Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-07-03

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ed
I shall never forget how she looked
as she crept away from him and drop
ped like a beaten lily into an arm
chair
Neither of them minded me. |
doubt if they had any consciousness
Of any presence but each others. So
shrinking behind the curtains, and
wondering if that was Colin Balfour's
ghost or satan come to carry off Sa-
die. [ heard all that shameful tangle
Of lies. Child that was, I knew Co.
lon Balfonr lied when he told Sadie
that Gran'ther Mayhem had fabricat
ed all these dreadful rumors she had
heard concerning him that he might
marry her himself.
He avowed, the handsome, treach-
erous william, that ne had never look
ed tenderly upon woman's face since
he left her; that he had been a prisoner
all this time in the lnds of pitiless
foe. 1t was marvelously hard to make
| all the circumstances tally, but he had
a spacious tongue, and Sadie's brain
was daZed with love and anger, pain
and Joy. She believed every word,
and getting up from her chair in
burst of womanly resentment declar
ed she would go straight away from
the house into which she had been be-
trayed so foully; she would never
stay to see Gran'ther Mayhem again.
She yielded, however, to Colin Bal
tours arguments in favor of con-
trary course, and because the man
she loved so, and who she believed
had been so wronged, made such a
point of it she consented to stay
where she was for the present.
I was afraid of Sadie in those days,
more terribly afraid of her than 1 had
ever been of anything. She seemed
to not like to have me near her either,
and would start if I came upon her
suddenly.
Finally, after delay that seemed
like an age to little frightened me,
Gran Their Mayhem came home. Sa
die net and greeted him with hyster
zeal gayety, insomuch that her hus-
band, looking at her burning cheeks
and bright eyes, seemed gravely to
doubt if she had not parted with her
senses during his absence.
That night, try as I would, I could
not sleep. I was always nervous
child, and the past week had wrought |
upon my sensitive organization dis
turbance that forbade sleep. 1t was
not unusual for me at such times to |
get out of bed, and, slipping past the
sleeping maid who watched me, go
wandering over the house in my
nightdress; my feet were bare, so I
made no noise.
Somebody else was abroad. Just as
entered the long hall that passed
Grar'ther Mayhew's chamber, a door
which led from this hall to terrace,
from which you descended to the gar
den, opened and Sadie crept through
it and down the hall toward Gran'ther
Mayhew's room.
The moon shone down the passage
but dimly, so that [ could not see her
face. but knew it was Sadie, and in
another moment she might have seen
me, but another form half thurst
through the partially open terrace
door drove me back into shadow.
It was Colin Balfour, and after hest
tating briefly he came slowly down
the hall. Sadie stood by Gran Their
door still; she seemed to
me to be holding herself up by the
doorpost She turned swiftly as Colin
Balfour approached, and dropping
upon her knees extended her hands
clasped as if imploring.
For answer he turned shortly on his
heel and moved noiselessly toward {
the terrace door.
Sadie dropped an instant and fol- {
lowed him. {
They stood in the full moonlight I
now, and could see Colin Balfour's
Sowing brows and Sadie's uplifted {
differing eyes. She shook her head, J
md clasping her hands across his {
shoulder laid her cheek upon them. S
Colin Balfour put an arm around her l
ind bent his face a moment to hers; t
hen he led her down the hall again I
coward Gran'ther Mayhew's door, re-
eased her and stood while she slowly
advanced. g
can give no name to the sensa- t
ions that were mine when I watched E
hese two. 1t was something worse Il
han terror, yet akin to that-some- O
hing that made me long to put my t.
rms around Sadie and hold her fast C
faster than any baby arms had a
trAnOfh Shn OnQnad tho door Of h