
Z our lives again"
It And Miss Hardwicke, glancing ov'
q the columns Of the morning paper
n few weeks afterwards, in her lit
q room at fashionable hotel, bit her
d as she read the marriage announc
Df ment Of Ernest Delafeld and Nab
IS Leslie.
1t II do believe there is fate in the
things" she muttered to herself.
rs Aud so there is; but it Is dittere
r. sort Of fate from any that Miss Octay
Hardwicke believed in.