The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-03-07

LII had been hard to Danish thes,
events from his mind at the time; 1
was next to impossible now; but Ii,
struggled manfully to do it; and whei
autumn came, betook himself to Switz
erland for his annual holiday, thinking
a thorough change would be beneficial
to both body and mind. But by an un
toward accident, he sprained his anklt
so severely that he was kept prisone.
to the sofa for some weeks, and thu:
had more leisure to brood over his mis-
fortunes than was good for him. liz
was wholly dependent for amusement
on the kindness Of the visitors stay.
ing III the hotel, many of whom were
exceedingly polite and attentive; one
in particulars young German of the
name OF Muller-coming to the in
valid's room at all hours, and bringing
with him the gossip of the place.
II can't stay now, Mr.. Manvers, y
this young fellow cried one morning
as he rushed in with pile of news
papers and periodicals under his arm.
I'm off for the Corner Graf with those
men l told you of last night - the
weather is glorious. But have done
my best for you. Everybody is out,
so I've made a clean sweep of the Eng
fish things on the reading-room table,
and here they are. Good-by. l will
look you up directly come back"
AS rule Manvers made point of
eschewing all periodical literature dur
ing his holiday, but just now he had
little else to divert him; so when he
had finished his correspondence he
opened the least trashy Of the reviews
and began to read an article of one of
the leading politicians of the day. He
waded through it with praisewurthy
perseverance; then, noticing that there
were two or three articles on the same
subject, closed the book, and went on
to speculate on the ACCESSIBILITY OF seek.
ture; wondering whether the burning
questions that seemed capable Of bear
ing so many and such different inter.
pretations would, in the end. prove any
less wearisome than the love-tales,
hair-breadth escapes, and semi-scien-
tific articles with which he was accus.
toned to fill the pages of his magazine.
"Ah, WELL" he said to himself with
smile, when he had thought the matter
cut, "to stick to the evil one knows is
the safest course after all. I should
only get into hotter water if 1 med
died with politics. Perhaps it may be
interesting to see how other people do
ho To-
taking up the current number of the
- Magazine as he spoke, $50 here
goes for light literature"
The smile faded from his lips the |
next moment, and there was a catch |
in his breath, as, glancing over the
table of contents, his eye lighted on the
title. of the last article in the list: "Is
It Too Late?" 1t was the very story |
he had read SO carefully and returned |
to the author. He threw the book from
him, annoyed that the book should |
thus force itself on his notice. 1t lay |
for some minutes, while it's
victim cursed the ill luck that kept |
him helpless as a log, when rapid mo-
lion was the only thing to bring him
relief. Then almost involuntarily he
lifted it from the floor, and once more
'ead the little story to the end.
Manners gave deep sigh, and turn
ng impatiently, gazed out of the win
low. Groups of people were in the
.arden below, apparently but just re-
urned from some excursion, for they
we're talking over their experiences,
md their merry laughter reached to
lis thirdfoor bedroom, and for mo
nent drove his thoughts into pleas
inter- channel. But only for mo-
nent. Then a voice broke upon his
ar that had been unheard by him for
many long day, and he started and
urned pale.
Could it be she was here? When last
e had heard of her she was residing in
florence with her parents. But of
curse the Blakemores, like everyone ;
lse, were free to roam at will, and, if ]
hey choose to spend the autumn
lonths in the cooler Switzerland, why {
OF?
He could not see the speaker from his I
ofa, but presently she crossed the S
rass, and, accompanied by another t
irl, stood looking at the surrounding a
fountains. Yes, it was Helen-wheth- q
!. Helen Blakemore still was matter l
: must, in some way, bring his Ger I
ian friend to ascertain. j
it would be easy to avoid meeting,
lould he wish to do so, for, though p
e had intended going down the next
~, he might alter his mind, and no s
ne would think it strange. One thing h
ust be done, he decided, and that i'm +
ediately-that wretched magazine "
ust be kept out of the reading-room, h