The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-05-11

Picca dilly He went into the first jewel
| ler's shop he saw, and bought plain
! diamond ring. Then he walked on te
| keep his appointment with his aflianced
! wife
/! Miss Milicent Chyne was waiting Tor
| him with that mixture Of maidenly teel'
| ings Of which the discreet novelist only
/ details a selection. 1t Is not customary
| to dwell upon thoughts Of vague regret
at the approaching withdrawal OF uni
| versal adrr1iration-at the future neces'
! sity for discreet and humdrum behaViof
| quite devoid of the excitement That TURKS
| In double meaning. Let It, therefore, DC
Gus to note the outward signs OF very
natural emotion. Miss Chyne noted them
herself with care. and not without rev
deft touches to hair and dress. When
Jack Meredith entered the room she was
standing near the window. holding bacR
the curtain with one hand and Watching
half shyly, for his advent
| What struck her at once was his grav-
ity; and he must have seen the droop IN
her eyes, for he Immediately assumed
the pleasant half-reckless smile which
the world of London society had learned
to associate with his name.
He played the lover rather well, With
that finish and absence Of self-consclous'
ness which only comes from sincerity;
| and when Miss Chyne found opportunity
! to look at him q second time she was
univ convinced that she loved him. She
was, perhaps, carried off her feet 1T
tle-met aphorically speaking OF course
by his evident sincerity. AT that mo-
ment she would have done anything that
he had asked her. The pleasure of so.
clety, the social amenities OF aristocratic
life, seemed to have vanished suddenly
into thin air. and only love was left. she
had always known that Jack Meredith
! was superior in a thousand ways to al
her admirers. More gentlemanly, more
| truthful, honester, nobler, more worthy
of love. Beyond that he was cleverer
despite certain laziness of disposition
more bralliant and more amusing. He
had always been to n great extent the
chosen one; and yet it was with GER
tain surprise and sense Of unreality that
she found what she had drltted into
She saw the diamond ring and looked
upon It with the beautiful emotions
aroused by those small stones In the fe-
male breast; but she did not seem to rec
ognie her own finger within the golden
hoop.
It was at this moment-Whllel she dWel'
In this new unreal world-that he elect
ed to tell her of his quarrel with. his
falher. And when one walks through q
maze OF unrealitles nothing seems &c
come amiss or to cause surprise. He de.
trailed the very words they had used
and to Millicent Chyne 1t did not sound
like real quarrel such as might affect
two lives to their very end. 1t was not
important. 1t did not come into her life
for at that moment she did not know
what her life was.
"And So" said Jack Meredith, finishing
his story I'VE have begun badly-as badly
as the most romantic might desire.
Yes, theoretically 1t Is consoling. But
I am sorry. Jack, very sorry. hate
uuarrelling with anybody" u
80 do I. I haven't time, as rule.
But the old gentleman is so easy to quar-.
rel with he takes all the trouble"
Jack" she said, with pretty determine
/ ton. "You must go and say you are
sorry. Go now! I wish I could go with
you
But Meredith did not move. He was
smiling at her In evident admiration
She looked very pretty with that deter.
mined little pout OF the lips, and perhaps
she knew It. Moreover. he did not seem
| to attach so much Importance to the
thought as to the result-tc the mind a:
20 the lips.
"Ah" he said. "you do not know the
old gentleman. That is not our way Of
doing things. We are not expansive"
| (To ha Continued TO.mOrrOW.)