The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-09-17

the V16t year anu u Hall rIouclb M.
nour's name had seldom been mention
ed and never In connection with the
child. The child's mother asked the
question with a strange quietness. Rich
ard answered 1t without hesitation.
1.-The child looks like Frank" he
said Gas like him a. can be"
81 am glad" she said. "for all your
sakes.'
"You are very deep this morning,
Lali," Richard said, with . kind Of
helplessness. Frank will be pretty
proud of the youngster when he comes
back. But he won't be prouder OF him
than am"
II know that. she said. won't you
be lonely without the boy-and me.
Richard?'
Again the question went home.
LONELY? should think ! would" he
said. '&should think would. But
then, you see, school Is over, and the
master stays behind and makes up the
marks. You will find London o jollier
master than am, Lali. There ii be lots
Of shows, and plenty to do, and smart
frocks, and no end Of feeds and frolics,
and that is more amusing than studying
three hours day with dry old stick
like Dick Armour. / tell you what
when Frank comes"-
She interrupted him. "Do not speak
of that" she said. Then, with sudden
burst of feeling, though her words
were scarcely audible: 81 owe you every
thing, Richard-everything that is good.
i owe him nothing, Richard-nothing
but what is bitter"
Hush, hush," he said. "You must
not speak that way. Lali, / want to say
to you
At that moment General Armour,
Mrs. Armour aud Marion appeared on
the doorstep, and the carriage came
wheeling up the drive What Richard
intended to say was left unsaid. The
chances were it never would be said.
"Well, well, /" said General Armour,
calling down at them, escort his inn
perial highness to the chariot which
town. Come along, my daughter, he
said to Lali. Come up here and take
the last Whit of Greyhope that you
will have for six months. Dear, dear,
what lunatics we all arc, to be surei
Why, we're as happy as little birds in
their nests out in the decent country,
and yet we scamper off to smoky old
city by the Thames TO rush along with
the world, instead. of sitting high and
far away from it and watching ii go by.
God bless my soul, I'm old enough to
know better. Well, let me help you in,
my DEAR" he added TO his wife, land
in you go, Marion, and in you go, your
imperial highness"-he passed the child
awkwardly in to Marion-"and in you
90, my daughter. he added as he hand
ed Lali in, pressing her hand with a
brusque fatherliness as he did SO. He
then got in after them.
Richard came to the side Of the car
riage and bade them all goodby one by
one. Lali gave him her hand, but did
not speak word. He called a cheerful
adieu, the horses Were whipped up. and
in a moment Richard was left alone ON
the steps of the house. He stood for
time looking, then he turned 70 go into
the house, but changed his mind, sat
from his seat until he was summoned
to his lonely luncheon.
Nobody thought much of leaving
Richard behind at Greyhope. 1t seemed
the natural thing to do. But still he
had not been left alone-entirely alone
for three years or more.
The days and weeks went on If Rich
ard had been accounted eccentric before,
there was far greater cause for the term
now. Life dragged. Too much had been
taken out of his life all at once, for in
the first place the family had been
drawn together more during the trouble
which Lali's advent had brought. Then
the child and its mother, his pupil, were
gone also. He wandered about in kind
of vague unrest. The hardest thing in
this world to get used to is the absence
of a familiar footstep and the cheerful
greeting Of familiar eye. And the
man with no chick or child feels even
the absence of his dog from the hearth
rug when he returns from journey or
his days work. 1t gives him a sense Of
strangenass and loss But when it is
the voice Of woman and the hand of q
child that is missed you can back no
speculation upon that mans mood or
mind or conduct There is no influence
like the influence Of habit, and that is
how, when the minds Of peeple are at
ope. physical distance and differences,
20 matter how great, are invisible or
at least not obvious.
Richard Armour was sensible man,
but when one morning he suddenly
packed a portmanteau and went up to
town to Cavendish square the act might
be considered FROM two sides of the
equation. If he came back to enter
again into the social life which for so
many years he had abjured, it was not
very sensible, because the world never
welcomes its deserters. 1t might if men
and women grew younger instead Of
n1Har If ha ca,,aa to caa hia 60 ,,,,lx- or