Mexico weekly ledger., 1891-01-01
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So, when Percy Thorold made his ap-
pearance at the house in Ebury street,
there, sure enough, was the requisite old
woman, and five minutes afterward he
was seated beside Miss Leslie in COM
parative seclusion. Hard was his fate,
and hard the task which he had to per.
form. 1t is fact, and rather lnelan
choly one-bnt nobody will deny the
fact-that love, more than any other oi
the passions to which we are subject, is
increased by being thwarted Never
before had Dorothy seemed to him sc
charming; never before had he felt in
the same degree the impossiblity Of say
ing even the most commonplace thing
to her without letting her see how he
adored her He could not help noticing
that her color was little brighter than
usual, that her speech was somewhat
quicker. and that there was suspicion
of nervousness in her manner. 1t was
beyond doubt that she had guessed
the original object of his visit. and flesh
and blood could hardly withstand the
temptation to give her hint as to the
true position of affairs. However, he
was an honorable man. and he knew
that he must not daily with that tempta
ton. To place himself beyond reach of
it he said rather suddenly:
Il suppose one won't see you again
for an age, Miss Leslie? / am thinking
of betaking myself to the uttermost
ends of the earth until parliament reas
sembles."
Well, she certainly looked surprised
but perhaps it may not have been SC
much his announcement as the tremu
Ious voice in which he made it that sur.
prised her.
What do you mean by the utter
most ends of the earth?" she inquired
smiling. Not Westmoreland, l an
afraid. That is where we shall be fol
long time to come"
No" he answered sadly. mot West
moreland. had an idea of India and
Japan and San Francisco. l shall hate
the voyages and the journeys, and in,
deed the whole thing from beginning tc
end; but one comfort is that when it is
over one will never he expected to do il
again"
''Oh. 1 dare say you will enjoy it," she
said carelessly.
Il think not; but it is the sort of thing
that has to be done sooner or later. Every.
body goes round the world nowadays,
he pleaded, making his desire to excuse
himself trifie too obvious, .'and-and
think have rather knocked myself up
with these night sittings. and no doubt
| shall be all the better for a complete
change, though the process may not be
altogether pleasant while it lasts. And
then, you know. there is one great ad.
vantage of going far away, which is the
intense delight of returning to ones
friends"
But of course he could not better his
position by such speeches as that. Say
what he would, the facts remained that
he had paid marked attention to this
girl; that he had begged flower from
her on the occasion of their last meeting
and that he had made an appointment
with her for the ostensible purpose of
saying good-by to her, and the unmis-
taxable purpose Of saying something
else. Now, apparently, he had nothing
to tell her except that he meant to run
away, and that he was a good deal
ashamed of running away. Whether
she loved him, or hated him. or did not
care a brass farthing about him, such
conduct must inevitably strike her as
contemplate. And that it did SO strike
her the unfortunate man perceived
plainly enough, although she said moth
ing worse TO him than.
Il can't imagine any delight being
exactly intense to you: you would al
ways be thinking of the reverse side of
the shield, even though you couldn't see
it."
Indeed you are quite wrong he pro-
tested warmly. Every likely 1 do keep
rather too watchful an eye upon the
seamy side of most things: but that only
gives Inc a keener joy in the things
which have no seamy side And one of
those things, y he ventured to add. would
be visit to Westmoreland. Will you
be there the whole of next winter, do
you think? In the month of January,
for instance:"
Il really don't know: but we live
there and we don't often leave home" :"
answered Dorothy.
$50 that if l We're to turn up at that
time-if happened to be staying for a
few days with my cousin, Sybil Belvoir
I might hope to find you in the neigh
borhood? I don't see why l shouldn't
invite myself to stay with Sybil when 1
return" he continued musingly Then
something that he saw in Dorothy's face
prompted him to add, "She and are
nothing more than friends and cousins
now. and am sure that she is quite as
glad of that as am"
Miss Leslie made no rejoinder, but
presently she asked him whether he
would have another cup of tea. and on
his declining moved into the front room.
whittier he followed her perforce. The
old lady, who may have had intelligence
enough to surmise why her company had
been desired, and why her room would
now be more welcome, rose at once to
depart, and after she had gone poor
Percy had to pass through an uncom-
Portable five minutes. Mrs. Leslie was
simple, honest sort of woman. and as
the news which her daughter impaired
to her so calmly filled her with conster-
nation it was quite out Of her power to
conceal what she felt
She said, "Oh, indeed!' and then re-
manned absolutely silent while her visitor
explained somewhat confusedly that he
required a change, and that it was the
fashion to go round the world now, and
so forth; but when he reached the point
of saying that he should try to be in
Westmoreland in six months time she
could not refrain from giving him a
tolerably direct snub.
I'VE do mot see much of Lady Belvoir' 5
friends. said she. Lady Belvoir scarce
ly visits at all in the country. and should
not, in any case. care very much about
that kind of society. Besides, am not at
all sure that we shall be ut home in jan
uary. should be glad to escape the long
winter, and we may very possibly move
south when the cold weather sets in
And if you do go south where will
You go:" asked Percy. who felt that he
could not afford to accept a snub.
That is quite uncertain. Dorothy,
dear, didn't you say that you wanted me
to go to some shops with you? And do
you see what the time is:f
After that Percy could only take him
self off as speedily as possible. Mrs.
Leslie's method of showing displeasure
was lacking in grace and dignity, but
she had every right to be displeased and