Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-05-29

is the way he put it. I suppose 1t would
not be out of place for me to bring her
here some EVENING""
"And what did you tell him?"
81 told him-well, I suppose 1 did
more than ought ought to have had
more consideration for you and him. 1
told him to come by all means. What
else could do under the circumstances?
Consideration for me?'' cried Miss
Maxey, reddening. 81 don't know what
! possible consideration for me could urge
you to act any differently than you did
| act. The Widow Forsythe whom have
| heard so much about? Why, by all
means let her come. Let her come, and
| the sooner the betteri shall be ready
to receive her at her own convenience.
! Be very sure of thatP'
| And ready Miss Maxey was when the
critical time approached. Maxey thought
he had never seen her looking so hand
some, with SO much color in her cheeks,
with such a sparkle in her eyes. As they
sat in the front parlor under the bril-
liant gas jets awaiting the coming Of
the expected visitors she almost out
shone the radiant Annette.
A roll of carriage wheels in the street
below, long and breathless pause, q
ring at the doorbell of the artists suit,
which Maxey himself answered, and thS
guests had come.
Mrs Forsythe, my friend, Mr.. Julian
Maxey, Mrs. Maxey, Miss Ellen Maxey.
| What is this? You are pale; you are i'll,
Fostelle! Some water, Julian, qulckP'
Everybody was startled and alarmed
| Everybody except Ellen seemed more or
less in danger of losing presence of mind.
One moment naughty and disdainful
woman in the full bloom Of health and
strength bowling in lofty way to her
! new acquaintance, the next a pale and
tottcring wretch clinging to the arm of
her betrothedl The change was too sud-
den, too unexpected and mysterious not
to be powerful in it's effect.
"Thank you, Eustace," said Mrs.
Forsythe in faint voice, taking the
from the doctors hand. She swallowed
little of the cooling liquid and declar-
ed that she felt better. Nevertheless she
sank down upon the sofa, whittier the
physician had led her, faint and helpless.
Lamar bent over her with some sollc-
itude, but more wonder.
"Fostelle, are you in pain?'
mot at all, Eustace. 1t is only lit
tie faintness that will soon go away. "
He took her hand in his, pushed aside
the massive gold ornament that encir-
cled her wrist, placed his finger upon
her palse and looked into her face search
ingly.
''Shall VIC take you back to the car
riage? Don't you think it would be bet
ter to go home at once?"
Mrs. Forsythe was rapidly recovering
her color. AS Lamar spoke her glance
wandered in the direction of the artists
sister, who stood by herself, silent and
composed, while all the rest were full
of anxiety A sudden CLEAN of the eyes
and compression of lips followed that
glance. Then she said in voice which,
though it trembled slightly, was perfect
ly clear and audible to everybody:
'No, will stay. This is only mo-
mentary. Don't you see that it has left
me? Sit here beside me, Eustace, dear.
Pray do not stand any more on my ac
count, Mrs. Maxey. Give yourself no
more alarm about me. In few mo-
ments 1 shall be quite restored. -
At this everybody sat down. The un-
usual came to an end, and the conven-
tional "call" began Mrs Forsythe kept
her word In five minutes there was no
trace of her late indisposition. Ellen
Maxey saw, with unwilling admiration
for her tact and management, the part
that she had decided to play with regard
to herself. By no word or look, other
than that which the first shock of meet
ing had drawn from her, and which was
totally inexplicable to the others, did
she betray that Ellen was any less q
stranger to her than her brother or his
wife.
She talked the conventional trivial
ties to her in the same smiling, winsome
way in which she talked to the rest,
for Mrs. Forsythe was no longer naughty
and disdainful. In truth, as the moments
went on and this vivacious and fascinat-
ing parsonage continued to discuss the
stupid affairs of daily life with q pi-
quancy and animation that made them
for the time seem interesting, Ellen
found it hard to retain her hold on the
certain fact that this was the same wom-
an who had shivered the costly orna-
ment to atoms on the marble floor. Mrs.
Forsythe seemed to have set before her
self the one object of making herself
agreeable to her new acquaintance.
She admired, openly and ecstatically
admired, MaXey S wife and declared that
if she had been man she should have
fallen in love with her herself She
praised Maxey's taste as an artist and
went into raptures over some of his pic
lures, with which he had ornamented
the walls of his parlor. She even
| 'Such, - thought Ellen, sis her boldness
and ontery''-attempted to become
worshiper at the shrine of the artists
sister, but Miss Maxey met all her at
tempts to win her over with an icy reti-
} cence which more than once aroused the
latent fire in the widows eyes.
DR.. Lamar, usually so gay and con-
versational in the artists rooms, hardly
uttered a word. He sat beside Mrs For
sythe on the sofa as grave and serious as
If he had been assisting at a funeral.
The difference was so marked and so
significant that all three of his friends
were impressed by the fact 1t was the
last matter under the circumstances that
either Julian Maxey or his young wife
would have thought Of mentioning in
his presence, but Ellen somehow felt
that she had a battle to fight with an
INSCRIPTIONS woman, and that any
means were justifable She took advan-
tage of the opportunity afforded her by
this fact to plant covert thorn in the
breast of her enemy.
81 am sure" she said in an audible
voice to her brother while Mrs. For
sythe was saying something to Annette,
''the doctor is not well tonight"
mot well?" echoed Maxey.
''No; don't you notice how constrain-
ed and different from his ordinary self
he is? He is usually SO chatty and agree
able. Some shadow seems to have come