Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-09-28
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MISCONCEPTIONS.

that had passed in this same drawing
room more than thirty years ago. 1t
was tea time, and on the tea table lay
a dish of Pearl biscuits, and she and
her husband and Vellan were alone.
Her husband took handful or pearl
biscuits and tossed them one by one
in the air, while Vellan threw back
his head and caught them in his mouth
as they came down-this was one of
his accomplishments. She smiled as
she remembered it, but at the same
time she put her handkerchief to her
eyes.
why did he 60 away? What could
it have beenT" she wondered. her OLD
bewilderment at his conduct, her whole
being longing to comprehend it, re-
viving with something of the old, cid
force. Could it have been! Gould
il have been? And an old guess, an
old theory. one she had never spoken
to anybody, but had pondered much in
silence, again presented itself interrog-
ativcly to her mind.
The door opened; the butler mumbled
name, and she saw tall, white
haired, pale old man smiling at her and
holding out his hands. 1t took her
little while TO realize who it was. With
an unthlnking disallowance for the ac-
ton of time, she had been expecting a
young fellow of eight and twenty,
brown-haired and ruddy.
Perhaps he, on his side, was sur
prised a little by meeting a middle
aged lady in cap.
After dinner he would not let her
leave him, but returned with her to the
drawing room, and she said that he
might smoke He smoked odd little
Cuban cigarettes, whereof the Odor was
delicate and aromatic They had talked
of everything, then had laughed and
sighed over their ancient joys and sor-
rows. We know melancholy wanders
hand in hand. She had cried a little
when her husband and her brother
were first spoken of, but at some comic
reminiscence of them a moment after
wards she was smiling through her
tears.
"DO you remember so and SO" and
what has become Of such One:''
were the types of questions they asked
each other, cOnjuring up old friends
and enemies like ghosts out of the
past. incidentally he described Porto
Rico and its natives and its Spaniards
| it's climate. it's fauna and its fora.
In the drawing room they sat on
opposite sides of the fire and were ST.
lent for bit. Profting by the permits
sion she had given him, he had pro-
duced one of his Cubanscigarettes
opened it at It's ends, unrolled it, rolled
it up again, and lit it.
"Now the time has come for you tC
| tell me what l most want to know
she said.
What is itY
"Why you went away"
ooh" he murmured.
She waited minute. Then
Tell me-" she urged.
do you remember Mary Isona" hi
asked.
She glanced at him suddenly as il
startled.
MARY Isona? Yes. of course
"Well, | was in love with her."
you were in love with Mary Isona 2
II was very much in love with her
/ have never got over it, I'm afraid"
She gazed fixedly at the fire. He
lips were compressed. She saw slen
der girl in a plain black flock, with [
sensitive pale face, luminous, sad, darl
eyes, and mass Of dark, waving hal
Mary IsOna Of italian parentage, {
little music teacher whose only rela
ton to the world Theodore Vellal
lived In was professional. She cam
into it for an hour or two at tim
now and then, to play or to give ;
music lesson.
Yes" he repeated, 81 was in low
with her. l have never been in low
with any other woman. 1t seems II
diculous for an old man to say it, bu
l am in love with her still. An oil
man? Are we ever really old? Gu
body grows old, our skin turns white
but the spirit, the heart? The thin
we call Il? Anyhow, not a day, no
an hour passes, but l think of her.
long for her. | mourn for her. YO
knew-you knew what she was d
you remember her playing? Her won
derfulceye.s! Her beautiful pale face
And how the hair grew around tn
forehead? And her talk, her voice, he
intelligence! Her taste, her instinct
in literature. in art-it was the fines
| ever met"