The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-02-17

to forgive llbs in others nor to recognize
with equanimity their presense Iii others
She had been greatly agitated by what
| was to her the monstrous departure from
any becoming or even possible attitude of
| girl toward her mother that in their talk
after breakfast Sibil had manifested, and
she had not seen Sibil since Her nerves
were still vibrating from the excitement
which she had undergone, and she was re-
yolted simply by SiEil's caressing intona-
tions and looks. When Sfbil offered to
kiss her, she could endure no more She
rose hastily from her chair and without
apology left the room.
Sibil instantly in the manner the most
unassuned in the world sank into chair
and covered her face and shook with weep
ing imperfectly held in check.
dear Mrs. Naunton," she said as soon
as she could bring herself to speak, "don't
ask me what fear is the matter. 1t Is
too dreadful simply. We have seen 1t
coming ever since papa died"
And she removed her bonnet and gloves
and dismissed the carriage.
Not so many weeks subsequent to Mrs
Naunton's morning visit it began not I'M
| commonly among the acquaintance of tho
| Lovibonds to be remarked that dear Mrs
Loyibond had for long time been strange.
| At first this remark was made in isola-
ton, parenthetically almost, and empha-
sized, if at all, by nothing more than an
| exchange of glances or decorous pause
or u word of sympathy. "Have you seen
Mrs. Lovibond of late? How unlike her.
self she seems! She appears to have sunk
into an utter melancholy" Then came q
rumor of her being denied regularly at
the door to visitors, and of an inexplicable
aversion on her part to Sibil, a daughter
of whom anybody might be proud, and of
| orders to the servants and of messages to
| her friends which, to say the least, were
very old, and which indeed seemed often
to strike the poor lady herself with aston
ishment when they were brought to her
notice.
Sometimes she indignantly denied ever
| having authorized them, and always Sibil,
when present, agreed with her that there
must be some mistake, and by beseech-
| ing glance toward her mothers inter-
| locutor silenced protest and explanation.
Even BERTHE came in time to declare
abruptly to Sibil that, ''Begad, you know.
this Ia serious" and he added that lot OF
the Bontf1owers (Mrs. Lovibond's maiden
namo was Bontflower) had been "queer."
About the time of Bertie's declaration
| in regard to the queerness Of the Bont-
| flowers Mrs. Lovibond's man Of business
| received from Sibil in Mrs. Bontflower's
name (he had been accustomed to deal
| with Mrs. Bontfower through SibiD an
order for the disposition of some bonds
which he thought it out of the question to
| execute. For a long while past he had
been made uneasy by the instructions
which had been given him for the rein
vestment of the money accruing from such
of the Lovibond securities as from time to
time had fallen due, and when at length
he became sharply alarmed he went at
once to HOLES Naunton, who had been
Cecil Lovibond's most intimate friend and
the executor of his will, and communicate
ed to him his surmises and gubts. His
surmises and doubts were so well support
| ed by the evidence in his hands and were
of q nature SO grave that HOLES Naunton
called together the eldest of Cecil LOW
bonds relatives, and after a consultation
with them spoke in the name of formi-
dable consensus of uncles and aunts to
BERTHE and Sibil.
Bertic, who was never at his ease when
it was not possible to be ocular, content
ed himself with repeating lugubriously
that lot of the Bontflowers, you know,
had been queer. Sibil would at first listen
to nothing, not even to the suggestion of
enlisting the services of celebrated spe-
cialist. Her opposition was SO determined
that she obtained at last promise that
nothing should be undertaken or done
against her mothers consent. On that
condition Sibil, with becoming reluctance,
consented that the difficult business
should be opened to Mrs. Lovibond, stipu-
lating for all possible tentativeness and
delicacy. Nothing, she said, could to BERTHE
and herself be at all worth while in COM
parison with that and BERTHE said of course
it couldn't.
HOLES Naunton, in company with Sibil.
who insisted that she should be present,
undertook the little embassy. He had long
hoped that Sibil would consent to marry
Horace, his second son, and had learned
to regard her as little less han a daughter
and to regard her interests as daughters
interests.
The tact and gentleness of his address
In the actual interview left Sibil nothing
to wish unsaid, nothing TO wish undone.
1t was a matter of business simply, he ex-
planned, growing out of a scruple on the
part, in the first instance, of a man Of
business, and except that her naturally
pale face became perceptibly a little more
pale Mrs Lovibond bore herself as in the
presence of matter of business simply
| and offered neither protest nor opposition.
She felt, poor lady, that she stood very
much alone. Her husbands relatives,
when all was said were just her husbands
relatives, and relatives of her own, except
| some distant cousins, she had none. She
had been an only child and had brought,
truth to tell, much of the estate which it
appeared that she was mismanaging to
| Cecil Lovibond on her marriage. Even If
she disavowed all of the strange things
| that Sibil had done in her name, it was
possible sho would not be believed. Her
little public was prejudiced against her,
| and even to an unprecedented public 1t
must DO easier to believe that an old wom-
an was out of her wits than to believe that
girl like Sibil had conceived SO safe and
so audacious a conspiracy. Also to make
| disavowal would be to accuse her daugh-
ter, and simply she could not bring herself
| to accuse even a daughter like that. cit
| is too plain" she said. 81 may well be
| mad, having, as l have, such children"
| And she undertook to make over what
| HOLES Naunton would to any proper trus-
| tees.
When the necessary papers and proceed
| ings were nearing completion, BERTHE, who
was slow always to take things in, showed
| at last symptoms of revolt and declared to
Sibil, with his customary indifference to
| contest, that twas all bloody shame.
"If were you," Sibil said with a men
ace in her downcast eyes and even voice
| that made him most uncomfortable, he
hardly knew why, II should keep wholly
| quiet. You are half Bontf1ower at best,
and nobody, to start with, has ever
| thought you wise"
The more BERTHE turned over that speech
| in his dim little mind the more uneasy he
| became and the more firmly he resolved to
follow the advice which it contained, and
| to keep wholly quiet, or, as he would even
| mentally have phrased it, to lie low, by
Jove, and as an Indispensable preliminary
| no drove to his club and ordered a brandy
| and Soda Whenever the thought that he
] is half Bontnower has required to him
| since he has ordered always another
brandy and soda, and he has ordered q
| great many.
HOLES Naunton was and is the only ac-
| tive member of the little board of trustees
| in whose charge the Lovibond estate was
placed When Horace Naunton had dem
onstrated the likelihood of his proving to
be in society and in politics really per-
sonage, Sibil consented to marry him.
There was for a time among portion Of
the Nauntons some thought of opposition
to tho match, on the ground that Sibil was
half Bontflower, and that sort Of thing,
you know, runs in families, and 1t is right
to take no risks, but the Loyibond connec-
tions were excellent, and Sibil herself was
a charming, clever girl, and indeed her
money and her connections and loneliness
and wit have been already to her husband
| of inestimable aid.
She has still the same blue, innocent
| eyes, and the same look in them of grave
| sweetness, and is still to her mother, neor