Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1894-02-08

NObfoiiuE W CouNth solue tuiOTulS'
tioa. and at the same moment &
slender, dark figure comes out oi
the shadows and says. in a voice tn,
like of which Harold never heard
before, it lis so low and musical,
Am the unhappy person who has
disappointed Dulce 2
Dulce is laughing, with a keen
appreciation of Harold's mental
condition. and says. brightly .0h,
that is so like you, Harold Yes,
this is Aiss Mars-Helen. this is
Harold. He has another name, and
itis DesEnona- hnt-naene calls him
anything but Harold
Then of course I shall do the
same as every one else,' says Miss
Mars decidedly, and lays "a slim, soft
hand in Harold's.
Then they all sit down quite coz
lily and laugh at Harold's blunder,
and nulce plans all sorts Of festiy-
tiles in Miss Mars honor, and Har-
old finds himself listening for that
soft. strange voice, and wishing she
would speak oftener. How many
times after his thoughts went back
to that first evening. The silvery
moonlight over house and grounds,
Dulce's merry chatter, but. more
! distinct than all else, that low, clear
voice. At last Dulce says, Let us
go into the house, and you will sing
us one song, Helen; you are tired,
but you will sing just one p and,
Miss Mars asserting, they go up the
steps and across the wide veranda
into the drawing-room.
As yet Harold has bad but the
most shadowy view of Miss Mars
figure, and as they enter the lighted
room he looks at her with pardon
able curiosity as to what manner of
woman this may be. She was ex-
quisitely lovely both in face and
forn. She had transparent, col
orless skin, like the petals of a mar
cissus. She had Oriental eyes of
biue-black, which looked immense
ly large in her. delicate face. She
had slender feet and tiny ears and
a perfect self-possession, which gave
her almost an air of distinction and
made her seem out of place among
Dulce's bric-a-brac. canary birds.
and house-plants. She was like a
picture, with her soft, pale-gold
hair coiled low down on her neck
in high-art fashion. Like a soft
harmony in black and gold she was,
with her filmy robes clinging close
| ly round her and the old gold, like
furnished yellow, touching her here
and there.
She goes to the piano and sings.
The song was all about a soldier and
a knot Of blue ribbon, and there was
little wall of 'adieu' aud heartache
through il which Harold knew she
did not feel, but still he felt un-
reasonably sorry for her. She gives
him her hand again as he is going,
and he carries the thrill which the
touch of her fingers bring long af-
ter Dulce's tender kiss in dark
corner of. the veranda is forgotten.
is she not lovely 2 says Dulce,
and Very is the concise answer
she receives, at which she wonders
nightly, ,and thinks Harold strange
ly blind.
The long, sweet summer days go
by and each one finds Harold Des-
mond with Dulce aud her guest.
Oftenest with Miss Mars now, for
Dulce has gradually dropped out of
their excursions MY household
cares are many she would say, and
sometimes now they forget to ask
her, but would set off, Harold laden
with Miss Mars easel, camp-chair,
collar-box, and all the artists par
aphernalia she affected.
This afternoon they are all to-
gether under the great trees trying
to believe they are cool and com
Portable. Miss Mars, in a wicker
chair, with her long primrose satin
and soft muslin drapery about her,
is looking more than usually love
| ly.
Il am really getting fat; abso-
lutely, downright fat she says, at
tentively regarding one perfect hand
and arm and holding it up for in
spection. There is something so
repulsiye about that word 'fat, ,
something SD gross and common
place and SO disgust;ngly sugges-
tive of the butcher and the grocer 5