Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-03-23

life on an Australian sheep farm.
In action-the excitement of album
dant and rapid change.must lie
the cure for his melancholy. Had
not his father, for the offence of q
misalliance, been cut of with the
proverbial shilling by old Squire
Romney, Of Holbury Manor, how
different the prospect might have
been ! But to repine was vain and
would not dispossess his cousin Of
the family acres.
Vincent had made precipitate ar
rangements for his proposed exo-
dus, and was at first minded to for
sake Holbury without any formal
farewell Of the maiden who had won
his heart. But on reflection it
seemed that an atmosphere of mean
ness, of cowardice, must of neces-
sity linger about such flight. To
avoid this he snatched an hour from
the inevitable business of packing,
on the eve of his departure, for a
visit to Derby Villa.
And you are going to America
at once ! You have kept your
intentions o secret even from
me- the girl was about to add, but
lnstinctively she changed the mon
osyllable to 'us.'
Gertrude looked more beautiful
than ever, Vincent thought, with
the shy, startled surprise, stealing
the color from her countenance and
replacing the first smile of welcome
with an indefinite expression of
alarm and-was it possible ?-of
pain. Queenly of figure, lovely of
feature, with cultured tastes and
disposition sweet and gracious, Ger
trude Wynn was a bride worthy of
a prince in more than one mans
opinion.
Il certainly owe you an apology
for SO abrupt an announcement.
Miss Wynn Vincent stammered.
feeling his courage sadly deserving
him, but in truth the decision was
taken in some haste, and / have
naturally had many exceedingly
prosaic matters to attend to since.
l hope you will forgive me-.
'Of course l can understand the
preoccupation,' Gertrude answered;
'but"-and there she hesitated.
Love is a bold and faithful d.
viner, and Vincent correctly trans
lated the maiden's thought.
You do not see the reason for
my journey ? he said.
A great wave of crimson went up
to the roots of Gertrude's auburn
hair and ebbed anew with equal
fickleness. Her dreamy blue eyes
momentarily met her lovers and
then fell. 1t was a crisis in two
lives, when a single word of vibrat-
ing manly passion might have pre-
vented weeks and months of ankle
ty. But the word was not spoken,
and Gertrude slowly and spasmod-
ically continued
THAT is scarcely for me to sug-
gest,' she said. TO attempt it
would be an impertinence.
Pardon ! That word can never
be linked with Miss WynE's name,'
murmured Vincent in tone of SUBJ
dued gallantry.
The girl acknowledged the COM
pliment by curt little bow. By
mighty effort she had regained at
least her outward equanimity. Only
in her voice was there still linger-
ing timbre of agitation.
Thank you,' she said with some |
hauteur.
'To return to the subject-matter |
of our discussion, Miss Wynn, | am
actually leaving Holbury to-mor-
row, and when l may see the dear
old village again-if ever-it is i'm
possible to say. I have come to
wish you good-by.'
Mechanically she suffered him to
take her cold nerveless fingers into
his tight grasp; mechanically she
echoed his farewell. And then Vim
cent Romney was descending the
steps to the lawn-lifting his hat
with easy, familiar gesture-and all
the sunshine died out of Gertrude
Wynn's sky. |
There, you're are bett-
was a severe blow, b. OF now; 1t
come round cor Ut you VIII soon
the worse. -.pletely, and be none
vo- hope. What name did
p
'komney-Vincent Romney.'