The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-11-23

soldier"
ITO trife. or seem to trife, with af-
fections of an engaged man is a
crime"
"a crime!w echoes Daphne Chester,
her lips a-quiver. ut is not like you,
Aunt Hosie, to be so wanting in char
ity."
ut would be less like me, I hope.
Daphne, to be wanting in q sense Of
common honesty. The Loan Of a
Lover may be a pretty subject for
comedy on the stage. In real life, such
manners, such levity, are tolerably
sure to have q tragic ending. Have
| the kindness to { It the dishes straight,
child. if you please. Your drawing les
| sons"-this with cmphasis-"do not
seem to have improved your eye for
symmetry"
The members of the yachting party
have received an invitation, collec-
lively, to partake Of high tea at Fief-
de-la-Reine; a moonlight sand-eeling
expedition to constitute the muse.
ment of the evening. When the ap-
pointed time comes, however, only
three Of the expected guests put in an
appearance-Sir John Severne, Felix
Broughton and Miss Hardcastle.
Lady Lydia. it is vaguely believed,
may be somewhere on the Channel be-
tween this and Normandy. Races are
going on at st. Malo; and Lady Lydia,
with Mrs. de Mauley and Max, was
last seen on the pier near upon the
hour when an excursion steamer was
| advertised to depart for France. Miss
Rivers, knapsack on shoulder, is TAX
ing a solitary walk round the island.
The Arab has been lost since yester-
day. Of Mr.. birmingham I need
scarcely add, no one for a moment
speaks OF thinks.
"And so, unless any of my lawful
| guardians come to life, I must ask the
Misses Vansittart to be my c%haperons."
says Clementina, as she is taking off
her hat in Daphne's little white, coun-
~try-looking bedroom. "That is, If
chaperons, the browning mistakes Of
civilization, could by any possibility be
needed at Fief-de-la-Reine! Oh, Mrs.
| Chester, how good it must be to in
habit q house like this" she continues.
Not an inkstand, not a book to be
seen-our bedrooms at home are lined
with books, in case any Of us should
feel sleepless in the night Mrs. Hard
castle says. A sea of whose chemical
constituents you know nothing, around
a sky you have lever been forced to
survey through telescopes overhead
ali, and what delicious real roses"
And balancing herself on the broad
granite easement ledge, Miss Hard
castle leans forth her town-complex-
toned face amidst the labyrinth of
odorous, bloom-laden branches that
droop around.
"The roses one buys in London never
seem quite real, against country ones"
she goes on, presently. Besides. when
I was young, I was so tortured with
botany, classifying, after Linnacus or
Jussieu, every flower that blows.
that I almost grew to hate the smell Of
them. And to think you have never
had a governess, Mrs. Chester, never
been to a lecture, or assisted at q con-
versazione! What have I done to de-
serve such cruel reverses at the hands
Of fate?"
"Reverses" echoes Daphne Chester,
somewhat hastily. Eyes, it comes
lightly enough to you, no doubt, to use
that word. You. Miss Hardcastle, who
cannot yet have tasted one actual trou-
BILE, who have everything to make the
present sweet"
"Oh, I know, I know" interrupts
Clementina. with a Earring little laugh.
when people are engaged it is
thought the correct thing always to
address them in that kind Of jubilant
strain. AS if marriage was such a
panacea for human ills that the mere
road thereto were a matter for insane
rejoicing! But perhaps you are not
~aware"-she says all this in a short,
decided manner, as she speaks tearing
cruel wounds in the petals of what
ever rose has the Iuck to come be-
meath her fngers-"Perhaps Sir John
Severne has not told you it is a set
tied thing that I am to be his wife"
II knew of your engagement before
I first saw you at Quernec," answers
Daphne, with as steady a voice as she
can COMMAND.
And you think, Of course, that both
IF us are to be congratulated"
II think your prospects of happiness
are better than most peoples; Sir John
Severne is brave, high principled-"
Young, clever, rich; everything a
man should be-" ezclaiI !; Sir Johns
betrothed, quickly.
"And the rescuer of my Paul's life"
adds Daphne Chester.
Miss Hardcastle looked at her criti-
cally for a few seconds.
81 am not insensible to any one of
Sir Johns virtues" she remarks, in a
graver tone. land / hope in time to
come up to the like standard of perfec-
ton. Meanwhile, not even my I'M
exampled good fortune prevents the
taste of life being occasionally sour to
me. I may have a couple of your roses
for my hair? All, not the damask
ones-thanks. Only people Of your
complexion can afford to wear a pink
like that"
Does the tone in which this last re-
mark is spoken SAVIOR Of bitterness?
Human nature is the fashion al
ways" said Aunt Hosie, with her