The record-union., 1892-03-12

roSuAelSs. oHe WAS grateful, only CRATE
full, and was she going to shun him be-
cause of a wicked whisper?
NO; and the graceful head was thrown
back, and the graceful form sprang to its
feet, qulvering in every nerve = with
gratitude.
He had never been to visit her; she
hved alone with companion, and had
met MIN so frequently at friends houses,
that to ask him to call had not entered
her head.
But society drives many people to des-
peration, and is the remote cause OF many
a crime.
Lady Lisla drove to where Father ST.
Aubyn lived, and after ten minntes' in
terview with him, during which he was
cool and conventional as usual, and she
was curiouslY flushed and excited, she
drove home and wrote notes of invitation
TO large dinner she was going to give.
Acceptances poured in, and as Lady Lisla
read the perfumed billets her eyes spark
led mischievously, almost as il she were
girl.
That night came, and with it the guests.
The hostess received them, looking the
personltication of lovelIneSs, in the palest
of pale pink silk, and strange luster in
the feverishly bright eyes. Father st.
Aubyn took her in to dinner, and, as in
duty bound, was by her side most of the
evening.
Her delicate witchery was at its hight.
The statue that meu had been accustomed
to admire and ignore was a thrilling,
throbbing Venus now. And they hung
around itspellbound.
1t was triumph from first to last, but
like every other triumph had to be paid
| for dearly
They had all gone; the last smile had
! been smiled, the last hand-clasp had been
I given, and Lady Lisla was alone, among
that blaze of lights and that wealth of
flowers.
She was pale now, pale to the very
! lips. The soft, sad eyes gaZed straight
before her, looking at truth steadily and
with self-scorn.
| Presently she crouched down on the
ground in front of the fire, and shaking
her hair over her like veil, buried her
face in her hands. Long-drawn sobs
came from the PROSTATE form; at times
they beat helplessly against the floor
Her anguish was yoiceless, save for one
| bitter cry.
My God, | thought [ knew every
thing, and did not even know myself"
And the same night, at the same hour,
Leslie st. Aubyn was holding bitter COM
mune with himself. His strong. smooth
| lace was troubled, and the usually calm
eyes had puzzled expression in them,
| half pain, half bewilderment.
| lie stood at his open window, and let
/ the night-wind play on his brow. Stars,
| like brilliants shaken from Gods finger,
glittered in the broad blue sky. and the
gentle rustic of the trees in the square
! soothed the watcher s perturbed thoughts.
| his stern serenity gradually returned,
and the tathomless eyes lost that wayer-
| ing expression so unusual in them
God, can do it,'' was his unspoken
| thought, as he gently closed the window :;
| for moment only was my heart afraid
My strength is staid on Thee"
CHAPTER II.
Lady Lisla was going TO pe married sat
! last"
We all know which sex added the last
two words; but when pretty woman
| gets to be 80 and remains unwedded, she
must expect remarks to be critical if not
kind.
1t was the result of that dinner party,D
sald doWager, Sagely. Anyone could
see she laid herself out to captivate that
night"
Yes, it was the result of that dinner
party" repeated Lady Lisla, when the
plthy judgment was echoed back to her ::
and then she cIasped her hands together
on her knees and gazed straight before
! her, as she had habit of doing now.
! Her fiance was Sir Everard Evereigh,
heavy, british sort of man, not young,
not good-looking, and more plentifuliy
| endowed With money than with wit.
| W nat made you choose him ?" asked
outspoken Floss Rivers, adjusting her
| pInce-nez 10 survey the slim incarnation
| OF cream lace and blue ribbons reclining
before her in attitude of extreme langour.
"He does as well as any one else" was
! the listless reply. After all, husband
! is only an adjunct nowadays to woman's
| life, and an ad junct which need not inter
| fere much with the ordinary tenor of it.n
Jolly Floss Rivers was vulgar enough
Ito whistle.
Lady Lisla had evidently developed
and developed to some purpose. But
Floss was wise enough not to enter into
! an argument. She herself was burdened
| with partner who had marred her life's
| happiness at every step. Only her ami
NAL spirits, and only her animal love for
| her children, preserved her within the
| pale OF respectability. She was woman
who could hate and laugh, who could
appreciate humor while her heart was
breaking, and who would say carelessly
and wickedly, as she trimmed her cigar
cite with her penknife, There is one
quality which theologians have forgotten
| to attribute to the Almighty, and that is
sarcasm. He is terribly sarcastic; once
! grasp that, and you get the clew to much
that has hitherto been put down to his
| Satanic majesty" She saw now that
there were hidden depths to her friends
character, depths never to be fathomed
! by the world at large; she saw, and held
her tongue.
TO no one did Lady Lisla reveal her
| second visit to Father st. Aubyn-this
| time at night, and this time on foot
| Is 1T not Nine. de Sevigne who SAYS: "It
is terrible lonely thing to have a soul ?y
| Lady Llsla was awakening to the con-
! sciousness that she was not only an ami
mate thing, she was an intelligent being
she could think, and because she could
| think, the whole range of thought was
open TO her. The magnificence and loneli-
ness of this idea appalled, her-its poten-
tialities were so immense. And it was
! this sharpened power of reasoning which
made the question of marriage so COM
plex to her. Its possibilities were enor-
nous; they made her color and shiyer
from head to foot, yet she must not shrink
| If the general welfare required it of her
When Sir Everard proposed, her per-
plexities increased. What had been
merely an intricate problem viewed at a
distance. suddenly became of palpitating,
| Immediate interest.
In her trouble she thought of Father st.
| Aubyn; surely he would advise, he would
know what was strong and sensible and
| direct. The very sound of his wonderful
voice, in her own overwrought state.
would be soothing, and Lady Lisla, act
! ing on the impulse which attracted her
magnetically toward the man of brilliant
intellect and impassive heart, crept from
her own house like guilty thing, glided
| through theback streets and was ushered
into his.presence trembling at her bold
ness.
To give birth to human being is an
awful responsibility, but to give birth to
a soul is more solemn still, unless one
can foster it with parental care and guide
it from adolescence into maturity.
Eofh hnr ArrIr i
/ quickened Lady Lisla's intellect into
] being. but to guide her further unnId ho