St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-08

ence, any such feeling. He was paying
his court more asSiduously than ever.
1t did one good to look on his bright,
youthful face. Whenever he was not
actually by the side of his beloved one
his eyes followed her everywhere. Miss
Blanche, l remember, was particularly
gracious to her old friInds-to George
and me and to others of her court-and
have to confess with shame and sor-
row that-Such is the weakness of man
we were all of us pleased to be so
noticed, and showed no resentment
whatever. The lady would smile upon
and summon you one moment and cut
you dead the next. and the victims of
thls caprice were so SUNK IN degrading
slavery that they cheerfully bore with
this treatment, and were always ready
to come back to the careless reckoning
of the naughty damsel.
What amused and great deal graft
fed me was to notice the scant consid-
Grafton shown by Miss WhItworth to
Mr.. Seyfried. She received his polite
speeches with a demure gravity. and
made open fun of him behind his back.
mimicking his voice and gestures, his
compliments, his taking of snuff, and
who knows what other peculiaritieS the
foreigner possessed. / believe even
Harold was tritie shocked, and re-
monstrated with the girl about her be-
havior: but he was too ardent lover to
see any faults in her, and had, besides.
his own affairs TO discuss. This, l pre-
sumo, was the subject i'll hand when l
suddenly came upon the two in peace
full corner in the conservatory, looking
particularly confidential.
10 show that they were confidential
to some purpose must refer the indul-
gent rp16Ar hack tn fha lntfar
ing at the opening of this story, which
| received from Mr.. Cameron on the
day after the garden party, and which
document l consider to be alone reSpon-
sible for sending me off upon these ram
bling recollect:ons.
THAT looks like a settled thing, at
least" said l, as tossed the paper over
to George.
THAT, as you say, looks like settled
thing" replied that sardonlc individual
oracularly, after a perusal; and not
another word could get out of HIN
upon the subject.
We were expecting all that day to
have harold tearing in with his good
news. He did not come, and we found
that morning that he had been hastily
summoned to the other end of England
to his father. who lay dangerously ill
at the point of death, it was said. l had
to leave town myself on the next day,
for fortnight as | supposed, but it was
three or four weeks before l saw my
own chambers again, and got greet
ing from my dear old George.
After while it struck me he was a
trifie constrained in manner, and at last
l asked him, rs there anything the
matter?'
"Ah." he said slowly, you've not
heard the news, them"
'No,"I said impatiently. 'news alb out
whom? What news?
only about Blanche Whitworth aud
old Seyfried," very dryly.
"What about them?"
Engaged to be married: that's ALL"
"Never!" l cried incredulously.
George nodded.
"It's perfectly true" he said.
"But-Harold l exclaimed; "doeS
he know? Great heaven! what will he
say?'
''Ah, poor fellow. 1 don't suppose he
does know yet; the news is only just
out"
Then suddenly the phlegmatic George
burst out in fury:
"Confound it! It's too bad! What
are these women made OF? To make
fool of fine young fellow like that.
Anu lIO lLuotOu pun
Where is he now?" interrupted.
81 don't know. He's not been home
yet-here. l mean-since his fathers
death, He's alone i'll the world now.
you know. Pye heard no word from
him since he went away"
Suppose we walk around to his lodg-
ings," said l, land see if we can have
news of him. If we can get him away
with US before he hears anything 80
much the better"
We got up and went out, vague
sense of uneasiness troubling us.
A slight rain was falling as we came
into the open air, very cool and pleas
ant after the hot day. l remember it
was about or in the evening. Cam
eron's lodgings were but two or three
streets off-only few minutes walk.
We could not make any one hear by
ringing the bell, and as the front door
was Unattached we walked in.
"Hello!" said George, as we stood
moment i'll the passage, "Harold's at
home; here are his hat and gloves"
he went to the foot of the stairs and
called.
Hi! Cameron, where are you, old
boy ?''
There was no answer.
At this moment the landlady came
bustling in. Mr.. Cameron had asked
her to post a letter, she said. He was
up stairs in his room now.
We wondered why he had not
answered our call, and said we would
20 up. To our surprise his door was
locked; nor could we get any reply to
our knocking. | think we both became
thoroughly frightened now for the first
time.
Let US get in," said 1. somehow or
other.
George made no more ado, but simply
put his shoulder against the door and
burst it open. We came into the room
with bit of a rush. Then we saw
sight, and stopped dead.
Our friend was stretched upon the
floor, his face drawn and ghastly-1he
face of corpse. On the table was the
wretched phial which told US only too
well what had happened. 1t had held
prussic acid; the room was full of the
odor. We did what we could. but-poor
Harold was quite dead.
Heaven forgive him! We should
never hear his friendly voice or cheer
full laughter again.
We learned afterwards that, on hear
ing the news of her engagement, Cam
erOn had written to Miss Whitworth
asking if it was true. He received
curt reply saw the letter-saying that
it was so. and Miss Whitworth must de-
cline any correspondence with Mr..
Cameron on the point. Mad with his
disappointment, he had hurried to see
the girl-had demanded an interview.
1t was denied him; Miss Blanche spared
herself that unpleasantness. He was
quite alone, and saw no way out of his
trouble, poor fellow, save one.
Even now. knowing how he loved the
girl. l wonder whether we. or any one,
could have kept him from his dreadful
fate, even had We had the chance.
The Seyfried- Whitworth wedding was
the most magnificent i'll London that