Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-02-06
TINE DUCHESS.
CHAPTER XIX.-CoErnr-ED.

Fsrt "that II was only " momey'fs folly
passing temp alton"
Were you the temptation" with short
laugh Thea all at once touch u passion
breaks up her icy cOmposure. "Scsi Once
for all, she says, coming a step nearer,
don't imagine that you AN impose upon
me. Act your part to the Others, blind
them il you will but don't hope t take me
in. Frlm the very first moment my eyes
lit on you have seen through you. Your
pr, tended avoidance Of Den.s, your care
fully assumed coldness toward him, yoar
clever Little role of petulant dislike; has
been clear to me- and beneath it WHAT
10 yol think" insoently, II could rot
read your eyesl And VIA, eyes you have"
with gust Of Litter h .ired: "they tell
wnaJ yoI dare not put into words; { ,ey
WOO silently the man you know 10 be in
honor bouni t. another; t.ey say such
ameless things as on are ara 10 utter.
Do you Ia M" yelementy, { Mt,
watching you daily, hourly, as l have
ooae, / have OF read Your secret in them?
y es, cover away IL me as you will, you
shall hear what have learned-that yod-
love h IN"
/ No.rlh puts out her hard AS If to ward
Off low. ''Hah Does that mako YOU
rink? Does that hurt yoLi l." vindic-
tive y, Fam glad of it. Now go! And
remenb.r!''
the 1 uchess a feeling OF intolerable indig-
rati'n.
~ tball remember you-forever, she
says, bieathl IS child silly, perhaps yet
with w therng con empt that cuts deep
into The b ughJy woman before her, 'as the
most Ill. bred person have ever mel"
Heartsck and wearied by this addition to
the sec.et Gref she always carries, and
crushed by n sense of bitter humiliation it
Is b5 cause of n feigned heada,hs that thu
Duchess d clares her inabilty 90 accom-
pauy the others TO tie military theatricals
st loabree, that tase Place this evening
"What has Katherine been dong to
youF" asks shrewd Miss bllke. looking
down uoon avery pale little Norah, who is
tting lang idly in hugo armchair in T.
brary, whore they have all assem- led
whilst wa ting for the carriages She is
dressed in very rretty white gown, male
high to he neck, but with no sleeves, and
her fare is as white as her frocll.
"Kapterise? Why should you think
that" growing crimson ~ am not well;
my head aches but
''Never mind. II let you or the rest.
Fibbing isn't much in yo r line" says Miss
Blake, with a sapient d. ~ &c wait
and get it all out of you tomorrow.
She moves away with little provoking
glance ove- her shOuller at Moral, as she
Bees Madam De aney a preaching with q
rather anxious expression on her fare.
IL hope you won't feel lonely, darling"
shs says tendorly, bending over Norlh.
"Oh, no. ] am too tired" with smile,
"to fesl anything"
1.-THE carriage is waiting, aunt" says
Miss Caza'et in measured tones, sweeping
up TO them in an exquisite gown of black
aud god.
az cry well, my dear" placidly. "Now.
Norah," turning again with a fond glance
20 her other niece, ''you WI promise mo,
won'b you dearest, to go 10 be | at lce?"
IAN easy promise to give. wish was
In It his monent.''
ITO confess q terrible ruth tn you" she
says, II wish with all my heart that too
Vas In mine. D."
She kisses TIE girl afrectionately, and
soon afterward they have all gone OFT of
the room; tn TO is the last sound of their
-2otsteps in the hall; faint far-off laugh
tnat was Nan y-and now even tho roll OF
thu carr lagos up the avenue has ceased
upon the air.
What a curioIs scene OF loneliness has
salen upon the house, almost it seems as
thou7h tho very servants had left IL. There
Is ,ertainly nothing TO sit IN for. ard yet
in spite of that promise given 50 iepdily to
MOlam, Norah cannot br ng herself TO go
to bed. The spirit of re tl'smasl has ta'cn
po session % her. aud risin- from her chair
ths wanders IN M nimiess IA hi III about the
library, touching n book here. trifling with
a sot of rnre prints there, now stirring the
Already glowing fire, now staring idi : Mt
the large well-Glled bookc1se', ! ut always
and in every case vii hout int rest
One OF The servants rings h'r presently
a cup OF tea. which she accepts glad y, yet
after all forgts TO drink. vi after that no
one comes 10 disturb her solitude. which il
perhaps the worse thing that could have
happened To her. Left thus, entirely alone
with Der thou hts, they tirn TO. and dwell
- it'll a most unhappy Ters 'stency upon the
.. snts Of TO-DAY and the past ght, paint
ing them in their blacklist lors until
f.l.lly, worn ont with grief and misery,
sue sinks upon low lounge and bur is into
bitter weeping
AMI then. wear'ed by her en- Dtion, y.
pad drooIs heavily upon the so't crr;ii'a.
. the lounge e-d rests there atcfu ly,
nth a happy sense OF re- iof: and after
,wh 10 that sense of re ief turns to kindly
Ieep, which, growing on her. she draws
,p, half unconsriously her feet Co tIis well
ONE rcstful couch, ard with n few ia mt
hs falls into profound s.umLer.