The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-11-01
DASHED HER HOPES

pi0SS ASSC-SudOcO IdulpS were CdoIluS
tender glow, but near tho three tall
windows and in the center Of the
room there was still sufficient day
light to illuminate the faces and frocks
of the guests who were assembled for
dinner.
Lady Arlington, clad in shimmering
white satin and wonderful pink pearls,
aitted like spirit from group to
group; now greeting fresh arrival,
now pairing off her friends.
Lady Susan, Lord Marrable will
lake you down. He's awfully dull, /
know, but BERTHE Fancourt is your
sther side. Sir Charles, you're des-
lined to the tender mercies of Dolly
Lansdown- Take care of yourself;
ihe's dreadful little firt, and boasts
bf her victims Ali Olivia, I'm de-
lighted to see you. Col Egerton. take
sare of my friend, Mrs. Abinger. for a
few moments till her cavalier turns
ap- What a nuisance your sex is,
soloneL Here we are, twenty-three
hungry souls, all waiting for one
tiresome man. Olivia. my dear, if in
i've minutes he does not turn up I'm
afraid you'll have to go downstairs
llone."
And with a gay little laugh Lady
Arlington turned away.
Mrs. Abinger smiled after her re-
treating figure, and Col. Egerton,
Patching sight of her slightly-curled
mouth, thought she had the sweetest
lips he had ever seen, and so thinking.
.e looked the closer.
He saw q slender woman, with a
shapely head Set upon a round, white
throat. The low-cut bodice of her
plain black gown clasped a slight
waist and made fitting frame work
!or her dimpled shoulders. Her big
s. black fan seemed all too heavy for her
hny wrists and small pink-tipped fin
gers- In the fast-fading light he could
.carcely distinguish her features. but
ae noticed that her hair was soft and
lair, and that her eyes were large and
bust little sad.
The gallant colonel was still won
iering what kind of a voice so charm
ing a woman could have, when the
ioor was flung wide and tall man
Itrode into the room Lady Arlington
aeaved an audible sigh of relief,
waved rather than spoke an introduc-
lion between Mrs Abinger and the
newcomer, and then, like multi
.olore6 snake, her guests rustled down
he wide white staircase to dinner.
There was momentary dragging Of
ilken trains under chairs and gen.
sral settling down before the last ar
1ival turned to scan the woman at his
tide, whom In the swift transit from
she drawing-room to the dining-room
be had only vaguely concluded was
Ilight, and pretty, and fair-haired.
OLIVIA! You?" His tone of aston
!shment was too loud for good breed
ing, but the chat about the table was
lively, and no one heard his voice save,
indeed, Mrs Abinger.
Yes, it is l. l knew you the mo-
hent you entered, though the room
tVas almost dark"
And yet we've not met for so many
Fears," he said; then, with the gal
lant after-thought of man of the
world, he added: Not that you look
Dpe day older than when"
She finished the sentence for him;
1--WE parted"
There was sigh in her voice and
touch of pure sentiment in her sad
Eyes as she spoke, and recalled, as
women love to do, the agony of that
hour, fifteen years ago, which had
lorn her from Angus Ferrers' arms.
She had been SO young then-little
more than a child-but her whole soul
had been given to her boyish lover,
md the parental edict which had sent
Angus to India and herself to a
wretched marriage had nearly broken
her heart.
But the dream of the past was dis
eelled by him who had recalled it.
And you married." he said.
Yes; l was obliged. MIR. Abinger
was rich in those days, and he bought
me-"
In those daysl Is he not so now?"
He died two years ago, a pauper."
Mrs Abinger spoke quietly. She
had lived SO long with the tragedy of
existence that it had lost its most
poignant thrills, and had degenerated
INTO a gray monotony of misery.
No SO Sir Angus Ferrers. A look Of
anutterable pity crept into his eyes, a
note Of intense sympathy into his
foicc.
"And you arc"
"a widow, and pauper, too"
She made little gesture with her
small, white hands; a gesture that In
titea inspection of her poor gown, of
her lack Of jewels-and that told
more plainly than could thousand
words of genteel poverty and want
my poor Olivia" he said, and as
The glanced at him she saw tears on
his clashes
Lady Arlington grum bled next day
10 her husband of Mrs Abinger's dull
ness and Sir Angus Ferrers' silence.
But that long dinner was, in truth,
nothing but dream to the man and
woman who had parted with such
passionate tears fifteen years ago, and
had met once again SO unexpectedly.
Yet though both dreamed, their
visions were so different He, rich,
titled, still in the prime of manhood,
was absorbed in the dead past If he
had been firm, if he had married
Olivia, how much unhappiness he
might have saved her, how much
peace it would have brought to him
selt
And Olivia dreamed only of a future
with the man whose image had been
ever IN her heart, of time of love and
soy, and freedom from sordid money