The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1893-02-17

TO speaking to your friend, / must speak
TO Mildred, that's all. y @
4 said nothing about this conversation to
those whom II concerned, ind whether
Lord Staines carried out hs intention Of
demonstrating with Lady M red or not /
cannot tell. Very likely he IA not, for I
fancy that he shrunk from Distressing her,
and he may have thought IL needless to
take active steps before Beauchamp's re-
turn from Norway.
1 No news with regard to that event
reached my ears, and 1t was not until late
4 In the autumn that was made aware Of
! Its having taken place, by encountering
Beauchamp himself ut a country house in
the north Of England where had been
invited to spend u few days. 1t struck
me that our meeting was not source Of
llnalloyed satisfaction to him There was
| even sort Of shamefacedness In his de-
meanor which could not at first account
for, but which explained itself at dinner
time, when Lord and Lady Bracknell made
their appearance among several other
guests who had arrived late In the after
noon, and when her ladyship exchanged
meaning glances with my young friend,
after affording him conventionally polite
greeting.
The Bracknell menage, which for time
had been thr2atened with disruption, had
been set agoing once more tby the kindly
intervention Of friends, as was informed,
and was, to all appearances, being con,
Quoted upon much the same principles as
heretofore. At all events, Bracknell
seemed to look with absolute indifference
upon the renewal Of the Irritation which
he once professed himself determined to
check. The past few months had worked
very perceptible change In him; he had
grown stouter; his complexion had become
pasty and his eyelids heavy, and few
gray hairs had appeared about his tenn
pies His manners, too, had distinctly de-
Perforated. He was bored, and did not at
tempt to disguise the fact; moreover he
displayed contradictions and quarrel
some tendency which evidently caused
come anxiety TO our hostess.
As for Lady Bracknell, she was bril-
liant and radiant. Her black dress and
jet ornaments threw up the dazzling
whiteness Of her skin; she looked as If she
had not care in the world; and II, as |
suspect, the other ladies were whispering
to each other what heartless wretch the
woman was, can only say that In my
humble opinion they had very good
right to do 80
Probably neither their remarks nor my
opinion were matters Of much moment to
her She was q cold hearted and calcu-
lating woman, but she was capable, no
doubt, of enjoying herself after her own
fashion, and few things can be more
pleasant than to indulge In your favorite
pastime, while making it subserve dea- |
mite, practical end. This, for the time
being, appeared to be Lady Bracknell's |
enviable lot. The subjugation of Beau
champ was complete He remained by
her side the whole evening through; he
scarcely took his eyes of her for a mo-
ment; and 1t may be assumed that he had
no idea Of the sorry spectacle that he pre-
sented to lockers on ...
Hllda had q second string to her bow,
In the shape Of certain Comte, de
VieuSnc, a French attache, whom had
met several times in Wilton place, De
Vieu2ac was one Of those semi -Anglicized
Gauls who get their clothes made in Lon
don, whose talk Is Of horses and shooting,
and who discuss sport with solemnity
far exceeding that Of their models. Being
young, by no means bad looking, and fnll
of that confidence in the irresistible na-
ture of his charms, which is the very last
thing that his oountrymen can bring
to part with, he most likely
Iiattered himself that he had made CON
quest Of Lady Bracknell, and it was easy
10 see that he found Beauchamp good
deal In the way. That Beauchamp reeip-
rocated his sentiments with interest was
not less obvious; and while one OF the
young men assumed an aggravatingly
mien and the other scowled
sayagely, Hilda, arbitress of the contest,
sat between them, displaying her white
Teeth and gently swaying black ostrich
leather fan.
Somehow or other the sight of that smil-
ng, contented, selfish woman, playing off
ler admirers one against the other, infuri-
ated me. could not get the memory Of
Door little Summing out Of my head while
watched her; it seemed to me that Of all
'orms Of depravity the most odious is that
which obliterates the natural, animal in
'tinct Of maternal love. And my soul
being stirred within me by the spectacle
II the power possessed and exercised by
hat woman, who If she had had her de-
'erts would have been picking oakum in
Nillbank penitentiary, could at last con-
ain myself no longer, buf, rising from my
equestered corner, crossed the room with
he intent to do truly silly thing.
| made straight for the sofa on which
was sitting apart with his hands
n his pockets, and asked him whether he
lidn't want to smoke.
"Of course do" he growled "Why
he dickens don't these people 20 to bed 2"
"We will give them the slip,'' said 1;
or I was bent upon having a few words !
n private with him, "Now is our time,
while nobody is loolSingn
So got him away to the smokingroom,
nd as.soon as we had lighted our cigars,
'lunged head first into the middle OF my ,
ubiect, "Bracknell," said 1, ''do you or
Q you not intend Beauchamp to marry :
orr sister pp