Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1891-09-13
QUITE IMPOSSIBLE.
BY w. E. MORRIS.
From HssO York Herald.

luous htAul AOA INC WelldCe VI ObuoTS
than for her own. And possibly he may
have laid the fattering JUNCTION to his
soul that a second husband with an am
pie income might at least hope to rem
der her declining years happier and
more free from anxiety than her earlier
mes had been.
The curious thing is that he had new
er allowed his thoughts to dwell upon
the change which time could not but
have effected in her personal appear
ance.
Consequently he received we'll mer-
tied shock when in due course Of time
he was shown into the drawing room of
the Wimbledon villa which Sir Thomas
Strettell had bequeathed to las widow.
1t was not that Lady Strettell looked
old or even that she looked her age, for
the skilful employment Of very skilful
cOntriyances had preserved her from
any such affection, and with her grace
full figure and smooth cheeks she might
at a certain distance have passed for a
woman Of thirty or Whereabouts, But
she was not Helen Lawford. That
much Mr.. Best perceived while
he was still shaking hands with
her and recalling himself to her
recollection, but the discovery did not
render him any the less in love with her.
When one has been in love with a
woman for the best part OF ones life 1t
is not hair dye or cosmetics that can
open ones eyes to realities, and although
this phenomenon OF fidelity was shocked
he was not disguised. He really could
not afford to be; 1t would have been as
reasonable to ask him to abandon his
faith in Christianity or mis- equally firm
conviction that business is business.
Lady Strettell was quite pleased to
see him, and her manner became addi-
tionally gracious when she learned, as
she did after very few minutes OF con-
versatiOn, that he had made such ad-
mirable use of his opportunities 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 motives.
She talked to him as to an old friend
who would naturally be interested in
hearing Of the subjects which interested
her, and he gathered that the settling
in life her only unmarried step-daugh-
ter, Mllly, was the object which at that
time chiefly engrossed her attention.
'She is charming girl and really
very pretty, in an unpretentions sort OF
way" Lady Strettell informed him.
''You must come and dine with US some
evening and tell me what you think Of
her. Unfortunately 1 can't, with my
reduced income, give her a season in
London, and young men won't be In
weighed down TO Wimbledon by any
thing short of pastoral play, for which
our grounds are hardly large enough.
Besides, we are still mourning, you
know"
She was not in very deep mourning,
Sir Thomas had been beneath the sod
for nearly a year, and in this latter part
OF the nineteenth century we all live at
arather high rate Of speed. Lady STREET
tells widows cap had been, If not fete
par-dcssus le mOltlinS, at least discarded,
and there was q suspicion OF lilac ribbon
about her throat and wrists.
II should like very much to dine with
you," said the slightly bewildered Au-
stralian, In the slow, grave accents
which were habitual to him, at seems
strange, somehow to think Of you with
grown up daughter, though to be sure,
she isn't your own daughter"
sob. well, she might be my daughter,
you know" answered Lady Strettell,
with laugh and shrugh of her shout
ders. 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 readi-
ness than might have been expected Of
him, that he valued his reputation for
veracity far too much to do so, since no.
body would believe him If he did. And
this seemed to please her ladyshlp, who,
by way of acknowledging the compli-
ment remarked
'Well, 1 won't tell you that you look
young, because Of course you are young
for a 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 il you have moth
ing better to do. You shall be intro
duced to Mllly, and will see IL can't
get one or two people to meet you"
Kindly though Lady Strettell's recep-
ton of him had been, Mr.. Best went
his way back to London somewhat
saddened and disenchanted as we'll as
angry with himself for being so. The
times had changed and Helen had
changed with them. What could be
more natural? Only, as he personally
had not changed, it was scarcely less
natural that he should feel the times to
be out of joint.
However, he had leisure to recover
his spirits and his hopes before the fol-
lowing Thursday, when he duly pre-
sented himself at Wimbledon in fulfil
mept of his engagement, and when he
found that Lady Strettell had been as
good as her word in getting zone or
two"-that is 10 say, fourteen-peopie
to meet him. Very Smart-looking peo-
ple they we're, ''lordS and ladies" he
called them inwardly, with an uncom-
Portable consciousness that he did not
belong to their variety OF the human
race-and he was just as we'll pleased
that his hostess omitted to present him
10 any of them. The only person to
whom he was introduced was Miss
Strettell. a pretty little brown-eyed
girl. whom he took in TO dinner,
and with whom he was soon able
TO establish friendly relations. She
struck him as being rather shy and
timid; but his sentiments toward her
being OF a Quasi-paternal nature, he
was willing to set her at her ease by
taking the lions share of the converse
ton. He told her several interesting
anecdotes connected with his life in
Australia, answered the occasional
opastions that she put to him and then