Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-10-10

Nr3tsAAs
eff the major should even imagine
An expressive gesture completed tht
sentence.
Furman nodded, confident and as
sured. The thought of the major had M
fears for him.
Mrs Page looked cautiously around.
"Belinda's mother, she said, she
drove to suicide. He suspected she was
flirting with the handsome son of &
near neighbor. He had him out and shot
him, and yet it is not for that reason
fear, for l have no intention of flirting
with you. You know that, because''--
Don't hunt for a reason. -
Mrs. Page laughed, but it sounded
thin, as forced laughter always does,
and she agitated her fan with sudden
vagor. 1T may not be, she murmured,
and as she turned to him it seemed that
her eyes were compassionate, sympathet.
10 even. awake to possibilities, yet care
less Of results
my poor boy" she said, with lit.
tie sigh, "don't you know that you are
absurd? Yet, believe me, 1 am grateful
for your homage. What you have said
would please any woman, and were ]
younger-well. then, were free, since
you will have it SOL would find il
very pleasant indeed. But there are
many pleasant things that may not be.
Tomorrow or next day you will go, and
week later you will be signing at the
feet Of some creole beauty, and if you
think of me at all then it will be but
with smile"
She was smiling, too, and as he look
ed at her Furman thought he had never
seen any woman fairer, more debonair,
nor yet more sensibly just than she.
IF I vex you, he said, looking in
subordinate and cross, "I will not
speak. but at least you might stay. l
will promise this 49,
Whatever he was about to promise,
Mrs. Page never knew, for in the wide
doorway Belinda's white robed figure
suddenly appeared.
'It is getting late, is it not?" Mrs
Page inquired for countenance sake
Belinda's expressive shoulder moved in
a disdainful shrug as clock in the dis
tance chimed family. Indeed, she
continued, 1--WE had better 60 i'm
She moved from the piazza, and all
three entered the house. The hallway
was unlighted. A flicker from an open
door lighted the farther end. Passing
from the starlight of the gallery the
gloom of the hallway seemed intense.
Furman reached forth his hand, and in
the dark encountered that Of some one
else What impulse moved him he could
not say, but putting his face forward he
pressed his lips softly to the cheek of
the owner of the hand.
In his own room Furman dropped on
seat and loosened his necktie with q
thrust of his thumb. Through the open
window came moist heaviness subtle
as the atmosphere of a seraglio.
I must go tomorrow" he told him
self and tried to map out his departure
i'll his mind. From across the hall faint
footsteps reached his ear He heard a
whispering voice. A door closed, and
from somewhere in the great house the
subdued striking of clock was heard. 1t
was midnight, he knew. Slowly he un-
tied the latchet of a shoe and sat gazing
through the open window In his un-
hearing ears the hum of myriads of in
sects sounded, and to his unheeding eyes
the stars still danced their saraband.
The river seemed to call and the night
to wait.
Cutting his meditations suddenly
short, he produced match and lighted
his lamp. He could not go to bed, and
he would write to Mrs. Page, though
what he would say to this matter of fact
divinity he did not know. After he had
produced pen and paper he sat for long
time wondering how he should address
her. Dear Mrs Page, that would not
do for such an epistle as he intended his
to be, and he did not even know her
Christian name Finally he let the sub.
ject of the name rest and began the body
of the letter.
Last night-it seems a year ago
There are people whom we meet, peo-
pie who disturb us with suggestions
that have gone before When saw you
and heard your voice last evening, there
came.to me "reminiscences of earlier and
forgotten days. 1t was not of the present
thought, but of past remembered I
had dreamed. 1t was like tangled
skein One after another the threads
unloosed, and as they separated from
each parting knot a memory returned.
You were not stranger. You were a
friend l had lost could have sat with
you, and from yesterday could have
led you back from one horizon to the
other until that posting house was
reached where our destinies changed
their course and our hands were first
unclasped. -
Much more followed in the same
strain, and when he had completed a
bulky letter he found that it but half
expressed his thoughts, or expressed
them at all as he had wished, so tearing
the sheets into fragments he thrust out
the light and threw himself on the bed.
When he awoke, the room was filled
with sunlight, and on a palmlike cot
tonwood Furman caught glimpse of
Belinda's pet monkey chattering and
scratching his knee At breakfast none
of the family was visible, and Furman
took his roll and chocolate in the piaz-
"a, waited ON by an ebony boy whose
features seemed never to relax from an
expansive smile
''De ladies were up too long ago to
talk bout, and de major was done gone
out toe de canefel's but would be home
alter while
Furman idled out into the grounds.
A field of fruit that he had not previous
ly explored attracted him, and he wan
dered thither. Dragon flies and honey
bees swarmed over the peaches, burst
ing with their richness under the sum- s
ardent kiss, and scintillant green June
bugs filled the air with the sibilant
whir of their gauzy wings.
Furman initiated the example of the
gluttonous insects and feasted on the
fruit picked ready to his hand.
From behind the screen of fig bushes
Miss Lieth appeared A large hat part
ly shaded her face, and in her hands
was basket filed with the finest of
the yellow figs Her eyes smiled when
she saw Furman, III a faint carmine
tinged the olive of her cheek
"Father came home early this morn
ing," she volunteered. Her voice had in
1t a note of shyness, but her eyes rested