San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-01-06

BeatriX came softly into the drawing
room and saw Edward standing near the
farther end of it with his back toward
her. She paused, and remained motion
less, gazing at him. Her heart went out
toward him, and yet she shrank from
him. She wished to be in fall sympathy
with him, but Mariana seemed to stand
between them. For when she had
learned from Geoffrey's letter to Wallie
that Mariana was Eds companion she
had been forced to the conclusion that
the relation between them must be an
unlawful one, and the circumstance that
Mariana, rather than any other woman,
should be the person holding this posi-
ton had affected her with peculiar
horror. There seemed to be something
wantonly repugnant in it. She might
have prevented herself from definitely
realizing the fact had a stranger to her
self been involved; but Marana!she
had lived under her name and occupied
her place so long as to make her feel
that she was in some way personally
mixed up in the catastrophe.
In few moments Ed turned round
and saw his sister.
The personal magnetism of eye to eye
with those who are really dear to each
other overcomes, for the time being, all
scruples and Teooihngs. When, there
fore, her brother gave glad start, and
stepped toward Beatrix with an inarticu-
late exclamation of affection, she forgot
everything except that he was her
brother, with whom she had spent her
childhood, who had cut his initials on
the banister of the old staircase, whose
white roses she had worn on her bosom
until within the last few months, by
whose side she had ridden, and in whose
company she had ransacked the woods;
she found herself with her arms round
his neck, kissing him, smiling with wet
cheeks, and murmuring: Dear Ed! dear,
darling boyl Oh, am so glad to have
yOu againr'
"How wei you are looking, sis!' he
said at length, taking her by the elbows
and looking at her. She was, indeed,
beautifully dressed, and her face was
rosy with the emotion of the moment,
and, passion aside, he cared more for her
than for any one else, but he had not
the eyes to discern the traces of fatigue
and anxiety on her face; it takes lover
to do that. When man looks at his SIS
ter he thinks Of the past; when he looks
at his mistress he thinks Of the present
and the future.
why, but you're great swell now.
aren't your" Ed continued laughingly.
His temperament varied quickly, and
without any moral reason, between ex-
tremes of depression and joviality. 81
had no idea my little sis was going, TO
come out on the top Of the heap this way.
l always said nobody could beat you
singing, though, and nobody can, though
Vera is perfect in her way, too"
"Verag' she repeated, glancing up
quickly.
That's her name-Vera Mariana. All,
my dear, I've got a heap to tell you about
her! By the way" he said, laughing,
"people here, suppose, think you know
more about Mariana than any one else
Well, You do look little like her
that's what first made me look at her.
But l want You to know her; I'm certain
you'd take TO each other. She's the dear
est woman in the world. and as gener-
Gus and good rs she is lovely"
"GoodY repeated Beatrix, whose face
during this speech had run through a
gamut of expressions and now rested in
bewilderment.
"Goodl i should think so. Do you
imagine I'd want you to know her if she
wasn't everything a lady should be, and
a great deal more? You ought to have
heard the way sailed into poor old dad
inst now for calling her names. guess
he won't do it again.
Beatrix clapped her hands together I'M
der her chin with cry of almost hys-
teric joy, and instantly embraced her
brother again with all the added
ardCr that can be given to affection Ky
remorse She had wickedly wronged
him by allowing herself to imagine, even
for moment, that he or anybody con-
nected with him could ever be anything
but patterns of honesty and virtue. For
fear of making bad worse she forbore
to explain to him the cause of her sud-
den demonstrativeness; he should be
made conscious of her repentance only
by the tenderness and observance which
she would lavish upon him. The thought
came into her mind also that, by her
love for her BROTHER, she could in some
degree compensate herself for the loss Of
her other love-for she told herself that
it was lost, and had been repeating the
statement with tenfold diligence ever
since learning that Godfrey had re-
turned to New York.
Ed ruhn WAC never narticnlarlY oh