San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-03-10

tesy and bringing him finally to Mrs.
Beverley, to whose special care she COM |
mended him.
"Such near neighbors should know
each other and be friendly" she said.
with smile. "You may make it pleas |
ant for each other"
Mrs. Beverley smiled also as she gave
Anthony her firm white hand and init
mated by a slight gesture that he was at
liberty to take the seat beside her on the
sofa.
81 think that in coming to be my
neighbor at Repton, Mr.. Anthony, you
are in some sense coming home" she re-
marked pleasantly. "Your voice is very
southern. Perhaps we can claim you
by birth as well as adoption"
Anthony regarded the clear cut, in
tellectual, but scarcely pretty face
turned toward him trife resentfully.
She was Mary Beverley, but not the one
whose memory had lived solitary violet
amid the barrenness of his ambitious.
practical existence. He owed her a
grudge for being here in the real Mary's
place-for having deluded him, although
unconsciously. into the belief that the
real Mary lived and had grown from
fair. loyal childhood into a womanhood
as noble And she was not even pretty
according to his standard Her face
was colorless, except dash of crimson
in the lips, of which the under one was
a trife full. Her dark hair crowned her
head in coils that had. shadows but no
lights; it waved slightly at the temples,
where there were already lines of gray.
and it was parted graciously over the
broad brow. Her eyes We're handsome,
dark, and straightforward in their out
look, with no\ tricks of lid or lash, no
droopings and >upraisings. no pretty CO.
quetries of glance A woman past her
first youth, woman who even in that
youth had never been beautiful, and yet
woman to be trusted, admired and
loved.
This the man beside her vaguely felt
and it increased his unreasonable resent
ment. She was such woman as the
child he had loved with unconscious
chivalry might have developed into, and
she was only-Hectors widow.
Not being versed in social amenities
he let his resentment get uppermost and
replied to her courteous remark
brusquely: IS
I'm not Yankee, if that's what you
mean, and wasn't born out west. I've
lived out there for twenty years though;
so l suppose can call myself as much
of westerner as anything"
He was not ashamed of his birth, and
being Virginian he took self salts
fed pride in his birthplace. Neither did
he hold his fathers profession in con-
tempt nor his own position as a self
made man. OF the latter, on the con-
trary, he was, as we have limited, ex-
tremely proud, holding it proof of I'M
usual ability. 1t was not every man
that could show his record, from so poor
a start to so fine finish. He was proud
of himself, of his money, of his shrewd-
ness, of the knowledge he had acquired
by indomitable industry and in defiance
of adverse circumstances, and Of his gen.
eral success in life. 1t was neither from
false pride nor from snobbishness that
he forbore to proclaim his origin, but
rather from rough sense of humor, and
keen, if slightly malicious, enjoyment of
the situation. 1t seemed to him so good
joke, this riding over Old World tradi-
tons on the wave Of financial success.
Mrs. Beverley, feeling that her first
venture had been a failure, changed
her subject and talked to him of
western scenes and life, the stirring
romance of mining camps and the
homely experiences of the frontier.
where civilization doffs her hat to nature
and rough humanity. Her knowledge,
CLEANED from books, was theoretical
and by no means accurate, but such as
it was it sufficed to put Anthony on ia
miliar ground and make him forget
himself. The subject interested him;
he was versed in every detail and sat
urated with information and experience
so that he forgot to be shy or bold-his
two methods in dealing with women
and talked well and cleverly, rising at
times to a rude eloquence of description
which delighted not only Mary, but also
the rest of the company. who had grad
ually ceased their own desultory talk
and gathered near to listen.
He was led on gradually to speak of
himself and of his own adventures, and
before he realized it was telling them
the story of the Prairie Dog mine. He
told him of his luckless prospecting, his
long failure and his determination to
abandon so bootless an enterprise, in
spite of the instinct which urged him |
to persistence. With quaint humor he |
described his own chagrin, and the COM
bat of the lilliputian champions of sense |