The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-09-28

though she was, Daphne by this time
must have entertained suspicious, you
nav be sure, as to the fneness OF stun
in Mr.. Chester'S nature. But she hlo
these suspicious jealousy, even from
herself; believed in all things, hoped
all things, never by look or word re-
proached Chester for his neglect, or
questioned him as to the hours that he
passed away from her side. And Dy
her reticence u~nknowingly helped Oh
his ruin!
There are human temperaments so
adjusted that the mere contact OF VII
tue seems poisonous to them.
Daphne Vansittart's simple, truth
full character was one to have called
forth every higher quality in a lover
endowed with ordinary delicacy, or
binary manhood. Upon Barry Chester
(who shall say through what hidden
moral chemistry0 her devotion acted
as a directly evil influence.
Does not the same ray of light bieacn
or blacken, according to the nature OF
the substance across which it raVels!
1t was just a piece of old, miseraole
luck. so he thoroughly and honestly
believed; possessing in q conspicuous
degree that hallmark Of incapaclty'
the habit Of laying his failures 10 the
door Of others! Circumstances hao
handicapped him before his birth-for
Aunt Hosie's intuition proved correct.
Mr.. Chester's mother vas the daughter
of a g%amekeeper. AS a child his faith
e.. had sent him to the wrong SCHOOL,
AS q lad put him into the wrong pro-
fession; and now, just precisely ut a
time Of life when a fellow wants
worldly counsel, worldly judgment, he
had been fool enough to saddle him.
self with a wife!-a creature with a
wa1en baby face, a heart II temper
sweet if you will, sweet to maWkish-
ness!-but about as fit, she and the old
aunts together, to help or guide a man
with practical wisdom as if they had
all been picked up off some desert ISL
and in the Pacific.
From the comparatively innocuous
follies Of paper hunting and pigeon
killing Mr.. Chester sank, step by
step, to grosser pleasures; was heard
of at length by the affrighted Miss
vansittarts as frequenting taverns.
skittle alleys and the like places OF
unhallowed resort. he grew n:orose
and silent during such hours of the
twenty-four as it was his pleasure to
spend at home; threw the quiet house,
hold into ever increasing disorder by
the lateness Of his hours; complained
of his meals, complained Of Margots
waiting! In fine, gave every symptom
Of the morbid discomfort which, born
of idleness, shadows all the innocent
environments Of such mems lives with
its blackness.
And now, at length, the Miss VAN
sittarts, taking counsel together
Daphne they burst not admit into
their secret-resolved Ito. speak" Sol
emn and warning looks, parabolical
hints, leading remarks thrown out at
the dinner table-and the small artil-
lery of domestic warfare had long been
employed without result. Barry Ches-
ter's delicacy was not Of sufficiently
fine texture to be wounded so long as
Fief-de-la-Reine offered q convenient
roof under which he might abide free
Of expense. He must be spoken to IN
perfectly plain and unmistakable
tones, and Theodore Eansittart, of her
own free choice, undertook to be
spokeswoman.
Aunt Hosie, to whom Chester's sins
of omission and otherwise were spe-
cially abhorrent, was yet, at this crisis,
the most lenient Of the three sisters
toward the wrong-doer himself. Just
as the law of her own life was effort,
so was the law of her Judgment upon
others mercy. She had the charity
born Of strength, the insight of a pure,
unselfsh heart into the temptations
and backslidings Of her Trailer breth.
rem. Miss Theodora's imagination e1-
ercised itself more upon the fictitious
trials Of young ladies and gentlemen
than upon those of flesh and blood, and
her COMBINATIONS were interchangeable
as a ~stone-carved d%ecalogue. Barry
Chester idle because he was weak? A
coin, though light, need not necessarily
be bad. Give him time, and under the
influence Of Daphne's affection, things
would yet come straight? Never! Miss
Theodore had no belief in men coming
straight who had once sunk to taverns
and skittle alleys. And as to his fine
friends, as to his interest through the
W%arwickshire Stamers-"I don't be.
lieve," said Theodore Vansittart. with
a kindling eye, that Barry Chester
knows a Wa%rwickshire Stamer by
sight" And the Nervousness Of his
crime really swept away any lingering
scruple or pity she might yet have felt
toward the culprit.
To be Continued.
Tho New Guinea CsnnibRlE.