The Press., 1894-10-18

fOrting to the ArmourS. Again R1ch- ard s prophecy had been fulfilled, and as he sat alone at Greyhope and read The Morning Post, noticing Lali's name at distinguished gatherings, or, picking up The World, saw how the lion hunt CTS talked extravagantly of her, he took some satisfaction to himself that he had foreseen her triumph where others look ed for her downfall. Lali herself was not elated. It gratified her, but she had been an angel, and very unsatisfactory one, if it had not done so.
 As her confidence grew (though out wardly she had never appeared to lack it greatly) she did not hesitate to speak of herself as an Indian, her country as a good country and her people as mo- ble if dispossessed race-all the more so if she thought reference to her na- tionality and past was being rather con- spicuously avoided She had asked General Armour for an interview with her husband s solicitor. This was grant ed. When she met the solicitor, she asked him to send no newspaper to her husband containing any reference to herself, nor yet to mention her in his letters.
 She had never directly received line from him but once, and that was after she had come to know the truth about his marriage with her. She could read in the conventional sentences, made simple as for child, the strained po- liteness and his absolute silence as to whether or not child had been born to them, the utter absence of affection for her. She had also induced General Ar mour and his wife to give her husbands solicitor no information regarding the birth of the child. There was thus ap- parently no more inducement for him to hurry back to England than there was when he had sent her off on his mission of retaliation, which had been such an ignominious failure, for the humiliation of his family had been short lived, the affront to Lady Haldwell nothing at all. The Armours had not been human if they had failed to enjoy their daughter-in-law' success. All though they never perhaps would quite recover from the disappointment con- corning Lady Agnes Martling. the result was so much better than they in their checrfullest moments dared hope for that they appeared genuinely content.
 To their grandchild they were devot- edly attacht d. Marion was his faithful slave aud admirer, so much so that Cap tain Vidall, who now and then was permitted to see the child, declared him. self jealous. He and Marion were to be married soon. The wedding had been delayed owing to his enforced absence oh Mrc F1xyord Top,bart onOo Mrs Townley, shyly regretted in Lali's presence that the child or one as sweet was not hers Her husband evidently shared her opinion from the extraordi- nary notice he took of it when his wife was not present Not that Richard Jo. seph Armour, Jr., was always en evi- dence, but when asked for by his faith ful friends and admirers he was amia- ply produced.
 sea was engaged with many things His business concerns had not prospered prodigiously, chiefly because his judg- ment, as his temper, had grown some what uncertain. His popularity in the Hudson bay country had been at some tension since he had shipped his wife away to England. Even the ordinary savage mind saw something unusual and undomestic ill it, and the general hospitality declined little. Armour did not immediately guess the cause, but one day about year after his wife had gone he found occasion to reprove half breed, by name Jacques Pontiac and Jacques, with more honesty than politeness, said some hard words and asked how much he paid for his Eng fish hired devils to kill his wife. Strange to say, he did not resent this startling remark. It set him to thinking. He be- gan to blame himself for not having written oftener to his people-and to his wife. He wondered how far his re- venge had succeeded. He was most ashamed of it now. He knew that he had done dishonorable thing. The more he thought upon it the more angry with himself he became Yet he dread ed to go back to England and face it all-the reproach of his people, the amusement of society, his wife herself. He never attempted to picture her as a civilized being. He scarcely knew her when he married her. She knew him much better, for primitive people are quicker in the play of their passions, and she had come to love him before he had begun to notice her at all.
 Presently he ate his heart out with modification. To be yoked forever to-a savage! It was horrible! Their children? It was strange he had not thought of that before. Children? He shrugged his el S<H% ho a child, but children - never! But he doubted even regarding a child, for no word had come to him concerning that possibility. He was even most puzzled at the tone and substance of their let ters. From the beginning there had been no reproaches, no excitement, no railing, but studied kindness and con- ventional statements, through which Mrs. Arnour's solicitous affection scarcely ever peeped. He had shot his bolt and got-consideration, almost i'm perturbability. They appeared to treat the matter as though he were wild youth who would yet mend his ways. He read over their infrequent letters to him; his to them had been still more infrequent. In one there was the state- ment that she was progressing favor ably with her English" in another that "she was riding good deal," again that "she appeared anxious to adapt herself to her new life.
 At all these he whistled a little to himself and smiled bitterly. Then, all at once, he got up and straightway burned them all. He again tried to put the matter behind him for the present. knowing that he must face 1t one day, and staving off its reality as long as possible. He did his utmost to be philo- sophical and say his quid refert, but it was easier tried than done, for Jacques Pontiac's words kept ranking in his mind, and he found himself carrying round vague load which made him abstracted occasionally and often lit