The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-23

hidden her face The loss of her hair
seemed 10 be no trouble to her.
He pretended that no was taking great
deal of very unnecessary trouble, which
vexed him considerably. He uttered sew
eral uncomplimentary remarks about the
length of the hair and the amount of it:
but jess did not listen to him, and Alice
was not deceived. Alice knew by some sub
tie instinct of her own that it gave him
pleasure to touch even the hairs Of j. SIS be-
loved head. Stephens affection was of a
wild and even a crazy sort; but it was
strangely deep aud strong, aud it had with
in il romantic strain which made him
capable of unexpectedly dariug deeds It
was not nineteenth century, prosaic kind
of love at all. Ho was a poor, common
looking man, somewhat truculent of aspect
and surly of spesch, but he had within him
a capacity for passion aud devotion which
would have done credit to knigat of the
Middle Ages. The difficulty with Stephen
was that oil this fine and roble capacity
was running to waste for want of some con-
| trolling guidance. There was no intellect
ual power, no reasoning mind, in the man
10 guide his turbulent impulses; eve his re-
ligious feeling, which ought TO have re-
strained them, had been perverted by his
| passions into an influence for evil rather
| than for good. And, therefore, the love that
might have baautitied his whole life, had be-
full not only to wreck his own souI but that
of the woman whom he loved.
He went out of the room, muttering
| harsh things against his burden Of hair, but
wnen he had shut the door his words
| ceased, and his face suddenly changed. He
| set the newspaper down on his bed and
plunged his hands into the soft golden mass
| which il contained. The hair was crisp yet
| yielding; the curls chung round his fingers as
| If they had been alive. He looked at tho N
| for n long time in silence; then he bent his
| face down and kissed the radiant locks. 1t
| seemed to him almost as il he were kissing
Jess herself; and thick sobs surged up in his
| throat one after another, shaNing his whole
| frame, as ne pressed his lips to Jess lost
glory. He sank TO his knees at last, and
| knelt at the bedside, crying like q child.
Alice opened the door Of the inner room
once and looked at him, but she shut it again
very softly, and never told what she had
seen. When, after half an hours interval,
! Stephen came back TO make an inquiry OF
| her concerning some work that had TO be
done, hs face, though stern, was calm and
unnIovcd as usual. 1t was Alice's face that
was blurred and stained with tears.
jess did not seem concerned about the
loss of her hair. She had grown out Of any
vanity that she possessed. She did noteven
| look at herself in the glass. Stephens
reiterated assurances that she had bean
dupet into u false marriage produced
| their effect at last. She knew nothing
| Of law she was inclined TO believe what she
| was tod. She did not think that he would
''shame her for nothing, F." as she said TO her.
self. As George had given up any search
| for her and gone away from England $50
Stephen told herr, it was evident that ne
| cared for her no longer. She was utterly
miserable, ana only longed to die. What
was the loss of her bright hair compared
with this greater loss of all that made life
| sweet?
Stephen had not deceived her when he
said that George Eastwood was going away.
| AS soon as he was able to travel, he left
| England, longing for rest and change. He
was all but convinced Of Jess unfaithful-
ness to him, and he wanted to wipe all
memory of her out OF his heart He was
| indignant with himself for having lavished
so much tenderness upon girl Of the peo-
| pie, who had gole back TO the low sur
roundings of her earlier life He was fas-
tidious, and it lowered him in his own eyes
| to think that he had not been able to lift
the girl to his own level by the power Of his
| love.
SO he went away, and Jess was conveyed
by night TO Beaumont buildings; and there,
when the June days were long and sunny,
! and the skies looked blue even through tho
| haze Of the London smoke. there a little
daughter was born to jess, whom she called
| Georgina, in memory of the days when she
had believed herself to be George East
woods wife.
| TTO BE CONTINUED