The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-26


of memory and sentiment, in the
land of his birth, and such interests as
life still possessed for him must needs be
put an end TO by his departure from Aus
tralia. He decided. therefore. to remain
Were he was, and for second period OF
close upon ten year, he adhered to his de-
I termination. growing richer and richer as
the days and weeks and months passed on,
and being. upon the whole, not so very
discontinued with his lot though he was
considered by his associates to be re-
served and somewhat morose man.
Without being precisely morose he was
certainly reserved, especially in his rela-
tons with the opposite sex, some men,
bers of which, as may well be supposed,
would not have been unwilling TO enliven
the solitude of 50 well-to-do parsonage. 1t
would be untrue and unfair to say that he
looked forward to the demise OF Sir
Thomas StretteIl, whom he had ascertained
to be a warrior well striker in years; yet it
was the intelligence of that sad occurrence
which caused him at length to make
hasty provisional arrangements for the
management of his colonial affairs and to
take his passage on board homeward-
bound steamer. He was at this time in
his 18th year. He was In the enjoyment
of robust health, and his hair was only
just beginning to turn gray. He had, of
course, entered upon the second and more
rapid stage of life's brief journey. Still,
as he had not grown fat. he retained some
of the attributes of youth, and if con-
stancy be not, strictly speaking, one
of these, it was at any rate rather
youthful of him to imagine that the feel
ings which he had cherished for such an
outrageous length of time were at all
likely TO be reciprocated by the girl whom
he had left behind him, and who was now
middle-aged woman. He had not been
without news of her. He had heard
through the medium of those 6-penny
weekly journals, whose mission it is to
keep the questionable in touch with the
fashionable world, that she had had three
stepdaughters, of whom two had been sat
isfactorily mated, while the third still re-
manned upon her hands. He pictured
her to himself as being what he
believed that she had always been
more thoughtful for the welfare of
others than for her own. And possibly he
may have laid the flattering JUNCTION to
his soul that a second husband with an
ample income might at least hope to rem
der her declining years happier and more
free from anxiety than her earlier ones
had been.
allowed his thoughts to dwell upon the
change which time could not but have
effected in her personal appearance.
Consequently he received a well-merited
shock when in due course of time he was
shown into the drawing-room of the VIM
bledon villa, which Sir Thomas Strettell
had bequeathed to his widow. 1t was
not that Lady Strettell looked old or even
that she looked her age, for the skillful
employment of various skillful contriv-
ances had preserved her from any such af-
Fiction, and with her graceful figure and
smooth cheeks she might at a certain dis
tance have passed for woman of 80 or
thereabouts. But she was not Helen
Lawford. That much Mr.. Best per-
ceived while he was still shaking hands
with her and recalling himself to her
recollection, but the discovery did not rem
der him any the less in love with her.
When one has been in love with woman
for the best part of ones life it is not hair
dye or cosmetics that can open ones eyes
to realities, and although this phenomenon
of fidelity was shocked he was not dis
gusted. He really could not afford to be;
it would have been as reasonable to ask
him to abandon his faith in Christianity
or his equally firm conviction that bust
ness is business.
Lady Strettell was quite pleased to see
him, and her manner became additionally
gracious when she learned, as she did after
very few minutes conversation, that he
had made such admirable use of his OPP
portunities on the other side of the world
He had not the courage to tell her what
had brought him back, nor did she appear
to have the faintest suspicion OF his mo-
tives. She talked to him as to an old
friend who would be naturally interested
in hearing of the subjects which interested
her, and he gathered that the settling in
life of her only unmarried stepdaughter,
Milly, was the object which at that time
chiefly engrossed her attention.
"She is a charming girl and really very
pretty, in an unpretentious sort of way"
Lady Strettell informed him. You must
come and dine with us some evening and
tell me what you think of her. Unfortu-
nately can't, with my reduced income.
give her a season in London, and Young
men won't be inveigled down to Wimble
don by anything short of a pastoral play,
for which our grounds are hardly large
enough. Besides, We are still in mourn
ing, you know.
She was not in very deep mourning. Sir
Thomas had been beneath the sod for
nearly year, and in this latter part of the
nineteenth century We all live at rather
high rate of speed Lady Strettell's
widows cap had been, if not iete par-desStts
les mouths, at least discarded, and there
was a suspicion of lilac ribbon about her
throat and wrists.
81 should like very much to dine
with YOU" said the slightly bewildered
Australian, in the slow, grave accents
which were habitual to him. st seems
strange, somehow. to think of you with
grown-up daughter. though. to be sure,
she isn't your own daughter"
''Oh, well, she might be my daughter,
you know" answered Lady Strettell, with
laugh and shrug of her shoulders.
That is the worst of very old friends;
they are only too well aware how ancient
one is. | hope You have better feeling
than to betray me, though"
He returned, with rather more readiness
than might have been expected of him,
that he valued his own reputation for YER
acity far too much to do so, since nobody
would believe him if he did And this
seemed to please her ladyship, who, by
way of acknowledging the compliment,
remarked:
We'll, l won't tell you that you look
young, because, of course, you are young
for man; and since you are bachelor,
and SO rich into the bargain, you mustn't
expect that we shall allow YOU to leave
these shores unmarried. Come and dine
on Thursday, If you have nothing better
TO do. You will be introduced To Mily.
and will see If | can't get one or two peo-
pie 10 meet you"
Kindly though Lady Strettells recep-
ton of him had been, Mr. Best went his
way back TO London somewhat saddened
and dlsenchanted, as well as angry with