The record-union., 1896-02-22

told you, only-well to speak the truth,
l believe he was a bit afraid of YOU He
foresaw that you would be opposed to
his marriage, and his idea was that he
would have a rather better chance of
overcoming your opposition by word of
mouth than by letter"
Il see. An agreeable surprise that
you were all kind enough to prepare for
me. Well, we have had a surprise, but
it hasn't exactly been an agreeable one,
has it?''
Mr. Leighton shook his head SORROW
fully He had not expected to be too
well received by that hard-hearted old
Morgan, and himself being a worthy
creature, he took no umbrage. After a
pause he remarked:
It's a bad business-a shocking bad
business-for poor Flo
She will get over it, said Mr.. Nor
gan, dryly. cat her age people get over
things
Not always, I'm afraid; though. of
course, that Is what one must hope for.
Anyhow, you can understand that it is
very sad for her mother and me to see
her looking SO miserably unhappy and
that we naturally wish to crafty any
whim of hers that it is in our power to
crafty"
A curt nod of the head signified that
Mr.. Morgan was able to understand
that and his visitor, thus encourag ged,
went on:
TT would be a kindness, and 1 believe
it might even be good for you, too, to
lCok her up one of these afternoons
She is very anxious to have a talk with
you, and"
II am sorry" interrupted Mr.. Nor
gan. but | must really beg you to ex-
cuse me. 1 am going nowhere at pres
ent, nor could 1 say anything to your
daughter which would be likely to do
her or me the smallest good. Her
trouble, as tell you, is durable. and will
be cured without help from me- Mine
happens to be incurable, and it certain
ly would not console me to talk about
it,"
We'll that isn't her opinion. She
thinks she could tell you things about
poor Dick which might give you little
consolation. She has been hearing from
him pretty constantly, you see."
If Mr.. Morgan had spoken the words
which were in his mind he would have
said: "Confound you, you clumsy fool
Why must you needs go on reminding
me of that?" But it was not worth
while to be angry with the man-it
was no longer worth while to be angry
with anybody or at anything. So he
merely reiterated, in accents of chilling
politeness, his regret that he did not
at present feel equal to paying visits,
after which he glanced meaningly at
the clock.
Yet after Mr.. Leighton, obviously
Disconnected and disappointed, had
quilted him, he felt twinge of COM
FUNCTION. What, after all, was the use
OF snubbing people who, no doubt,
n,eant to be kind? 1t was true that,
upon their own showing, they had dealt
with him after a fashion which he did
not consider particularly friendly, but
tnen he had had no claim upon their
fl .endship, and their designs, like his
own, had been brought to naught. If
the girl really wished to see him, why
should he deny her that poor solace?
She was not going to be his daughter
in-law now; he had no reason for hold
ing her at arms length, and he pre-
sumed that she would have sufficient
good taste and self control to refrain
from making a scene.
The upshot of this and further mus
ings was that on the following after
noon Mr.. Morgan rang the door bell of
a house in Bayswater with which he
had once been tolerably familiar and
asked for Miss Leighton. Two minutes
later he had been admitted into a small
morning room on the ground floor and
was shaking hands with pale-faced,
brown-eyed girl dressed in black, whom
he mentally confessed to be both pretty
and ladylike
TT is very good of you to grant my
request" she said quietly. Il know it
must go against the grain with you to
Ell ter this house"
mot particularly" said Mr. Morgan
Situated as | now am 1t goes a little
against the grain with me to enter any
bcdy's house, but your father seemed
to think that it would be satisfaction
to you to see me. and l felt, after he
had left, that / hGd behaved churlishly
in refusing"
He honestly believed that he was
speaking the truth, and that it had been
merely sense of what one afflicted
mortal owes to another, not an overpow-
ering anxiety to hear anything more
that Flo Leighton might be able to
tell him about his dead son, which had
brought him all the way to Bayswater.
But Flo Leighton, whose soft brown
eyes had rested upon his while he spoke,
may have understood him better than
he understood himself. for she answered
with apparent irrelevance:
eff seams aC If wa a n acted in n nm
Gerhand way, 1 know, but when you
to show you, you will see that his mo-
tives were not quite what you think.
At all events, you will see that he
longed to be friends with you again.
and to make some amends for the dis
tress and expense to which you were
put through him."
Mr.. Morgan took, with some hesita-
ton, the bundle of closely written sheets
extended to him.
'eThese letters are not addressed to
me-" said he; "and--and they are love
letters, j suppose. I am not sure that I
ought to look at them >
But they belong to me, and I wish
you to look at them," the girl returned.
Unless you do. you will never know
what Dick really was. Besides she
added, with a touch of pride, Il am not
ashamed of anything that he has ever
written to me-
She had no reason to be so, either on
her own account or on that of her corre-
spondent That much the old man to
whom it had pleased her to deliver
these ardent epistles from an exiled
lover soon perceived. Love letters, of
course, they were, and he did not do