Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-03-22


had generated she could not have con
tained herself and slept
But here Miss Travers came to her 70
lief. Her beauty, her winsome ways
her unqualified delight In everything
that was soldierly. speedily rendered heI
vastly attractive TO all the young officer
In garrison. Graham and Foster, Of the
infantry, Merton, Webster and Royce, Of
! the cavalry, haunted the house at all
manner Of hours, and the captain bade
them welcome and urged them TO come
,oftener and stay later, and told Mrs.
Rayner he wanted some kind Of n sup
| per or collation. every night. He set be-
| fore his guests good deal OF wine, and
drank rood deal more himself than he
had ever been known to do before, and
they were keeping very late hours at
Rayner's, for, said the captain, ~ don't
care IL Nellie In engaged; she shall have
a good time while she's here; and IL the
boys know all about it-goodness knows
you've told them often enough, Kate
and they don't mind 1t, why, it's nobody's
business--here, mt least"
What Mr.. Van Antwerp might think
VI CuIo was uuOtutI buAttths
never saw him, and did not know him.
He rather resented 1t that Van Antwerp
had never written TO him and asked his
consent. As Mrs. Rayner's husband and
Nellies brother -in-law, 1t seemed 10 him
he stood in loco PARENTS; but Mrs. Ray
ner managed the whole thing herself,
and he was not even consulted. IL any
thing, he rather enjoyed the contempla.
ton Of Van Antwerps fidgety frame Of
mind as described to him by Mrs. Ray
ner about tho time II became apparent TO
her that Nellie was enjoying the atten-
tions OF which she was 80 general an OBJ.
ject, and that the captain was sitting up
later and drinking more wine than was
good for him. She was aware that the
very number OF Nellis admirers would
probably prevent her becoming cntangled
with any one Of them, but she needed
something to scold about, and eagerly
pitched upon this.
She knew well that she could not com.
fort her husband in the anxiety that was
gnawing at his heartstrings, but she was
jealous Of comfort that might come to
him from any other source, and the
Lethe OF wine and jolly companionship
she dreaded most Of all. Long, long be-
fore, she had induced him TO promise
that he would never offer the young off,
GERS spirits In his house. She would not
prohibit wine at table, she said; but she
never thought Of there coming time
when he himself would seek consolation
in tho glass and make up in quantity
what it lacked In alcoholic strength. He
was impatient Of all reproof now. and
would listen to no talk; but Nellie was
years her junior--more years than she
would admit except ut such times as
these, when she meant to admonish; and
Nellie had to take it.
Two weeks after their arrival mt War
rener tho burden Of Mrs. Rayner's song
morn, noon and night--was: "What
would Mr.. Van Antwerp say IL he could
but SEQ this or hear thatT'
Can any reader recall an instance
where the cause Of an absent lover was
benefited by the ccaseless warning in a
woman's ear, "Rcmember, you're en-
gagedT The hero Of antiquity who
caused himself to be attended by shad-
owing slave whispering ever and only,
Remember, thou arc mortal" Is q fine
figure to contemplate-at this remote
date. He, we are told, admitted the
need, submitted TO the infliction. But
lives there woman who will admit that
she needs any instruction as to what her
conduct should be when tho lord Of her
heart Is away7 Lives there u woman
who. submitting, because she cannot es-
cape. to the constant reminder, "Thou
art engaged" will not resent it in her \
heart Of hearts and possibly revenge her.
self on the one alone whom she holds ut
her mercy? Left to herself-to her gen.
erosity, her conscience, her innate ten
derness cause Of the absent one will
plead for ITSELF and, IL it have even faint
foundation, hold its own. "With the
best intentions in the world" many an
excellent cause has been ruined by the
injudicious urgings Of mother; but to
talk an engaged girl into mutiny, rely
on the infallibility Of two women--a
married sister or maiden aunt.
Just what Mr.. Van Antwerp would
have said could he have seen tho situa-
ton at Warrener is perhaps impossible
to predict. Just what he did say with
out seeing was. perhaps, the most un-
wise thing he could have thought Of: he
urged Mrs. Rayner to keep reminding
Nellie of her promise His had not been
life of unmixed joy. He was now
nearly 35, and desperately in love with
pretty girl who had simply bewitched
him during the previous summer. 1t
was not easy to approach her, then, he
found, for her sister kept vigilant guard;
but, once satisfied OF his high connec-
tions, his wealth and his social standing,
the door was opened, and he was some-
thing more than welcomed, said the gos-
sips at the Surf house. What his past
history had been, where and how his
life had been spent, were matters of less
consequence, apparently, than what he
was now. He had been wild at college,
as other boys had been. she learned he
had tried the cattle business in the west.
she was told; but there had been quar-
rel with his father, q reconciliation,
devoted mother, a long sojourn abroad
Heidelberg-a sudden summons to re-
the management Of valuable estate fell
to the son. :
There were other children, brother
and sisters, three in all, but Steven was
the first born and the mothers glory.
She was with him at the seaside, and the
first thing that moved Nellie Travers to
like him was his devotion to that white
haired woman who seemed SO happy in
his care. Between that mother and Mrs
Rayner there had speedily sprung up an
acquaintance. She had vastly admired
Nellie, and during the first fortnight Of
their visit TO the Surf house had shown
her many attentions. The illness of
daughter called her away, and Mrs. Ray
vnor anpnuneah that sh.. too uaa a,nina