The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-21
QUITE MAD.
BY PHEBE HART.
copyrighted, 1907, by Phebe Hart.

VI HeI nuSDdnui Campden Is, AnStruther,
Mrs Lennox dared not make a confident
OF man or woman. She determined TO leave
London as soon as the newly married
couple returned from the honeymoon.
She would never see James Lennox again
If she could help il.
But Mr.. and Lady Mildred Anstruther
came back sooner than had been expect
ed, and, much to her astonishment, Mrs
Lennox met them one day at a garden
party. There was no second CLEAN of
recognition. Minnie Lennox and Campden
Anstruther met and parted as strangers.
Thls treasured her, and after a few
more such meetings, she came to the con-
clusion that there was no occasion for her
to quit town earlier than usual. She did
not cultivate the Anstruthers, neither did
she specially avoid them. She knew Lon
don would soon dispense.
Although James Lennox seemed as dead
as If he were in truth at the bottom of the
sea, yet she could not hold herself a
widow, and with feminine contrariness-
now that the thing was an impossbility
for the first time in twelve years she
wished she could marry again. She fell
into the habit of reviewing regretfully the
men among whom she would have made
her choice, and gradually the shadow OF
mysterious and interesting martyrdom
settled upon her and added to her many
attractions.
After Mrs. LennoX ascertained that the
Anstruthers had gone to the Isle of Wight
and intended ompleting their autumn
maneuvers at Chinkford abbey, she van
ished to Switzerland. Thereupon Col
Stanmore and Lord Fenwick evinced an
affection for climbing the Alps. Yer
non Hill wanted to lay odds that Mrs
Lennox, as Mrs. Lennox, would soon van
iSh altogether.
However, he found her at the COM
mencement of October up in Scotland at
Cawdor castle; he thought she was look
ing prettier and sweeter than ever, but
sad somehow.
She's too good-natured," said Col. Stan
more, drearily-he with Lord Fenwick
happened to be at Cawdor Castle-"there' S
no tearing her from these Malcolm chill
dren."
Cursed little bratsw growled Fenwick;
always getting her up in a corner to tell
fairy tale or something, and it's Go
away, you naughty man. this is our story
and all that rot"
Vernon Hill smiled.
Malcolm kids go to bed earily," he said,
land they weren't in Switzerland
"Oh! then there's somebody with trou-
bles to listen to or some nasty old woman
whose dropped her stitches-there' al
ways somebody. She's too good-natured.
mot good-natured enough, you mean,
laughed Hill. And that evening after din
ner he got Mrs. LennOx to walk with him
on the terrace, and he had long talk
with her, while the other men glared.
She had altered. He felt that the infat-
uation she exercised had strengthened in
like manner. He had always liked her,
but with all her softnesS and gentleness
she had appeared to him, as to Others, clad
in the independence of the woman of the
world That independence was gone now,
and in its place was a helplessness, an
appeal for support, for protection. Before
she had been attractive and interesting
now, she was attractive, interesting and
touching into the bargain. Besides she
surrounded herself with an indefinable i'm
penetrability; she vaguely gave the i'm
preston that she was an unwilling pris-
| oner, whom nothing could set free-she
made herself unattainable. Touching, APP
pealing unattainablei Could any such
woman-above ALL so fair a one to look
| upou-prove less than irresistible? The
stronger the man the more easily would
he succumb.
What the goodness is the matter with
her?' Vernon Hill asked himself impa-
tiently, as he paced by her side and lis
tened to her soft voice with its waves OF
| WEAKNESS
Every moment he spent with her chang
| ed the sentiment he had had for her in
its old lace trimmings, as it tapped
against him every now and then, thrilled
him with its gentle contact
I'm going to be a victim, like the rest
Of them he told himself, scofflngly.
She brought the conversation to bear
on the Anstruthers.
81 heard they had gone on the conti-
nent," she said. i've scarcely seen any
thing of Mildred since she married. You
know what it is-one's friends marry and
are lost to one. AT least, that's my eX-
perence, as a rule" She stopped sud
denly. 81 hope Mildred is happy"
"She spends a lot of money and makes
herself of consequence at last. But hap
py!-well-I don't mean she's unhappy
but, don't you know there's no getting
any 'forrarder' with Anstruther. they all
say so; he's as cold as a fish in block
Of ice"
81 know" said Mrs. Lennox. with a
shudder.
1.-The kind of man il 'ud kill you, Mrs
IennoX,. to be with for an hour"
Vernon Hill didn't want to waste his
time on the Anstruthers and congrat-
ulated himself on having made an opening
to introduce the kind of man it would not
| have killed Mrs. Lennox to be with for an
hour. The portrait could have passed for
his own. He became eloquent. As fact,
the woman beside him seemed to make a
cali on all that was most manly in him
| and 1t was only her signs and little
mournful shakes of the head that abso-
lutely prevented him from begging her
there and then, TO let him take care OF
her for the rest of her life
But she wouldn't let him speak out
| right She led the way into the drawing
room again, and shielded herself In a
game Of cribbage with half-antiduated
general. who was transported with delight
and gratitude.
Later on, when she was alone I'm her
room, her secret crushed her, as Il did
sometimes, and she longed to put her lot
in the hands of some true honest man.
Then she burst into passionate sobs as
the torturIng refrain escaped her again and
again, I'm not a widow, I'm not a wild
oW."
The next night there was a ball at Cav
dor Castle Mrs. Lennox was one Of those
wise women who dress up not only TO a
circumstance OF event but even TO their
own moods. Feminine critics. who had
no Jewels to speak Of. complained that she
also dressed up TO her jeye.s, which were
valuable enough to be very much spoken
Of on this night of the bail she felt sad
and her toilet in some subtle fashion be-
trayed the fact. She had never received
more admiration, and the feminine critics
decided that she was not playing fair