The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-08


MRs. LYNN LINTON.
moon, which love makes Of honey and all
that is not love turns to gall. Everything
was in their favor, and their coming mar
rage was one in which the most critical,
the most ccnsorious could find no flaw. 1t
was 40 smooth as satin and as clear as
crystal Fortune, station, health, ages
not . crooked straw was on their path, not
leaf Of nightshade presaged the coming
of the deadly witch of misfortune. Naomi
had had no other fancy by which to COM
pare her lover to his disadvantage, and
Hubert had buried out of sight all his.
He had sown his wild oats and the sack
was now empty. and yet-the harvest?
Bitter enough at the time, was it really all
stacked and garnered? Might not some
aftermath crop up again when least ex-
pected? The passover is vitiated for the
pious Jew If but one measure of leaven re-
mains. What of the passover of the Fates
who pursue, of the vengeance which
strikes, If aught of that bitter harvest of
youthful folly remains?
Why did the thought of her suddenly
cross his mind at this moment? Why did
Naomi's Blended neck make him slightly
shiver as if cold wind had passed over
him, gorgeous, burning summer time as it
was? As she stopped her head, looking
into the little pool where the sea flowers
had spread out their colored rays, the sun
light caught the fringe at the back of her
neck, and the brown of her hair was
frightened into gold.
A sudden longing to kiss those feathery
little curls flushed him like fever, and then
q thought checked his impulse, and made
his blood run cold as if q wandering ghost
had touched him as it passed. The last
time he had kissed q woman's neck, there
at the back. he had been sitting as now on
the sand by the sea shore. But it had
been in France, at that glaring, garish
Trouville, not in ieafy little home bay in
Devonshire, and instead of Naomi Ponson-
by, pledged to be his wife before the year
was ont, his companion had been the
beautiful American, Mariquita Delmar,
with whom there had never been . ques-
tion Of marriage. For was not that burly,
black-bearded, crop-haired man who once
. week came down to see her, and of
whom she was evidently so much afraid,
Auguste Delmar and her husband? All
the same, wife as she was, or seemed to be,
Hubert had loved this woman with the in
tensity Of young mans first serious pas
sion. And when his enlightenment came
nothing but the anger of contempt saved
him from the heartbreak of despair.
Recovering himself and casting aside
these gloomy thoughts, Hubert seized
Eaomi's hand and kissed it.
1.-THE loveliest hand in the whole
worldl" said Hubert, tracing the veins
and the outlines Of the fingers after he had
al n int snkx Al;
also as lover kisses the hand of the be-
loved.
ssSaid by the most unblushing fIatterer
in the whole world!" laughed Naomi.
Glove cannot fiatter!" he answered,
looking at her with eyes as full of admira-
ton as those roses at her throat were full
of colour and perfume.
~ think it does nothing eIse!" she re-
turned.
She turned to him with hooking little
mouth and mischievous arched brow, but
her mocking smile died on her lips. There
was something in her lovers face not to
be met by joke.
.Do you need me to tell you Hubert that
love you as much as you love me? Then
loveliest air of self surrender, she added,
both her hands now on one of his: Eyes
do love you as much as much as you love
me. If love could be weighed, as we
weighed the honey combs yesterday, per-
haps mine would be the most!'
THAT is impossible, Naomi" he an
swered gravely. You might as well say
you could add infinity and lengthen eter-
nityP' Hell put his disengaged arm around
her and drew her to him, my darling,
my own darling!" he said, all his heart in
his voice. II love you as l never loved
living woman before"
''Then you have loved before" she said
little coldly, instinctively taking away
her hand.
mot as love you" he answered trying
to cover his mistake by extra fervor. II
love you as no man ever loved since the
world began! You do not know what 1
feel for you, Naomi! You are like God
angel and God gave you to me! love you,
darling. more than man should-more
than is well for my peace"
His passion gained her. What woman
could have resisted?
''Give me your heart; l will take care of
itp' she said with infinite tenderness. IF
We love each other. Hubert, no harm can
come to us-nothing but death can sepa-
rate US, and even that will not divide us Z"
Nothing but death? You swear that ?"
he said. "0nly death will separate US,
Naomi, and come what will not divide
us?"
YES" she answered solemnly. 81 swear
it."
Without reservation" he said.
"What reservation could / have?" she
returned with an incredulous little smile.
THE only reservation would be if you had
loved any one else as you love me, or had
done anything wrong. And that is too
absurd to imagined"
For to her he was the perfect man, flaw
less, faultless; and she was not ashamed
to show what she would not have dared to
say.
The remembrance Of that past sin flowed
like the salt water of tears oyer his head
Like specter Msriquita Delmar again
seemed to Eoat before him, filling the
whole air with her baleful beauty; but for
his best exorcism he looked again into
Naomi's upturned face and soothed HIM
self with that futile anodyne-''She will
never know!"
The tie between these two young people
had in it something more than love; for
Hubert, at the risk of his own life had
saved that Of Godfrey Ponsonby, Naomi's
only brother; and thus the acquaintance
which then began was founded on the
deepest feelings of her human nature.
And Hubert had long been as an elder
brother 10 the Younger Godfrey.