The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-08
CHAPTER H..

CHAPTER II.
at is enough to make man mad to see
it. How can you put up with it-Miss Jar
dimes"
There was faint hesitation before the
neme as If some other name had nearly
slipped out. Lord Acres and Prue Jardine
we're walking side by side on the old walls
under the shadow Of the trees
Prue walked on with family set look In
her face. This interview would have to
take place some time or another aud it was
best to have it over. The strain of avoiding
1t was too great. She braced herself up now
TO face 1T as she would have faced the sur
geon's knife.
The last time Cyril Grant, as he was
called then, and she had talked together
had been under the starlight among the
redwoods at the back OF a Californian store.
Then he had told her how he. who had
lived for The last year under her fathers roof,
sharing their tolls, their auxietleS, and the
pleasures that had come even in their hard
pressed lives, had that day heard that he
had come into an English earldom. The
news had been 50 unexpected that he had,
before IL came, made up his mind to settle
down for good In that part If the world.
But all the vague, sweet understanding
which had sprung up between them had
suddenly ended that night under the star
light. when he told her of the change that
had come into his life.
At the break of the next dav he had gone
away, and from that day to this they had
neither seen nor heard anything Of each
other. That parting took place three years
ago.
Some months after Acres departure
Prue's father had died. Prue, left quite
alone in the world, had taken the post of
goveTness to the son of the millionaire, and
mad lived with them ever since-why, or
how, few people could understand. 1t
passed the comprehension of Acres. He re
memuered her as a starry-eyed. high
spirited laughing girl, and her submission
TO her present conditions Of life was ineXpli-
cable.
How can you put up with the tempers
and cranKs of that old Then lie sud
denly remembered that the old woman in
question was TO be bis mother-in-law.
Prue, knowing perfectly what he had
been on the point of saving. aud under
standing far better than even Pamela did
how his fastidious refinement, natural and
inherited, must be Jared upon by his future
relations vulgarity and ostentation, went
on quietly:
II do not mind it. l stay because OF
Pamela. She Is as sweetheartsd as she is
lovely" .......
Yes he said, his eyes still dark with
the perplexity of finding her here. 81 say,i'
be said, with a sudden laugh, do you ever
<
visitin' back to Grigby's stationP | do
sometimes. BY GeorRei how queer and odd
it all seemed" with another laugh, which
had a note of bitterness in it. 1T was quite
a time before / got used to having my
boots cleaned for me. and when l see the
girls riding in the park or TAXI z the fences
across country remember how you and
used TO ride through the redwood, and how
sweetly the pines used TO smell. And do
you remember the azalea bush just at the
back Of the store, and the sleighing in
winter, aud"
He stopped short, drawing himself up
stiiiiy and biting his lips under his far
mustache.
Eyes; | remember it all, y she said steadily
The short autumn afternoon was closing
in the golden lights had faded and white,
fairy-like mists were beginning to rise from
the gardens that had once been deep moats
and crept like pale ghosts Of those Did dead
DAYS about the trees and bushes, as If they
had stolen back to look once more on the
grim and frowning walls which had once
shut In the quaint, beautiful town, but
which to-day were so covered by creepers
and ivy, SO garlanded with flowers, so pic
turesquely broken by the houses that had
been built into their frowning gray streng h
that writer who loved it hes said that
Oman was like a young girl trying on
suit of old armor over her ball dress.
Prue stopped as shs spoke and looked
about her.
There was not a soul In sight for the mo-
meDt. There was no sound save the distant
voices Of some children in the dusky valley
below, and the stir of the wind as it rustled
tue yellowi & leaves of the trees overhead
and sent them drifting earthward.
"How chilly 1t is growing, she said, with
little SILVER. sit is time I took John Jer-
emiah in. He has bad cold already"
But John Jeremiah's cold did not rouse
any interest or anxiety in the heart of
Acres. He.stood. pulling restlessly at the
leaves of one of the shrubs that fringed the
old fosse, looking down into her pale face
with contracted brows, ald as he looked
the spell Of her presence fell on him again,
and he forgot everything except that she
was to him the sweetest woman his heart
had ever known. he had striven hard TO
forget her; but. as Pamela had said, she
was one Of those women whom no man,
having loved, could ever forget. Though
the old bright prettlness had faded, the
gray. black-fringed eyes we're the same, and
il tue lips had paled little tho sweet love-
abeness was still there, and their gravity
suddenly stirred him as even their hooking
mischievous laughter had never done.
"Prue." he said sharply. why did you
never answer my let;erl An, heavens! How
waited, day after day, month after month /!
And-I had been such a fool. l had actually
dared TO hope when left America that
! might WIN you LOT u VIE. DuJ ltuiDk you
might have sent me line, just one line to
say you we're sorry. 1t would not have
nude it any easier TO bear, perhaps. but 1t
would have zen little less rough on me.
And loved you sou under his breath.
What letter, Cyril" She did not know
that she was using the old familiar name.
81 never had any letter." going on in
still. dull toae as she suddenly knew per-
fectly we'll what had been. II thought
you had gone away and forgotten, that was
all"
There was dead pause. Only the wind
rustled little louder and more fretfully in
the trees overhead, and one Of the yellow
ing leaves huttered down on to Prue's
shoulder.
"You me- or got my letter asking you 10
be my wifel And 1t did not come back, 80
thought you had received IL. And then /
met john Grey in London one day, and be
told me you we're engaged 10 that Hill fell
low. whom | always used 10 bate"
81 never had q letter, and It was all a
~
"Lie Curse him Grey had sworn TO be
even with me. because OF that. row we had
about the tenderfoOt he was swlndiing.
Prue Prue! OF And / still love you.
Pruew as be read sJmethlng IN her face that
made II as pale as the ghostly mist stealing