Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1896-10-08

the midst OF such loneliness 1t was
Mamie Her little face looked ghostly
in the half light above her white gown
and for moment, believing her to be
miles away, he started, thinking that ne
had conjured up her wrath. ~ thought
YOU were dining with Lady Llanaton'
he said, his face sterner, darker than
usual in the effort to repress the JOY he
felt at sight Of her.
my head ached," she said, lftlns
her hand to her head YEARLY, o siim'
rirlisb shape that somehow looked for
iorn and uncared for, like child alone
in the world, having lost itself ana
knowing not where to turn.
"Have you dined?' he asked with
masculine common sense, and OF course
found that she had not-tea is the lnVa-
riable panacea Of woman in time OF
trouble whereby she more than doubles
her ills
"Then you II come round to the COT
tage and get something to eat, he SAID,
drawing her hand through his arm, and
though she protested and held back ne
made her come, and entering the house
by side door established her IN the
dining room, without the whist players
being any the wiser, and went to lind
the butler, bidding him bring Wine,
ohioken-anything he had got. And
you needn't disturb your mistress, ne
had added carelessly.
Then he put cushion behind her
back, stool at her feet, pretended not
to see the misery on her face that pierced
him like dagger, and when the food
came, with that celebrity which attended
all Blake's behests, he cut it up for her
and almost fed her, making her drink
also, so that presently she laughed in
way to make one weep and said:
"Eat the sop sop, Jenny.
Jenny, drink the wine
Thank you, Robin kindly
She stopped abruptly and put one
hand to her throat, as if to hold back
Jenny's sweet promise to Robin, and
Trelawny got up and looked out OF the
window, for man s tears are blood ana
distilled from his heart.
He had had no idea of the way things
were tending till tonight. He had not
seen her in Wills company save when
Others were around, and she was almost
wildly gay. Her kindness to himself had
gone for nothing. She was simply re-
yerting to her old attitude Of trust to-
ward him, and with facile youth had
already forgotten the stormy interlude
of his passion for her-forgotten and
forgiven it.
He was unaware of her jealousy OF
Hagar The two seemed on good terms
when they met. For himself he always
gave that young woman wide berth,
as he would any dangerous reptile, and
hated to think Of how he had once made
her his jackal.
A servant came in to remove the sup
Der things. When he had gone, Blake
ruuared his shoulders and came and sat
down by Mamie.
"You children have been quarreling,
he said kindly, land you think your
whole world is in ruins, and nothing
can ever be the same again, and 1t is
hard, it is bitter, the first quarrel, but
it has to be got through, my child, and
you'll come out on the other side with
some of the glamour gone, but with more
comprehension of each other and more
mercy for each others faults That's
where you young people run so short
IN mercy
Mamie sat quite still and silent.
Young as she was she needed no one to
teach her that a wife must never com
plain Of her husband-least of all, to
man who has once loved her.
"And so you'll make it up said
Blake, his vigorous vitality warming
her, though she did not know it, as with
strong, electric shocks of hope and cour-
age. "He loves no other woman, you no
other man. Why, then, when you have
the essentials, quarrel about trifles!'
He had himself entirely in hand, but
he was inwardly boiling with rage at
the folly or carelessness that had made
Will Cassilis bring his month old wife
to such pass as this, and he longed to
pick her up in his arms as he had done
a hundred times before in her childish
troubles, to soothe her, be good to her,
do any and every thing to smooth ont
that hopeless look of despair on the lit
tie face that showed as some white deli
cate flower against his dark, strenuous
one as he sat down beside her. Will Cas-