The record-union., 1891-10-03

did not understand, and she heard her
say 'Nausicaa'' again, and she was sure,
too, that the lady was speaking of her as
"Nausicaa." Very foolish! because they
must know that Nausicaa, in the story,
was Kings daughter.
wen, the landing came, and the ladies
said, "Addio, Nausicaa," which made
her feel angry, though for what reason
she could not tell.
The yellow-haired gentleman was
kinder by far. He asked her her name,
and when she told him, he said "Addio,
Nastasia," and besides saying her own
name he said all aS nicely as If really he
could speak Greek-her own tongue.
The girl sprang ashore and ran OF
along the white road so that she was out
of sight long before any one of the stran-
gers had left gazing at the lovely sight of
| blue sea girt by the orange -garlanded
hills. The sun was lowering and the in
describable rosy flush was tinging the
| hills of Corfu. No wonder they must
stop and gaze, and stop and gaze again as
they sauntered leisurely along the wind
ing white road from the little promon-
tory; for, who that has not seen can
imagine the beauty of the sunset hues of
Corfu? Rose and violet, and blue of
waters, with the creamy glaneing crest of
waves, then the scarlet, the crimson
flush of the afterglow lasting long, but
at last paling before the rosy gray of
| twilight.
50 IL
Twilight had come and gone, and peo-
! pie had finished dinner at the hotels.
Ladies were tanning themselves on the
balconies, and the men were smoking or
sauntering in twos and threes along the
walks of the public gardens. Some were
wandering about the winding, involved
streets of the busy town, where the Cor
/ tiOteS were smoking al the smaller native
/ (.afpS Onr friend of tho yallOW a
was one of these.
tie was an Englishman; by name Peter
! Brown; not u name of romance, you
will say, and yet if ever there was man
! to whom one could easily, by his appear
ance, tack the possibility Of romance,
Peter Brown was the man. Why, one
cannot define. There are hundreds Of
men far handsomer than ne was, quite as
athletic looking and far more striking in
| their conversation. But he had the
charm and grace and manfulness of
perfect gentleman and his ordinary
| speech gained some attraction from q
manner which nature had given him.
Perhaps the charm was somewhere
vaguely between the smile his lips
could be seen to give you, though the
! yellow mustache was so thick and long;
/ between that and some sweet and kindly
gravity in his gray eyes, which seemed
/ always to say that the affairs of his COM
/
being we go no further down into his
! character.
There was little street, the Odos
| Maria, at the corner of which was the
! Cafe Keno. He had just turned the cor
ner when ne saw two people sitting at
the very furthest table slipping coffee
one was NaStaSia, the other dark
skinned, handsome young Corfiote. The
! young fellow, of course, wore the ma
! tional Greek dreSS-one like to see in it
survival of antique tashion-the broid-
cred, loosely-hung jacket on his shoUl-
der, the thickly-kilted linen tunic.
! Spotlessly white was the tunic of Anas-
tasius, or ''Tass,' Pascaris. His belt,
too held some weapon with shining
steel handle; there was the corner Of a
scarlet handkerchief sticking UP at one
corner. and round his waist was girded a
voluminous purple girdle. Clearly the
young man was in gala dress, or fur
| bIShed up for some occasiOn-One cannot
always define, but one may feel when a
man has taken some care of his get-up.
Clearly love was the reason and the
rule of Anastasius. for his face and his
eyes were alight in the one particular
way for which love alone can answer.
His mistress was lofty one Ay,
! beautiful enough, but lofty, too! And who
| was she?
/ Nastasia.
One looks for the moment through the
eyes of the onlooker, Peter Brownie
read the history, but only half read it.
People do that, and so often make mis-
takes. In this case, he could only read
the effect; and being a perfect honest
SOUL by no means given to overrating
himself, and, above all, quite kindly to
all the world, never for a second i'm
agined that his personality had the most
distant link to Nastasia's loftiness.
His first thought was: "What hand
| IL,
him on to say mentally! What a typical
pair! The classical days standing up
| alive. a Greek god, and no mistake -
Those words made his lip curve under his
| yellow mustache, for he could not help
remembering how the hackneyed epithets
had been done to death by one, if not by
| five hundred noyelists. And seeing he
was in Greek island for the first time,
! he, too, grew lofty, and scorned the fanci-
| ful stories in comparison of the greater
reality of type he was looking upon. "a
Greek godp' Yes; but the divinity was
making very human love, all the same.
! The girl, too, as Brown looked up from
| his corner, had to bend from her loftiness,
| for she smiled, and her beautiful head
/ bowed little as her lover, in a lovers
! wOrshipful way, let his fingers daily with
the strings of her gay apron.
What would have come next. heaven
only knows, for friend Of Browns
UGQluu,
! clapped him on the shoulder, and asked
him what he was dreaming about"
''Nausicaa," was the reply.
The friend had been in the boat that
afternoon, and the one word was enough,
added to the nod by which Brown sighed.
''Whew ~ whistled the friend.
That whistle was heard. 1t spoiled the
situation. Anastasia let his fingers drop
from the apron strings and stood erect,
an offended divinity. His hand was at
once on the shining, polished handle
which just showed above the opening of
his pouch-like belt.
Nastasia drew apart, flushed rosy red,
but, maiden-like, had her dignity ready
to hand. She did not laugh or look con-
fused. No; not atall. She simply shook
out her jacket, thrust one arm into its
sleeve, and turned commandingly to her
companion, as much as to say: Help
me on with the other sleeve"
Browns friend here nodded.
Anastasius was seen to speak; in reality
he said: "You know that man?" He
meant Brown, for Brown was taller.
fairer, altogether more to the fore than
his inopportune friend.
81 know so many" the girl said, gath
ering up the loftiness which had slipped
away, and making more Of it in conse-
quence of this short lapse. 'They all
come to Kressida; they mostly see me.
"Polite!''
you'd like to kill them ALP" Nastasia
cried; and instead of fear in her voice
there was a trembling ring, almost
yelled laugh as she tossed her head.
He is the cause of your hardness p!
But what do 1 care?" the fiery young
Corfiote cried. ''They love you, you
think-eh? Go with them to their land
of ice."
Them! Thank you. One would be
enough for a girl.''