The Yale expositor., 1896-06-26

memory as she. How she must have
loved him"
"Duchess Yes, she might have had
her choice of two or three coronets at
the least. Everybody knows how our
best and noblest men have sued in vain.
She wins almost as much admiration as
her daughter now"
Hush, they will hear you! Good af-
ternoon."
"a fine day, Lady Annabel l have a
word for you from Bath"
The mufIled figure bent forward yet
farther. How the eye glittered with a
lustre feverish and unnatural
Lady Annabel Collinwood, Elcanor's
mother"
At the very name came the flood of
old emotion, sweeping away the breast
work that for five years of strenuous
toll, of stupendous exertion, had been
closely guarded, lest a single wave
should overlap the restraining barrier.
No wonder Walter Vernon-Signor
Vermont he had allowed the Italians to
call him, and the name came with his
fame to England-no wonder he gazed
with brcathless interest as the group
advanced, to see for the first time Lady
Annabel Collinwood!
He could have selected her from q
crowd of ladies as fair and graceful as
shea slender, pale-faced woman, with
q well-bred, quiet grace, deep, mournful
eyes-not like Eleanor's. blue and
sunny, but dim and dark as the mid
night sea, carrying with her a name
less, invisible and yet potent atmos-
phere of refinement and purity. This
he saw at first, but second look show
ed him flashes OF light corruscating
over the dim iris, and making the eye
Respondent; waves Of rich thought
breaking over the symmetrical features,
and clarifying them with light and
shade Of eloquent meaning; smiles rare
and seldom, but wonderful and magical
when they came, arching into beauty
the lips that were Eleanor's own. He
felt at once the spell by which Lady
Annabel still swayed all hearts, al
though more than forty years had pass
| ed over her smooth, fair forehead. She
was leaning lightly upon the dukes
arm, but her attention was given to the
young viscount, who was relating in his
| lively way the meeting with the cour-
teous admiral.
The tall figure and massive head OF
| the noble duke concealed the couple
who walked behind, and Walter was
| obliged to wait until Lady Annabel and
her companion turned to the pictures
before he beheld her for whom his heart
! had sighed so long.
Eleanor was only sixteen when they
parted upon the far-off Pacific. Five
| years, replete with the important
change from girlhood to womanhood
had passed-would she seem the same?
His beating heart nearly suffocatcd
him as Walter once more gazed upon
Lady Eleanor Collinwood.
All, the relief!-it was still his Ellie.
| though the youthful grace and beauty
| had ripened into matured perfection
| though the slender form had grown
more stately, and the girlish diffidence
had merged into a calm, self-pcssessed
dignity-a well-bred grace that the is
land experience could never have given
her. Still the soft blue eyes wore their
guileess look of pleading innocence:
the sweet lips dimpled with the very
smile poor Tom had SO often compared
to the first sunbeam that glIstened
through the cloud over the sea, when
the Petrol lay wreck among the
| reefs.
How swiftly his pulse leaped, his eye
burned! Would that smile ever beam
| for him again? Not a breath Of intelli-
gence had passed between them since
their parting: for all he knew she might
have forgotten his very existence. He
could test it speedily. And then, with
Jealous rage, the unknown artist turned
to her companion, on whose handsome
face SO plainly was written his devoted
admiration. There was a manly, high
bred air about him that pierced poor
Walter like a sword. He was good, he
was noble, he was worthy of her-that
could be read at glance No wonder
she listened so graciously TO his anima-
ted words.
With a stifled groan Walter turned
away. Duke, marquis. noble lord
whichever he was, he had right to
offer his homage and suit; but for the
plebeian painter, where was there any
hope, any plea whereby to win the favor
of that high-born, aristocratic mother,
even though Eleanor herself were true
to that voluntary promise-"I will
wait for you?
The black folds of Lady Annabel's
dress swept across his feet. and while
the hot blood mounted his cheeks Wal
ter bent his head, as though his pre-
sumptuous thoughts were laid bare be-
fore that sad, dark eye.
Then single word in Eleanor's we'll
known voice came to his Part was
hurried, agitated, vehement. SO well
he understood every tone of that be-
loved voice, he knew something had
startled her, and yet she had spoken
but one word-"Motherw
What is it, my lover" asked Lady
Annabel, turning at once where her
| dauohtor ALTERNATELY nuehi In and nall