The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-08-04
PART ".


1t was some weeks later that the
Neckan cast anchor in New York bay,
and her guests left her, of and on, for a
brief refreshment of life ashore and at
the Waldorf, and for one or two dinners
with people who had opened their
houses in town for the occasion, before
Honoria reioined them and they all
went down for the great races, Sir
Brooke and his friend, with the prince,
returning to the Pendragon that await
ed them ready for sea.
1t was scene crowded with move
ment and color and sparkle, as if the
life not only of a great city, but of the
world, had emptied itself upon the
waters; and not Babylon with all her
hanging gardens could have been more
animated and splendid than the bay
with its fiag-drcssed fleet and the masts
of thousand ships.
1t almost seemed TO Honoria as IL
they had gone over the other side of the
earth, when they had taken the tender
und steamed down past the great lib
crty, past the yachts anchored at Bay
Ridge, past the forts and through the
Narrows, while twilight fell and night
held the sea down in the lower bay
where the Neckan and the Pendragon
and some other of the great yachts lay.
Everyone was little tired, and Hon
oria was almost alone upon the deck.
Perhaps she was tired herself, for a
vngue melancholy possessed her, that
pleasant melancholy, it may have been,
which has no source but languor and n
sense of too much sweetness in life. A
little uncertainty, too, was in it. She
was not sure il one mans love were bet
ter than another's; If, after all, things
were worth while; If she knew herself
nnd her own wishes; If she were quite
ready TO surrender what at first had
seemed like rest after the glitter and
splendid turmoil of her days; If all that
the latter lover-supposing he were n
1over--had to offer were superior to
that security; II really he meant to offer
It. She had not heard from him, of
course; letter could hardly havo
reached her moving about as she was,
had there been any reason for writing
one. She had neglected 10 write Chaun-
cey in these weeks. that by sunlight
and midnight were burning out life as
IL in splendid funeral pyre fed by
spices and fragrant oils; but IL she had
half forgotten him the knowledge of
his existence and affection had been
something like a subliminal conscious
mess, and tonight little tenderness in
her heart leaned towards him. She said
to herself that she was very weak
minded. The brooding darkness of the
heavens, the glimmer over the long
swells of the paler sea, the shadow of the
low coast, all lent themselves TO this
gentle melancholy. Now and then a
strain of band music came on the fitful
wind, now full of dancing measures,
now far and fine as elfin horns. A little
remote she OWNED the great yachts
living like darker darknesses, betrayed
only by their colored lights. She won
dered IL anyone there felt doubt or in
decision or sadness.
A wonderful hush seemed almost to
muffle the soft wash of the waters. Far
away was any thought of shipwrecls
and drowning and the dark caves of
death, but what one might call the at
mosphere of such a thought was there.
"A puff of land breeze came down and
brushed by with remembrance of gar
dens and flowers and was gone; and
from one OF the nearer yachts. where
some prima donna was entertained,
again the music Of Manon came, as 1t
lind done that first night she had been
on the Neckan, only it was no longer the
cry of joyance, but the sobbing song at
the convent gates.
"Is 1t not my hand that thino own
now presscs?" sang the singer. "Is IL
not my voice? Am / not Manon?"
And Honora felt that IL she abandoned
rhcrself moment longer to the spell,
tears would be a luxury.
But the world had changed the next
morning. Bright sunshine, blowing
wind and tossing sea, flags and cheers
and signals, made another scene OF 1t.