Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-31
ONLY A V0MANPS PASHIME.

of rank, and, as this certainty came over
him, he felt half-nerYous, half-pleasura-
bic futtering of the heart.
There was another interval, ana then the
train, rounding a sharp curve, oscillated so
violently that the oil in the lamp suddenly
flooded the wick in such way that the
flame leapt up and filled the carriage for a
second with an unwonted glare. AT this
moment the Young mans face was turned
toward the lady, his handsome features
were visibly illuminated, and by the same
light he fancied he could see the glitter of
two bright eyes fixed upon him beneath the
lady's veil. The next instant she broke
the silence for the first time.
"Is ANYTHING the matter?" she asked, in
a musical voice that had in it a tone of i'm
periousness.
81 do not think so, madam" answered
the young man, respectfully. 'It is merely,
1 fancy, a rather sharp curve in the line. !"
"Oh!'' said the lady, and seemed at first
disposed to relapse into her former state of
taciturnity. However, after a pause she
added:
''This is frightfully tedious When do
we reach Bristol?"
''Not before midnight"
"0h, dear! What is one to do till then?"
The young man felt.that this last speech
was rather a remark than question; and in
any case he did not feel competent to
answer it Then, all at once, the lady, as
il making a sudden resolve to rouse herself,
threw back her veil and revealed her feat
ureS The young man had expected much
from this revelation, nor was he disap
pointed, though, indeed, there mingled with
his feeling of qualification curious sense Of
something he had not altogether anticipated.
The lady's face was singularly handsome,
although she was no longer in her first
youth. She might have been thirty or even
more, but (at least so it seemed by lamp
Light the complexion was unimpaired, the
ewes had lost none of their brilIancy, the
dark hair was full and glossy, there
we're no lines on cheek or forehead. And
vet the face did not look young-for that
the features were too marked, tine express
sion was too hard. 1t was the face, not of
one who was beginning lite, but of one
who, whatever her age, had already drunk
OF life's deepest draughts-who, living for
pleasure, had already begun to find that
Pleasure is apt to prove but faithless Jade
TO those who follow her most eagerly. But,
with all the allowance for the subtle SUBJ
stractions which Time never fails to make,
however generous he may seem, the face
was full of a seductive, sensuous beauty
such as could not but captivate the eye,
however itemight fail to stir the deeper
spiritual pulses of mans nature. For
the moment at least the young man looking
upon it was almost dazzled by its glory.
Then, as he lowered his eyes, they rested
on the jeweled hands, and he sat there,
dumb with the sense that somehow all this
was kind of q revelation-a glimpse, as it
were, of that higher life of loYeliness and
luxury for which he had so often sighed.
Being in this mood, it did not seem
strange to him that the lady should address
him with a certain tone of imperiousness,
for did she not belong to higher sphere
than he?
care you going to BRISTOL" she asked.
"No; to Bath"
''Do you live there?'
eyes"
"By yOurseIf?"
''Oh, no. With my family"
'fYour father and mother, 1 suppose?"
''No; they are dead; with nv wife and
child
''Oh!-the old, idyllic story"
The last remark was uttered in q tone of
sarcastic pity. The young man felt that he
ought to resent tito protest against it in
loyalty to his wife and child. But be could