The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-04-04
THE ONE GIRL.

the distance sounded the band playing
soft, dreamy waltz music. But what
cared they for dancing, and the hot,
crowded ballroom? In all the world for
him there was only one woman, and
she stood, her hands clasped in his, her
brown head resting on his shoulder, lost
in happy dream.
"You won't forget me, darling,'' he
whispered, ''when I am thousands of
miles away, at the other side of the
world, and letters are long in coming?
You'll remember that am coming back
in two years, at the latest, to claim my
little wife. -
ooh, it can't really be true, Geoffrey,
that you are going tomorrow? 1t is too
dreadful to think of! And it S not I that
| Will forget. shall think of you night
| and day till you come back. But you'll
| most likely meet with some lovely
American girl-all American women
| are lovely, you know-and then you'll
| forget all about poor little Mysie Traf-
ford, who is waiting for you in Eng
land. -
"When I am out on the great lonely
| prairies,' he said dreamily, 81 shall
just shut my eyes and think myself back
to this night 1 shall hear the band in
| the distance, / shall feel you once more
in my arms, and shall smell the faint
| smell Of that heliotrope you are wear
| ing
For answer she took a pieco Of the
heliotrope from the bosom of her dress.
Here g little bit of it, she said.
"And wnen you meet that lovely Amer
lean, and you wish that you were free
and that this evening had never been,
then you can put that little flower in an
envelope, and you needn't write word
to put in with it, but just address it to
| me, and when [ get it shall know
what it means, and you will be free. -
What nonsense, Myself he said
angrily. ,"Why do you talk like that?
You know
"Oh, here you are!'' cried shrill
voice. 81 have been looking for you
everywhere. Mr.. Castleford is as cross
as ever he can be, Mysie He says you
promised him the last two dances, and
then you disappeared and no one
could find you; while. as for you, Mr..
Hamilton, think you had better keep
out of the way altogether, after disap-
pointing Lady May and goodness knows
who besides. -
And Gertrude, Mysie's sister, chat
tered on, totally unconscious that she
was most unwelcome intruder.
She and Mysie had always been
taught that it was their duty to make
good match, and Godfrey Hamilton,
with no money, and just off to America,
was so entirely ineligible that she sus-
pected nothing and ruthlessly insisted
on their immediate return to the ball
room.
And she looked often at the little
hoop of pearls-the pledge of her be-
trothal-but never put it on, except in
her own room just for a few minutes.
Somehow as the days went by it seemed
q harder matter to speak of that evening
to her mother, the more so that her
mother had not the faintest suspicion Of
anything of the sort. And SO month
passed.
Then one evening Mysie returned
from walk and saw letter lying on
the hall table. One glance at her own
name and the postmark-"New York"
and she snatched up the letter. Won
dering ii any one had noticed it, then
ran upstairs to her own room and lock
ed the door to enjoy it in peace.
The fire burned brightly and looked
inviting, and she drew up a low easy
chair, and seated herself comfortably as
she broke the seal of the envelope.
What was the faint perfume as she did
so? She drew out piece of blank note
paper from the folds of which little
bit of dead heliotrope slipped and fell
| to the ground
"Mysie, you must come down." said
Gertrude ''Mr. Castleford is down
stairs, and mother says you are to Gomez
-as Mysie looked rebellious "But YOU
must change your dress; you can't come
down in that. Has anything happened?
You look very queer.
"No," said Mysie, with strange lit
tie laugh; at least, nothing of impor-
| lance. I will come down in few min.
utes. -
And in a very short time she was in
the drawing room, and Herbert Castle
ford, as he looked at her, thought he
had never seen her so beautiful. He had
| loved her for years, but had received so
| little encouragement from Mysie that
he had never spoken, but tonight he had
determined to put his fate to the test
while Mysie, with pain at her heart
that seemed almost physical in its in
| tensity, was saying to herself that if
Godfrey could forget so easily why so
could she.
| And so it came about that few
! hours later she returned to her room