The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-10-19

fifty. You are merely q schoolboy.'
Her eyes travelling over his face with
q kind Of soft compassion. "Your life
is beginning"
with q tolerable accumulation OF
experience to start FROM" says Sc
verne. mine years ago, when 1 first
went to Woolwich, I looked upon my
self, I can assur you, as a finished
Chesterfield in matters Of worldly wis
dom, and now, after spending the three
last years in India, too, to be told
coolly that 1 am only a %schoolboy still!'
"After spending the three last years
in India" repeats Daphne, STOPPING
down and with n finger tracing out
a kind of Chinese pagoda upon the
sand. "You must have been young
enough, in all conscience, when you
went away! And you have never re
turned to England since"
"Never. I am in the act Of return
ing at this moment"
Not very hurriedly?"
"Well, nc. I wanted to look up an
| old school friend who has married and
buried himself in Brittany. That de-
layed me a fortnight between Paris
and st. Malo."
Them"
"Then Murray reminded me Of my
| duty. The traveller is here at a con
venient point for visiting the Channel
Islands. You know the rest"
"And the lady who wrote that letter
has not seen you for three years,
them" cries Daphne, sweeping out the
pagoda with q touch, and raising her
eyes abruptly to Severne's. "She will
find you altered. Though you ex-
| changed photographs every week, you
| could not keep a face fresh and living
before you through the changes OF
three years"
It is q home thrust, the like Of which
can only be given under n or two
| conditions: absolute knowledge or alb
| solute ignorance of the conventionali-
ties. Sir John throws a quick look at
Daphne's face, at the serious, truth
telling eyes, the lips from which no
| word of "chaff" or other wit Of the
| period has ever flowed, and comes to
the sudden resolution, then and there,
Of enlightening her as to his engage
ment.
Eyes, we shall find each other
| changed, Mrs. Chester, in things, per-
haps, that don't come within the
scope of photography" He takes up
a handful Of small pebbles, and, as he
talks, aims one after another at some
imaginary target on the margin or
the water. "You see, we had known
each other just six weeks. and we
were children-Miss Hardcastle,' at
least, was a child-when-when I was
ordered to India. We spoke in our
haste, and I suppose shall have the
interest now of finding out how far
our speaking led US wrong"
And for one long minute Daphne
Chester is silent.
Her heart is dead, no doubt, on that
point; her belief in personal happiness
shattered. The only feeling she can
possibly entertain toward Sir John Sc
verne is gratitude-just what she felt
for equity old DR.. de Garlot, when he
had brought Paul safely through the
measles.
II shall have more faith in my own
c~leverness for the future" so at
length she speaks, in her matter-of-
fact, quiet voice. when first I picked
up that letter 1 thought to myself it
was from your sweet-from some one
YOU cared more than common for. You
must be longing to get back to Eng
land, Sir John. After three years of
separation, the hours must pass heaT-
lily that keep you apart" -
"Well," answers Severne, discharg-
ing his last shot with vigor at the i'm
aginary target, 1--WE are not romantic
people, either Of us; that is the fact.
Miss H%ardcastle isl suppose If I had
to sum up her characteristics in one
word I should be forced to say-pre-
pare yourself, Mrs. Chester, a cold
shock is in store for you-that Miss
Hardcastle is the least bit in the world
a blue-stocking."'
ga Questioning" exclaims Daphne,
with a bitter, sharp n of her own
deficiencies, and with a vision, grand,
epic. homicidal, rising before her.
"The term is old-fashioned," says
Sir John. "And still with feminine
learning increasing at its present rate,
T don't know that We can we'll afford
| to do without it."
"It is a very awful term" cries
Daphne. 81 have heard my aunts
speak Of Mrs. Trimmer, Miss Por-
ter
"And Mrs. Hannah More! All, the
| modern blue-stocking is cast upon q
| different pattern, exhibits diverging
manifestations, as she would say. In
| the language of the tribe. The modern
Questioning acknowledges few things
that cannot be weighed in the balance
or observed in the spectroscope."
81 think" said Daphne, forgetting
politeness in the plentitude of her sin
certify, "that 1 would much rather not
come across the modern blue-stock'
ing"
Miss Hardcastle will inevitably
come across you," returns Severne,
looking amused. I'm a couple of days,
tomorrow, perhaps, Miss Hardcastle
and a party of her friends will arrive
in Jersey on a yachting expedition"
"Keep her ~away-keep her away
from Fief-de-la-Reine! Never let my
ignorance be placed side by side with
the science of such a paragon" This
was Daphne's first thought, perhaps
should saw the first rush Of wordless