The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-12-20

the indulgent manner of all elder SIS
ter-a manner that had already be-
come very dear to Polly Hamilton
"and suppose shall do this"
ooh, you sweet thing!" exclaimed
the happy girl, with the effusiveness
of her sex and age. "And now good
night. Not for the world would be
the cause of dark rings about those
lovely eyes of yours to-morrow-'good-
night and happy dreams to you, my
Rita!"
Dolores sighed deeply as the door
closed after Polly, and she murmured
sadly:
"And yet something tells me she
will never-never be happy with that
man, even if he loves her, and 1 don't
think that he does. wish from my
heart that she had never seen his false
and cruel facet"
It was now after midnight, and q
brilliant sky, starred with myriad
points of diamond light, was. visible
through the window from which the
shade had been accider tally pushed
aside. Dolores, with a quick impulse
to breathe in the beauty of the mid
night hour, turned out the artificial
glare of the gas, drew up the window
shade, and stood gazing out at the
sky. The silvery radiance of the stars
mingled with the moonlike light of the
electric lamps, and touched with
beauty all the commonplace and often
repulsive objects that spoil the view
by daylight; but though she was
vaguely conscious of this, Dolores was
looking straight into the stars over
head, and the calmness and restful
Joy which that spectacle had always
brought to her now stole gently into
her troubled mind. The soul seemed
to Aoat away through the depths OF
space; visions of celestial repose and
loveliness stretched out before her
inward sight; the rhythm and har-
mony of the spheres, circling forever
in their millions of orbits, seemed like
unknown but heavenly music waited
to some secret sense of hearing deep
within her inmost being. And then,
as it had been always from her ear
liest childhood, she was suddenly
conscious of a Presence-nothing
tangible and nothing in the least de-
gree terrifying. It was an atmosphere
Of something exquisitely pure and
spiritual, the tremulous, pulsating
breath of guardian angel. A feeling
of great content and happiness took
possession of her; and gently draw
ing down the shade, she turned away
from the window and began her prep
arations for bed, and her one thought
was: h..
Everything will be we'll and as it
should be if we will but wait and be
patient. All, if I could only remem-
Der that, but I am so prone to doubt
and to fear and to anticipate the
worst. Perhaps themany disappoint-
ments and sorrows of life have made
me so; but T must strive against that
tendency; the bright beings OF a
higher life can only come close to us
when we are at our best. Let me try
always to remember that -"
AS she placed her head on the
downy pillow, Dolores was already al
most in q dream, out OF which a
radiant face seemed to smile upon her,
and across her brow and cheek she
felt a touch as soft and sweet as the
dropping Of rose leaves. :.
Mamma. deapest," she muir
INJURED, sis it you? All, yes, my. own
mamma, it must be you, for nothing
can keep our mother from US. Moth
ing-not even death!' :
And then Dolores slept, TRANQUILITY,
happily; and such sleep might well
have drawn the angels to look on 1t
and bless it. e.
Determined that nothing merely
fanciful should cause her to bring
sorrow to the girl who had rescued
her from loneliness and poverty, Do
lures set herself the task of looking
for every good quality in the charac-
ter of Clarence Stanley, with the nec-
essary accompaniment to such
search, of being as blind as possible
to his defects; and, looked at from
this point of view, she was surprised
to find how pleasing person that
gentleman all at once became. As.to
whether this was right or wise
thing to do, she did not yet pause to
ask herself. She was so fond OF
Polly, and grateful affection went so
far beyond anything else, that her ira.
pulse was to think nothing and feel
nothing except what were calculated
to make Polly happy.
And Polly WIS happy. Her pretty
face beamed with JOY when she saw
how entirely her new sister seemed to
have changed her views in regard
to" o"Clarence.
Mr.. Stanley, according to his al
most invariable custom, called to see
Polly about the middle of the after
noon on the day succeeding their
evening at the opera, and he was
agreeably surprised to find himself
very cordially received by Dolores.
The possibility of their relationship
to eacn other formed a subject Of en-
crossing interest to Polly; and it was,
also, very interesting to themselves,
although, at first, such supposition
was far from attractive to the young
Spanish girl. But the thought grew
upon her; and as she saw Mary Ham
ilton's pleasure in the idea, and as she
reflected that, if related to this hand
some young Englishman, she was also
related to his whole family, sudden
desire awoke in her heart that the
surm,se might prove q correct one.