The herald., 1896-04-05

knew what she should have done, too late
turned slowly with her nose in the air.
ttr1 u1- rannUn cd1israftIy a1uet, srrru nov
seemed to isolate her alone with him, and
now seemed to uplft her, as on pillory,
before the congregation. For Archie con-
tlnued to drink her in with his eyes, even
as wayfarer comes to a well-head on a
mountain, and stoops his face. and
drinks with thirst unassuageable In the
cleft of her little breasts the fiery eve of
the topaz and the pale fiorets of primrose
fascinated him. He saw the breasts heaye
aud the flowers shake with the heaving.
and marvelled what should SO much dis
compose the girl. And Christina was con
sclous of his gaze--saw it, perhaps, with
the dainty plaything of an ear that peep
ed among her ringlets; she was conscious
OF changing color, conscious of her un-
steady breath. Like creature tracked,
run down, surrounded, she sought in a
dozen ways to give herself a countenance,
She used her handkerchief-it was really
fine one-then she desisted in panic: "He
would only think I was too warm" She
TOOK to reading in the metrical psalms, and
then remembered it was sermon-time. Last
she put 'sugar-bool' in her mouth, and
the next moment repented of the step. 1t
was such homely-like thing! Mr. Archie
would never be eating sweeties in kirk;
and, with palpable effort, she swallowed
1t whole, and her color famed high AT
this signal of distress Archie awoke to a
sense of his ill-behavior. What had he
been doing? He had been exauisitely rude
in church to the niece Of his house-keeper;
he had stared like a lackey and libertine
at a beautiful and modest girl. 1t was
possible, it was even likely, he would be
presented to her after service in the kirk
yard, and then how was he to look? And
there was no excuse. He had marked the
tokens of her shame, of her increasing in
dignation, and he was such fool that he
had not understood them. Shame bowed
him down, and he looked resolutely at Mr..
Torrance; who little supposed, good, wor-
thy man, as he continued to expound ius-
tifcation by faith, what was his true busi-
ness: to play the part Of derivative to a
pair of children at the old game of falling
in love.
Christina was greatly relieved at first.
1t seemed to her that she was clothed
again. She looked back on what had
passed. All would have been right If she
had not blushed silly fool! There was
nothing to blush at, il she had taken a
sugar bool Mrs. McTaggart, the elders
wife in st. Enoch's, took them often. And
If he had looked at her, what was more
natural than that a young gentleman should
look at the best dressed girl in church ?
And at the same time, she knew far other
wise, she knew there was nothing casual
or ordinary in the look and valued herself
on its memory like decoration. Well. it
was blessing he found something else to
look at And presently she began to have
other thoughts. 1t was necessary, she fan
cied that she should put herself right by
repetition of the incident, better man.
aged. If the wish was father to the
thought, she did not know or she would
not recognise it. 1t was simply as a ma
noeuvre of propriety, as something called
for to lessen the significance Of what had
gone before that she should a second time
meet his eyes, and this time without blush
ing. And at the memory of the blush, she
blushed again, and became one general
blush burning from head to foot. Was ever
anything so indelicate, so farward, done
by girl before? And here she was, max
ing an exhibition of herself before the
congregation about nothing! She stole a
glance upon her neighbors and behold! they
were steadily Indifferent and Glen had
gone to sleep. And still the one idea was
becoming more and more potent with her