The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-10-10
''CHAPTER XII.
CONTINUED.


A faint glow of feeling sutfused Lor-
ing's face; but no person, however
skilled in physiognomy, could have
read it's meaning. In some way, !tl
might have reminded one OF that hash
of hope now and again seen in the face
of a man on the eve his execution.
"It is 80 seldom that I can sit in q
beautiful room like this and converse
With" He checked himself; he was
speaking as if half in soliloquy. Il
shall never forget" he went on, with
q slight effort, chow beautiful these
rooms were the other evening""
eft is very kind of you to remem-
Der it. The house was lovely"
"And you, too, were as lovely as an
angel. T shall never forget how you
looked"
The color came quickly to Pauline's
cheeks and lips; but hattery was tol-
erable in those days; and besides when
man is serious and sincere, it is not
in woman's nature to resent his ad-
miration.
= "My dress was one that my grand
mother wore when she was girl, only
had it done over" she replied, with
a naive show ofinterest in the subject.
"Every one said that it was very
quaint and becoming. i Ike those
old things. Don't you?"
s'It was you that became the dress;
Won made it beautiful; you charmed
everybody. The dress was nothing" "
Pauline felta sudden desire to run
away from him, and yet, perhaps, she
would not gone if she had been under
no obligation to stay. =. -,
"The occasion was e1hilarating,"
she managed to say, with the most in
different air.. 81 am especially proud
that every one enjoyed it; for, you
know, it was the first party I ever
gave. And didn't you think Made
moiselle de Sezannes beautiful? She
oaptivated ali the gentlemen; but
then, she always does with her superb
way and" -, ,,
"She looks like a Spanish Jewess,"
said Loring, interruptirg her.
"But she is not like one, Colonel
Loring," replied Pauline.
"I beg pardon. I did not mean to
imply criticism. Mademomoiselle de
Sezannes impressed me very pleas
antly,"
He arose as if to take his leave.
"But you promised my mother to
wait till she returned" said Pauline,
arising also. "You have not forgot
temp"
"No; I will wait But I never sit
long. I have this way of getting on
my feet almost involuntarily. seem
to be made for-to be upright"
He smiled and made a gesture to
signify he was chatting, then added:
'But keep your seat, Miss Vernon;
I will walk to and fro, if you will per-
NIT it, while we contine our conver-
sation. Do you know this is more
like happiness than anything that has
come to me for years! 1 must make
the most of it,"
he pushed toward her the chair in
which he had been sitting.
She sat down, and when she looked
up with her bright smile, her dark,
vivacious eyes seemed to dazzle him.
He turned about and walked with
light, sjngularly springing step across
the room and back.
my father is restless in this way
sometimes" she said, "and walks the
floor like tiger in a cage. When I
ask him why he does it, he always
says that he is thinking of the sea.
You know he was sailor long time
ago."
II am more receptive when in mo-
ton, can think more clearly, can shake
off fit of discomfort more easily. I
walk back and forth when I wish to
remember and when I wish to forget.
Did you ever wish to forget any
thing?"
He stopped in front of her, with his
head high. His face irradiated O
strange light, his attitude had fine
touch of the dramatic almost the
melo -dramatic-in it. What was it
that he could not forget? What was
he trying to fasten forever in his
memory?
81 forget nearly everything that
I ought to keep in mind" she said,
scarcely knowing what her words
were. II wish Ihad good memory"
cit is bad wish. If I could for
get everything-the whole past, the
whole world, everything but the pres
ent moment as it passes-I could be
happy. Sor,e one has said that the
past is cemetery, place in which
we bury dead experiences. Memory
is a ghonl; it digs up nothing but
corpses."
He was walking back and forth
again with his strong chin elevated,
his muscular shoulders thrown back,
while his thin, firm lips seemed to
writhe around his words. The cords
in his neck stood out as if they bore
great strain.
"My life has been so happy and so
uneventful," said Pauline, speaking
with the frankness of o child, her
voice betraying the fascination that
his words and actions were e3erting
over her, "and have seen so little
of life that 1 cannot-"
ooh, no, you cannot" he inter-
rupted- 'you cannot understand.
Mems lives are 80 different from yours,
30 heset, so borne upon by evil, 80
stirred by impulses.