San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-10

GaDrIelle always secretly lett nelseII IN
jured If people did not seem to know
that she was in a room. She did not
want George Gilbert to talk to her
when he came to Wrexham, but when
he came and sat near her, as he often
did, she liked it. When he watched her
as she made those foolish drawings of
hers, she liked that too, even though all
the time he sat watching her, he might
be talking to her uncle, and might
scarcely open his lips to her, perhaps,
to say twenty words,
Indeed, she liked him best when he
was silent, for she was half afraid of
him still,-not by any means at ease
with him, nor certain that, ever if she
could, she would choose to be at ease
with him. She was satisfied when he
sat near her, speaking only a sentence
he was thinking Of her by some occa-
sional slight attention. the handing to
her, perhaps, of a pencil that she want
ed, or the moving of some book or orna-
ment on the table out of her way. She
was content with this amount of notice;
less would not have contented her, but
more than this she hardly wanted. And
more than this he hardly gave her, ex-
cept upon a few occasions.
She had fallen by this time into rather
liking to attend to such advice about
her drawing as he sometimes offered
her. AS l have said, though she drew,
she knew nothing about drawing, and
he would often in a sentence or two tell
her something to do or to avoid doing:
or he would say-"This is wrong" and
would take the pencil from her hand
and alter it; to all which interference
she submitted with quite unusual pa
thence, and eve tried a little and
then to benefit by it. One or two of her
drawings he touched for her a good
deal, and-thOugh in a general way she
used to tear up her sketches as soon as
they were finished, or leave them strew-
ing the table for the housemaid to
gather up and light the fires with in the
morning,-it happened that she did not
tear up these: he said one night to her
also of something she was doing-''That
is very clever, "-and it was noticeable
that this little drawing also she pre-
served. At the same time, however, it
was quite natural that she should pre-
serve both any work that he had spoken
well of, and any work that he had
mended, because such preservation was
compatible with no personal regard at
all for him, but with regard only for
the drawing faculty in him. This would
have been perfectly natural, but still
to be quite frank-Gabrielle would not
have kept a drawing, for any love ofthe
art, simply because he had laid a few
touches on it, three or four months ago.
She would not at that time have done
So; neither would a little incident that
happened n day just before, Christ
mas have affected her, had it happened
then, as it somehow did now"
She was talking with Mr.. Walking
ton n morning, she and he both stand
ing out of doors near the house in a bit
of winter sunshine, when all at Onc
she became var that she was within
earshot of George Gilbert, who had
come up to the hall door across the
grass. She did not know that he was
there. for her back was to the door, till
Mr.. Warrington, perceiving him, made
some token of salutation, and then she
turned round, and as she saw him the
color went up in a great flush to her
face.
He had perhaps been standing there
for several moments, and, If he had, he
must have heard what she had been
saying, and-and she hated to be over
heard! This was the thought that
flashed into her mind in the instant she
saw him, and then it was followed by
an unreasonable feeling of pettish
anger against Mr.. Walkington,-a if it
had been Mr.. Walkington's fault that
she had chosen to stand in the sunshine
and talk nonsense to him.
Mr.. Gilbert, as she turned round, had
lifted his hat to her, but he did no more
than that; he neither spoke nor came
near her. They were hardly half a
dozen steps apart, and anybody else,
she thought to herself in her quick
childish way, would have come to her;
but he did not. They all three stood in
silence for a moment or two, and then
the door opened and he went in. And
after that, Miss Lynn-without much
power of justifying her proceeding, had
she been called upon to justify lids
missed the young clergyman somewhat
summarily, and went her way, feeling
sore and angry, and quite u~nreasonably
vexed, considering how very slight a
thing it was that had happened.
But, in fact, she had been upon her
good behavior for a considerable time
past with Mr.. Warrington, and had not
talked in the old way to him for weeks,
almost for months,-till something
had tempted her to do it to-day; and so,
was it not too hard that, just OF this
one solitary day, when-when she had
been flirting a little with him again, Mr..
Gilbert should come up and Overhear
what she was saying? She was so vex-
ed that the color not only came in her
face, but stayed there. 1T is so miser-
able to be talked about l dare say he
has heard things before, and this will
make him believe them, and-and it's
too bad!n cried the poor little thing to
herself. feeling as if She had been crnel-