Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-16
MISS BRBTHERTON
By MRS. HUMPHREY WARD,

trayed so clearly tho speakers conviction that she had made a foolish mistake, that they stung Kendall to the quic4i How could Marie have known! Had not his letters for the last three months been misleading enough to deceive the sharpest eyess And yet she felt unreasonably that she ought to have Euown-there was a blind c.amor in him against the buntness of her ssterly percep- tion.
 His silence was sc prolonged that Mme dc Chateauvieux was startled by it. She slipped her hand into his arm. '.Eustacer' Still no answer. ''uavc said anything to annoy you, Euscace. Won't you let your old
 sister have her dreams:"
 But still it seemed impossible for him to speak. He could only lay his hand over hers with brotherly clasp. By this time they were at the foot of the stairs, and he led the way up, Mime. de Chateauvieux following il a tuniult of anxious conjecture. When they reached his rooms he put her carefully into chair by tho fire, made her take some sandwiches, and set the kettle to boil in his handy bachelor way that he might make her some tea, and all the time he talked about various nothings, till at last Marie, unable to put up with it any longer, caught his hand as he was bending over the fire.
 "Eustacef she exclaimed, "be kind to me and don't perplex me like this. Oh, my poor old boy, are you in love with Isabel Brother toni"
 He drew himself to his full height on the rug and gazed steadily into the fire, the lines of his mobile face setting into repose
 "Yes," he said, as though to himself, 'I love her; I believe havo loved her from the first moment"
 Mime. de Chateauvieux was tremblinsly silent, her thoughts travelling back over the past with lightning rapidity. Could she re- member one word, one look of Isabel Breth- erton's, of which her memory might serve to throw the smallest ray of light on this dark ness i'll which Eustace seemed to be standingf No, not one. Gratitude, friendship, esteem all these had been there abundantly, but nothing else-not one of those many signs by which one woman betrays her love to an other! She rose and put her arm round her brothers neck. They had been so much to one another for nearly forty years; he had never wanted anything as child or youth that she had not tried to get for him. How strange. how intolerable, that this toy, this boon was beyond her gettingi
 Her mute sympathy and her deep distress touched him, while, at the same time, they seemed to quench the last spark of hope in hiu. Had he counted upon hearing some thing from her whenever he should break silence which would tighten the veil over the future! 1t must have been so, otherwise why this sense of fresh disastera
 Dear Marie" he said to her, kissing her brow as she stood beside him, ''you must be as good to me as you can. I shall probably be good deal out of London for the present, and my books are wonderful help. After all, life is not all summed up in one desire, however strong. Other things are real to mel am thankful to say I shall live it down."
 But why despair so soona" she cried, re- bellinG against this heavy acquiescence of his and her own sense of hopelessness sYou are man any woman might love- Why should she not pass from tho mere friendly intellectual relation to another2 Don't gc away from London. Stay and see as much of her as you can."
 Kendall shook his head II used to dream,n be said huskily, ''of time when failure should have come, when she would want some one to step in and shield her Some times thought of her protected in my arms against tho world. But now?'
 She felt the truth of his unspoken arru- ment-of all that his tone implied. In the minds of both the same image gathered shape and distinctness. Isabel Bretherton in the halo of her great success, in all the intensity of her new life, seemed to her and to him to stand afar off, divided by an impossible gulf from this simple human craving, which was crying to her, unheard and hopeless, across the darkness.