The Washington times., 1901-07-21

!
? and gazed with all the admiration hi.
ready Irish eyes dared express into tn,
lady's face, and commented aloud on the
, good fortune of meeting again so many
5 old and dear friends
Very rude of you to call us old, Major
Ainsworth,' the fair lady lisped, with ar
: encouraging glance out of her pale blue
eyes. 1T is not so many years, after all
since the Taplow party; is it. JUDITH"
= A slightly sneering look passed over hel
cousins face, so slight that Ainswortf
alone noticed it; but it riled him beyond
compare and her next question did moi
serve to soothe
And your wife, she queried careless
ly, where is she today"
AT home" he answered shortly 1t was
no business of hers. Why did she inter
fere?
Poor lonely man. said Judith with a
little laugh; but there was more irony
than sympathy in her voice. as she set
tied herself at one of the outside tables
and the red-haired man oredered tea.
Ainsworth alone remained standing. and
a little glitter came into his eyes.
And Mr.. Vindart?' he enquired po-
litely
The guardsman laughed.
Three deep in files of reports, and a
slight attack of gout.' ne replied for the
sufferers wife.
A woman in white passed with friend
| ly nod OF her head. and Dennis made a
movement as though to follow her
we shall see you again., said Mrs.
Nindart sweetly, as she sazed up at him
out of her dark-rimmed. narrow eyes. He
felt that his opportunity had come. and
as he smiled down into their wonderful
a he 10 IaTI -
hand for. moment longer than was nee
essary, whilst the little scene of how he
! had left her once before never to return.
came wildly before him.
"Good-by," he said, I'm afraid not;
I shah soon be vending my way home
to my wife" a meaning intonation
! forced its way into his well-trained voice
/ You know of old, Mrs. Vindart, how
| casual l am And he was gone.
! For all her self-control. Judith flushed;
for she had really loved the man, and re-
| fused him out of pique confident in all
the pride of her great beauty that he
! would seek her out again and renew the
/ offer. But on his side it had been mix
| ture of fancy and folly. and, on the prin-
| ciple of the burnt child and the fire, he
/ had carefully avoided her ever since; un,
Ill fate in the shape OF the wealthy po-
/ litical had carried Judith Harbord off to
/ India out of his ready reach.
And again he thanked heaven, with
! fresh thankfulnsss ~as he realized what
might have been, and thought of poor
| lonely old Vindart and his gout-and then
| of Eve
| And. being a good chap at heart, he
| quickly resolved to return home then and
there, and to put things straight with his
/
| materially assisted by the fact that the
| bright sky had become overcast, and the
! smiling lady in white was nowhere to be
| seen.
Warmed by the potent consciousness of
his own good conduct. Ainsworth drove
| across the bridge through noisy Ham,
| mersmith Broadway, and up the long
kensington Road, and as ne guided the
horses smartly through the troubled traf-
| nc as Knightsbridge he caught sight of n
man he particularly wanted to meet going
up the steps of the club, and throwing the
reins to the groom, entered the building
in pursuit.
By the time he had fully discussed the
party he was forming for Ascot, had sift-
ed the latest scandal. and laughed at the
last Stock Exchange joke, and had
| finally covered the distance between Hyde
Park Club and Mount Street IL was close
upon O'Clock; and as he Strengthened his
tie in the narrow glass of the lift that
carried him smoothly up to their fiat
the second floor, and realized that Eve
WAS probably home by now, he mapped
oft swiftly conciIiating plan of action
which should merge the firmness of the
soldier into the gentlcness of the lover
a
same time lightly touch on the error of
her jealous doubts So that when he
| opened the door with his key and found
| himself in semi-darkness in the narrow
windowed han. and after an angry peal of
the beIl learned from the highly offended
footman that both the mistress and the
electric light were "h'out," he naturally
felt himself to be a highly misused man.
He rang up the porter, who was bland
but objectionally positive.
All the lights in all the flats were
h'off;" in fact, he believed that Mount
Street generally was in state of semi
gloom, still further aggravated by the
threatening thunderstorm; they were
sending round TO the works, and must
hope for the best-in the meanwhile if the
gentleman wanted candles. But
Ainsworth cut him short That would
mark that<it was really too much, get
ting quite unbearable and he would
write to the papers," etc.
The porter disoreetly acquiesced; it was
no fault of his; they were in the hands of
Providence and the electric company,
both of whom obviously suffered from fits
of distraction towards the middle OF the
season; and he descended again to the
stuffy sanctity of the entresol.
Meanwhile the sulky footman, with "A
great air of condescension, had carried
the servants bedroom candlesticks into
the smoking room, and there Ainsworth
sat and tried in vain to read by their
miserable flicker, and longed for Eve and
dinner and a summary and awful ven
geance on electric lighting generally.
Seven O'Clock struck ponderously from
the Coburg Hotel.
No Eve-no electric light.
He rang the bell. Send Baines to me-
"Baines is hout, sir; went hout with
the mistress, sir, about four
Very well, that will do"
He leaned back in his chair and pom
dered on the news.
Eve did not generally take her maid
when she went out calling. and 1t was
getting very late.
With the shallow excuse of a whisky
and soda, he rang the bell, and as the
man brought the tall glass and syphon to
bis side he demanded nonchal intly,
I'd you happen to know where your mis-
tress went, Johnson"
mo. sor.+' was the reply; '.leastways.
sir, she took a cab and | think the norter