Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-01-03
"CERIS."
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We loved. From the first three Of these you |
are as free as any one can be; from the last
admit that you have suffered; but, unless ]
am very much mistaken, It is not from that
you are suffering now. I conclude, then, that
your trouble IL Of an imaginary class, and
since you will not name It, / will, with your
permission, hazard little conjecture. Your
mind 10 disturbed because you can not forget
that two mon once saw you in an equivocal
situation In Paris. and because you are afraid
that one or the other Of them will reveal what
he saw and what he thought. It would be
impossible to conceive of a more groundless
apprehension. You will not accuse me OF
thinking too we'll Of my fellow creatures; but
I venture to assure you that no man of honor
would dream OF saying word about such an
encounter"
perhaps not" said Chris. She added.
after . moment; "It is not their talking
about what they saw that am afraid Of"
''Then," said DR.. Lavergne, lifting his head
quickly, and looking straight OF her through
his spectacles, cit must be that you attach
particular importance to the personal opinion
Of one Of these gentlemen"
There was some indiscretion, not to say
brutality, In this speech; but DR.. Lavergnes
who was neither indiscret nor brutal, had his
reasons for uttering It. he wanted to be-
friend the girl, and he could not do that with.
out extorting an admission, tacit or otherwise
tEOm uCT DO GnAb NC was GOuupl0lcly
and surprised when Chris, without shade OF
embarrassment, replied:
81 do attach great deal Of importance TO
Mr.. Severne's opinion. He and were friends
at Brentstow, and could see by his face,
when we parted in Paris, that he despised
me. As for Mr.. Ellacombe, he may think
what he pleases."
"When you next meet Mr.. Severne you had
better tell him the whole truth, said the doc
"a skNN.N d. h. h.
that II his good opinion is worth having at all,
you will not have lost it. He will have
blamed Mr.. Richardson, not you. They gem
orally do; and II is notbi1g TO the oint that
they are generally wrong Come! If you have
no worse trouble than that to brood over you
are very fortunate young lady"
So saying, the old man trotted away into
the house, thinking to himself: II suppose
there Ia some other young man, then, whom
we have not heard Of"
But although the doctors chance shot had
proved a miss, so far as he was concerned, 1t
had an undersigned success Of which he was
ignorant. After she was left alone, Chris
thought over what he had said, and
OF course she understood what he had been
driving att and so II came TO pass that all Of
o sudden she knew for certain what she had
more than once vaguely suspected, but had
never put into plain words. Such discover.
les have different effects upon different
people. To Chris it could not, under the circum.
stances, be anything but painfurto acknowl-
edge that she loved Gerald Ssverne; yet her
predominating sensation was not so much
one o. pain as Of extreme establishment. The
possibility Of GerAld's falling in love with her
had been placed before her plainly enough
more than once. Lady Barnstaple had spoken
Of IL as an undesirable event, and Mr.. Comp.
ton had mentionedit in the contrary sense;
but neither Of them had made her doubt for
. moment Of her personal safety. And now,
after all, Il turned out that she was the ono
who ought to have been cautioned; for It was
very evident that, knowing what he knew
about her, Gerald would think Of her no
more, oven as friend. Warnings, however,
would have done little good. She recognized
the fact that she had loved him from tho first
and would have loved him whether he had
cared for her or not. 1t was her fate, she
supposed.
Not until the following morning did she be-
gin to feel wretohed and Inundated. It il,
| no doubt, q humiliating thing for u woman
| to become enamored Of q man without hav-
| ing received due encouragement. She ought
10 wait until she is asked, just as children
are expected to keep silence until they are
spoken TO- It seems a little hard upon the
| women and children but in their own inter-
| est, as well as in that Of the community Of
large, these regulations must be observed.
| Chris, who had plenty Of common sense, was
| quite ready to admit that, and consequently
had to admit that she had more or less dis
graced herself. Whether she could possibly
have helped disgracing herself to that extent
| was another question; the main thing was
that she should henceforth conceal her guilty
secret; and as o first step toward doing so
| che assumed an air Of cheerfulness and jol
| lily at the breakfast-hour which deceived
neither the do Jtor nor his less obsorvan
wife.
Chris saunt cred down to the end Of tho gar
den, where she met the postman, who handet
her letter which had been forwarded from
London. This proved to DO an invitation
from Lady Barnstaple, who had returned 4
Brentstow nnd who begged her to run dowr
to US for . week or two before we go abroad
for the winter" Her ladyship wrote yer!
a6ectonately.
1--WE are dying to see you again." said she
"and the longer you can stay with US the bet
tor We shall be pleased. saw the announce
ment ofyour aunts death in the papers. Hal
she left you anything7-and whaC are you
plans for the futureP But you can answe
these and other questions when we meet"
There was no mention Of Gerald in the let
ter; but Mr.. Ellacombe's name appeared In
postscript. "our poor neighbor at Hather
ford" Lady Barnstaple wrote, "is said to b
In bad health and spirits. and certainly look
| very gum 4 mot nun inc Otner Q0y an
stopped to speak to him, but he would onl
grunt at me. Perhaps when you come yo
will be able to draw him out Of his shell. A
far as know, you are the only person VIII
. has evHr succeeded in so doing"
Elacombe. then, had evidently kept his ow
counsel. Chris was grateful to him for hi
forbearance, but was not sorry that she coul
give so excellent reason for leaving him i
his shoe. By return Of post she expresses
her thanks and regrets to Lady Barnstaplt
but did not think it necessary to allude to Nj
Ellacombe or to her improved circumstance
She had begun q fresh chapter in her life, sh
thought, and in that chapter the Severne
were not likely to play any part. Situated a
she was, the best thing that she could do wa
to think as little rs possible about the pas
This might have been q sensible enough resc
luton to make II she had had any definit
future to look forward to; but since she ha
none, she was Of course unable
\ carry it into effect. Besides one doe