Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-02-10

sorry directly; but my dignity forbade
my calling him back to retract the
snub. Yet 1 WIS dying to know the
reason of his violent prejudice against
Mr.. Rayner. To M relief, in few
minutes he came back to me of his own
accord.
Is Miss Christie" he began, nervous
", 81 am afraid I have offended you.
Won't you forgive me for being carried
little too far by my interest in a lady
who herself confessed that she is away
from her friends for the first time and
not-very happyP'
could not resist such an appeal
looked up smiling:
"Oh, 1 am not at all offended! But
! should like to know what reason you
have for thinking so i'll of Mr.. Ray
ner." Perhaps am wrong" he said.
at is not his fault that, with all his
cleverness, his ease of manner is not
quite the ease of a gentleman"
considered for moment and then
said, timidly: won't you tell me
anything more? l am alone in the
world and need all the knowledge I can
get of the people live among to guide
me in my conduct
He seemed to debate within himself
for a moment, and then drawing near
said, very earnestly:
seriously, then, Miss Christie, I
would advise you to leave the Alders
as soon as you possibly can, even be-
fore you have got another engagement.
You are in the midst of more dangers
than you can possibly know of, more
probably than l know of myself, more
certainly than can warn you against"
His voice was very low as he finished,
and while we both remained silent,
dark figure suddenly appeared before
us, blocking out the light 1t was Mr..
Rayner. Mr.. Reade and 1 started
guilty. The newcomer had ap-
preached so quietly that we had not
heard him; had he heard usp
Mr.. Rayner was in the brightest of
humors; and his first words dispelled
the warning that Mr. Reade had just
given me. He caught sight of me first.
AT last, Miss Christie! 1t was a
hsppy thought of mine to look for you
here. But how in the world did you
discover this place of refugee" Then,
turning, he saw my companion. "Hallo,
| Laurcnce! All, this explains the mys-
terry! You have been playing knight
/ GRANT, | see, and am too late in the
field; but shall carry off the lady, after
all. My wife noticed that you started
without your ulster. Miss Christie, and
sent me off with it to meet you"
The rain soon began to fall less
heavily, and we seized the opportunity
to make our escape. We all went to-
gpthcr rs far as the park gates, where
MIR. Reade left us.
Mice young fellow that" said Mr..
Rayner, as soon as the other was out
of ear-shot. Handsome, frank and
good-natured. He is worth all the rest
of his family put together. Father
sclf-important, narrow-minded old SIM
pleton; addressed vegetable,
kept.alive by a sense of her own di"ni-
ty as the penniless daughter of an Earl;
sistcrs-plain stuck-up nonentities;
younger brother-dunce at Eton. But
they haven't been able to spoil Lau-
renee. You don't understand the rustic
mind yet, Miss Christie. l assure you
there are plenty of people in this parish
who have condemned me to eternal
punishment because play the violin. y
'.Do you play the violinp Oh, 1 am
so fond of it!'
"Are you? Poor child, you had bet
ter not acknowledge the taste as long
as you remain in this bcnighted spot
they class it with the black art. How.
ever. you shall hear my violin some
evening, and give me your opinion Of
it,
AS we entered the garden gates
saw woman's figure on our right.
could not recognize her on account O.
the darkness, and only guessed it was
, Mrs. Rayner. The idea of those grea
weird ewes watching me made me UNI
comfortable Mr.. Rayner did not 10 IL
that way and left me in the hall, goi se
! to his study, while l went into our littl,
school-room to put my church service
: away.
The French window had not beer
closed, and l walked up to it to SCI
] whether the rain had come in. Thu
. sky was still heavy with rain-clouds, S,
I that it was quite dark indoors, ant
, while 1 could plainly see the woman
I had noticed stepping over the flower
r beds on the lawn, and making her wa,
to the front of the house, she could no
sec me. When she came near enough
9 for me to distinguish her figure, say
I that it was not Mrs. Rayner, but Sarah
the housemaid. l stood rather in aw
= of this woman; she was so tall and s
|. thin, and had such big eager eyes an
such curiously constrained manner
:. She was only a few steps from the win
dow where I stood completely hidde
Nv Tic cuTIdlIl, WITCH MI. IiC1 pStSSC
quickly and caught her arm from be
hind. She stopped short with sort c
I gasp.
"What were you doing in the shrut
}, berry just now, Sarah?' he asked, quie
O ly. IF you want to take fresh air
d the garden, you must keep to the law
# and the paths. By walking over tn
beds you do damage to the flowers
u and to yourself. If you can not r.
member these simple rules, you wi
have to look out for another situation.
y She turned round sharply.
'Another situation! Mel"
l. eyes, you. Though I should be so
d ry to part with such an old servan
yet one may keep a servant too long.
n 'Old! l wasn't always old!' 81
a broke out, passionately.
d therefore you were not always
- receipt of such good wages as you g