San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-02-14

thing beats US, and We come back in the end
to ~ like and IL don't like."'
"The lunch over, we strolled out along the
common, through heather which as yet was
n mere brown expanse Of howerless under
growth and copes which overhead were O
canopy of golden oak leaf and carpeted
underneath with primroses and the young
upcurling bracken. Presently through a
little wood we came upon a pond lying wide
and blue before US under the breezy May sky,
its shores fringed with scented fir wood and
the whole air alive with birds We sat down
under pile Of logs fresh cut and fragrant
and talked away vigorously. IL was a little
difficult often to keep the conversation on
lines which did not exclude Miss Bretherton.
Forbes, the StuartS, Wallace and are accus-
toned to be together, and one never realizes
what a Frecmasonry the intercourse even
of q capital is until one tries to introduce an
outsider into it. We talked the theatre, Of
course; the ways of different actors the for.
tunes OF managers. Isabel Bretherton nat
urally has as yet seen very little; her COM
ments were mainly personal and all Of a
friendly, enthusiastic kind, for the pro-
feSSion has been very cordial 10 her.
\ month or five weeks more and
her engagement at the Calliopo will
be over. There are other theatres open
20 her, of course and all the managers are
at her feet; but she has set her heart upon
going abroad for some time, and has, |
imagine, made SO much money this season
that the family cannot in decency object to
her having her own way. Il am wild to get
to Italy, she said to me in her emphatic, i'm
petuous way. Sir Walter Rutherford has
talked to me so much about it that l am be-
ginning t. dream Of it. long to have done
with London and be off! This English sun
seems to me SO chilly and she drew her win
ter cloak about her with a little shiver, al
though the day was really an English summer
day, and Mrs. Stuart was in cotton. i came
from such warmth, and | loved it. | have
BEEN making acquaintance with all sorts Of
horrors since came 70 London-face ache and
rheumatism and colds-l scarcely knew there
were such things in the world And | never
knew what it was to be tired before. Some
times can hardly drag through my work.
hate it so; it makes me cross like a naughty
childr
"'Do you KNOW said, fiinging myself
down beside her on the grass and looking up
at her, that it's altogether wrong? Nature
never meant you TO feel tired; it's mon
strous, it's against the natural order of
thingsr
Its London she said with her little sigh
and the dropping lid that is SO prettily
pathetic. 4 have the roar in my ears all day,
and it seems to be humming through my
sleep at night. And then the crowd, and the
hurry people are in, and the quickness and
sharpness Of things! But have only few
weeks marc,' she added, Frightening, and
then by October | shall be more used TO
Europe-the climate and the life
Il am much Impressed, and so is Mrs
Stuart, by the struggle her nervous strength
is making against London. All my nurs-
ing of you, Marie, and of your mother
hes taught me to notice these things In
women, and find myself taking often very
physical and medical view Of Miss Brother
ton. You see, it is a case Of a northern tenn
permanent and constitution relaxed by tropi-
cal conditions, and then exposed once more
in an exceptional degree to the strain and
stress OF northern life. rage when think of
such a piece of physical excellence marred
ami dimmed by our harsh English struggle
And all for WHAT For commonplace,
make believe art, vulgarizing in the long run
both to the artist and the publicl There is
a sense Of tragic waste about it. Suppose
London destroys her hea th-there are some
signs of it-vhat a futile, ironical pathos
there would be in it, long to step in, to
have at somebody, to stop it.
"a little incident later on threw q curious
light upon her. We had moved OH to the
other side OF the pond and were basking in
the fir wood. The afternoon sun was slant
ing through the branches on to the bosom of
the pond; n splendid Scotch FIR just beside us
tossed ont its red limbed branches over a
great bed OF green reeds, starred here and
there with yellow irises. The woman from
the keepers cottage near had brought us out
some tea, and most Of US had fallen into a
sybaritic frame of mind in which talk seemed
to be a burden on the silence and easetul
peace of the scene. Suddenly Wallace and
Forbes fell upon the question of Balztc, Of
whom Wallace has been making q study
lately, and were soon landed in discussion
OF Balzacs method Of character drawing.
Are Eugene de Rastisnac, lie Pere Goriot
and old Graudet real beings or mere iucar-
nations Of qualities, mathematical deductions
from given point! At last | was drawn in,
and the Stuarts; Stuart has trained his wife
in Balzac and size has a dry, original way Of
judging n novel, which is stimulating and
keeps tho ball rolling. 1t was the first time
that the talk had not conferred i'll one way OF
another around Miss Bretherton, who, OF
course, was the first consideration through a
out the day in all our minds We grew We
hemeut and forgetful till at last lit move
ment Of hers diverted the general Gu rem
She had taken of her hat and wa. leaning
back against the oak under which she sat,
watching with parted lips and q gaze Of the
purest delight and wonder the movements Of
a nut hatch overhead. q creature Of the wood