Evening star., 1897-01-23

night; l was worried and anxious-that is
no excuse OF course-and then said things
l shouidnt have said. was sorry at once,
! put am more sorry now when I see /
have troubled you. tswont happen again.
l |, am am sure If you thfak no more about it
my dear Edna, ia not blaming you in
the least, nor do thsnk you were at fault
that is, not entirely: 1 am not censuring
any one: we are as God made us. and there
are differences of temperament which
sometimes cause friction. You are not
having fair chanceatNst now. 1 care very
little about your noeher's friends. and l
have few friends myself; thus you have no
companions of your swn age whom you
can have here. andSshose visits you can
return, as is right aad proper You are
thrown too much on your mother and me
for your friendship. and am not sure that
either of us is suitable. You are at an i'm
pressionable time of life, and l want to do
my best for you; so think 1 shall send you
to some school where you will meet nice
girls and form friendships that you will
enjoy. Then you have decided talent for
music, which will be developed, and-there
are many reasons for such STEP"
DO you mean that shall have to leave
home?" asked Edna with tremor in her
voice.
Il think that will be best. In a year or
two you will look upon life with perhaps
more philosophy"
"A year or two!' cried Edna, as if she
spoke Of eternity.
Her father smiled
''The time will. pass very quickly he
said In a year or two, when you come
home, both your mother and you will be
glad to meet each other. We sometimes
grow to think kindly of the absent"
The girl buried her face in Ter hands.
Tut, tut, Edna, my own little girl"' cried
her father, placing his chair beside hers
and taking her almost in his arms. One
would think you were being sent off to
Africa. l imagined you would be glad"
1T isn't that" she sobbed. 1T shows
how dreadfully wicked you must think me
when you are compelled to send me away.
Nonsense, Edna! 1t shows nothing of
the kind. can't send your stepmother to
boarding school. can I? Well, then! l don't
think you wicked at all. l have not the
slightest doubt but you said just what you
We're provoked to saying. There now; see
what hopeless admission that is to make
to a rebellious daughter. No. no. l am
not blaming you in the least. AS said be-
fore. l am blaming nobody. We are driven
by circumstances. that's all.
And am j never to see you except when
l come home?'
MY darling girl that is the delightful
part Of it. You will see me and l will see
you practically more often than we do now.
What do you think of that? / shall select
some excellent school, situated in a bracing
spot near the sea- believe 1t will be cheap
er for me to take a season ticket on the
railway there, 1 shall go SO often. We
will take long walks on the downs entirely
alone and talk of everything. We will have
delightful little dinners at the wayside inns
we discover, and now and then a grand
luncheon at some very expensive place
with window that looks over the chan
mel Edna, 1t will be the rejuvenating of
your old father. He rarely gets a sniff of
ozone as things are now, but then"
Edna, with cry of joy, flung her arms
around his neck.
"Oh, father" she cried. that is too good
to be true! When can / go?''
I hon
how everything depends on the point of
view"
Chapter NIX.
With the words Starved to DEATH ring
ing in his ears, Langley walked to Chelsea
Bitterly he accused himself for his stupid
blindness; all this had been going on for
days, and he had had no suspicion of it.
She had from the first undoubtedly stinted
herself so that her father might not go
hungry. and when, at last, the real pinch
came, she was too weak to resist it. Her
father, Isolated by his temper from any
friends who might have seen what was
happening and given warning In time had
also been unconscious of what was passing
before his eyes. His gruff independence
had slowly famished his own daughter
Starved to DEATH in the richest city in
the world-the granary of the nations, in
to whose ample lap pours the golden wheat
from every country under the sun that
ripens 1t. an ati,fI .I"-'r a---
At last Langley reached the studio and
might have known. had he been conversant
with the habits of the great world that
notable function was in progress thereabout
by the numerous carriages, with fine horses
and respleHdent coachmen and footmen
that waited near by. In his earlier days
Langley had hoped for pupils to instruct
and thus increase his scanty income He
had cards printed-"Albert Langley" in the
nf Nrlcf TO- 1lo,,
type in the corner. These were never used
Langley not having the courage to push his
inquiries for pupils and secure them He
knowing Barney to be a fashionable man.
had put some of these cards in his pocket
and wnen the boy in buttons swung open
the door the bit of pasteboard was handed
to him.
The hoy glanced at the card. dropped it
into the receptacle that contained many
others, and shouted the name up his stair
way, waiting its ascent with wave of his
hand. The man who held aside the heavy
drapery which covered the doorway bawled
the name into the room, from which con-
fused murmur of conversation came min
gled now and then with a pleasing ripple
of laughter The ornamental living statue
at the top of the stair gaZed dreamily over
Langleys head as he mounted
Taking another card the organist gave it
to the man at the door.
Il have not come to the at home'" he
said. would you give this to Mr. Hope
and ask if he will me for moment
Tell hin. called last night, and could not
come earlier today"
The man took the card and disappeared
behind the curtains. In an incredibly short
time Barney came out and his reception of
the musician was bewilderingly effusive.
MY dear fellow he cried, placing a
hand on each shoulder Of Langley, "can you
play the piano? OF course you can. What
foolish question to ask! 1 always light
on my feet. Providence has dropped you
down here. my boy. don't you know. Here
We have just sent out to scour Chelsea for
a pianist, and here you drop down from the
skies, don't you know. This is luck Want
to see me? OF course you do and what's
more to the point want to see you, don't
you know! Now come right in. I've got
the finest grand piano you ever fingered in
your life-magnifcent instrument case de-
signed by myself-told 'em to spare no ex-
pense, and they didn't. don't you know
Trust 'em for that. Now come in, come
in
MIR. Hope, did not come to play I am
in no condition for playing"
''Of course you didn't come to play
That's the beauty of 1t. You want some
thing from me. now don't you?"