The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-10

I saw you down by the Low stream this
| evening"
Lady Lauras face, which was rather
pale passed through every variety of ex-
| preston in the course of this brief speech,
from blank bewilderment to an amusement
which had certain shamed tinge about it
which was not unbecoming.
OH" she said.
| Il you with man. he said. THAT
is nothing new, of course; but / happen to
know that this is a married man.
Lady Laura rose slowly. He color was
coming and going, and there was dancing
light in her eyes which her step-son knew
too we'll
"Oh!" she said again. do you really?
May 1 ask how?"
81 have met his wife," returned Mr. Car
stairs, sternly "A woman so sweet and
gentle that 1 should have thought any
who had the honor to be her husband
might-would-could not"
He was houndering somewhat hopelessly
between his intense indignation and the diff
iculty Of expressing it in the pretty pres
ence in which he stood. And a new idea
dawned in Lady Laura's eyes. They
cleaned with mischief which seemed
to be outlet for some unusual excite
ment
"Oh, really!" she said. "And where did
you meet this delightful creature?"
II met her in Rose Lane" he answered,
in deep. stern voice. which harmonized
but i'll with his words. Lady Laura
laughed, and he went on. "She had lost
her way, and 1 walked with her to the
manor gate. If you had seen her-and
you surely must have met her at the manor
garden party the other day
See what you missed by not going to
that party" calculated Lady Laura, soft
ly.
IF you have had any conversation with
her." he continued, sternly, you must
surely recognize the fact that to give a
moments pain-to bring the slightest cloud
into the life of such a woman would be
would be"
Lady Laura broke into long, musical
laugh. would be almost as shocking as
it certainly is for a respectable middle
aged cleric to speak with such enthusiasm
of a comparative stranger. and that
stranger a married woman" she said.
Evelyn, my dear boy, l think you had
better beta<e yourself to your study and
lecture yourself little! You really need
it far more than I do, assure you. But
don't forget that We are dining at the
Manor tonight"
Bereft for a moment of his reasoning
faculties, her step-son grasped feeby at
the one tangible statement contained in her
speech.
'Dine at the Manor?" he gasped. ''Why?"
Because accepted an invitation to do
so week ago. Didn't tell your"
! II won't GO"
Are you afraid?" she retorted. Now
see the advantage of innocence, Evelyn.
I'm not. l shall go without you"
She disappeared with another laugh. And
her step-son subsidized into a chair and
buried his face in his hands with groan.
The Rev. Evelyn Carstairs, though he
was somthing of a prig, also a truly
good man, and the idea which his stepmoth-
er had presented to him was a terrible
one to his mind. 1t was also bewildering
to him, in its strangeness, and his brain
was something as much like a whirl as it
had ever known. Sermons and Pensioners
had brought him acquaintance with some
of the disturbing influences of life. But
solely as they affected sermons and parish
oners. He himself, amazed though he
would have been to hear this, knew really
nothing of these same influences. They
had hitherto left his well-regulated life un-
touched. Until that afternoon he had new
er given a single thought to any woman.
To-day, for the first time he had felt
something stir in him that he had never
known before, and that the object of that
something should be the wife of another
man was a falling away from his ideal
which lowered him indeed in his own eyes.
He passed through a bad quarter of an
hour alone in the pretty drawing room, and
then he rose, stern and pale-faced, and
went to prepare for the dinner at the
/ manor 1t was his duty, he decided to do
what he could to chaperone his stepmother
and prevent what he vaguely described as
mischief"
1t was a gloomy presence which he pre-
sented in the drawing room of the manor
an hour later and a gloomy response did
he make to his hostess's introduction Of
his companions of the afternoon as Mrs.
Fraser" He took her down to dinner. and the
gentle eyes grew gradually a little troubled
in the shadow of extraordinary taciturnity,
and glanced more than once from him to
the other side of the table where Lady
Laura and the man whom Carstairs had
heard. as he expected. referred to Mr.
Fraser" sat side by sCe talking and
laughing together low and eagerly.
1t was a lovely evening. and after dinner
there was coffee in the garden, an arrange
mcnt which AIr. Carstairs resented desper-
ately in his heart as greatly compIcating
the difficulty of the task which duty had
set before him. He did his best to fulfill
it despite Lady Laura's hooking glances
and the somewhat obvious boredom ex-
pressed by Mr.. Fraser. But at last. his
attention being claimed for the moment by
his host. he found that Lady Laura had
eluded him.
He started instantly in hot pursuit
stalked the pair with a grim determination
and after hot and weary chase ran them
to earth. 1t was not a moment too soon
They were in summer house the far
end Of the kitchen garden, and as he stood
tall. stern and avenging in the doorway