The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-09-27

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>But Mrs. Chester is obdurate. Jean
Marie shall await her on the harDor;
Jean Marie alone shall escort her back
to Quernac, be the hour Of the night or
| morning what it may.
The least: vain Of women, the least
arrogant as to the power Of her own
charms, Daphne at heart is a very
woman still, and the experience OF the
last few hours make her shrink from
the prospect Of a lonely starlit walk
! with SeGerne. His manner, after three
years separation, Of meeting Miss
Hardcastle, his looks, his voice, thou
sand of the little nothiugs which to
| feminine insight are tn, most import
ant things in life, have awakened her
to a possibility of which, until to-day
she never dreamed.
And with all the horror Of gener-
Gus, simple nature, she recoils from the
barest notion Of Severne's disloyalty.
His liking for herself, if it exists,
must be rootless, a boyish fancy, born
of accident, that a week of absence
must dispell. Never by word or ac'
ton Of hers shall this liking be fos'
tered into love. She owes Sir John
SeYerne verything-she owes him
Paul. and feels, poor Daphne, it were
but a little thing to die for his hap
piness! His happiness must lie in
truth, in honor, in fidelity to his plight
ed word, and her part, the part of a
devoted friend, is to strengthen him
| in these, cost what it may. And tbat
it will cost her something, certain
sharp heart twinges, a certain Jeal-
when Clementina will be- all to him
ousy as she looks forward to the time
and she nothing, already warn her.
They reach the yacht without ad-
venture and find Mr.. Broughton and
Miss Hardcastle its only occupants.
The cousins are on deck, enjoying
the evening breezes and the soft art Of
doing nothing with a thoroughness
pleasant to behold.
Clementina reclines on low deck
chair, her dress simple white-by SIM
ple naturally mean the most elabo-
rate complication Of muslin, ribbon
and laces that the heart of clothes ar
tist could desire. Lazily she furls and
unfurls one of the big Spanish fans
upon which South Kensington has set
the crowning seal of fashion.
Felix Broughton smokes a delicately
perfumed cigarette at her feet.
Their thoughts may be engaged on
sentiment, scandal, science-probably
on pathological science, as is their
wont. And still, judging from the ex-
preston around Clementina's lips, one
cannot but suspect that some lighter
matter than common may have made
its entrance unawares among the Ty-
no Phenician or Mesogothic strata about
which they discourse.
"The question Of whether we are to
dine or not dine is delightfully."- solved
by your arrival" says Cousin Felix, as
he rises to receive the newcomers.
"No one belonging to the Liberia, our
hostess included has been heard Of
since the morning, but with a party
of four-all people who suit each
35her," adds Mr.. Broughton, with his
cheerful optimism-"it would be folly
to think of waiting. And so Severne
met you on the quay, Mrs. Chester? l
was sure of it. That is my luck. l
never yet got happy opening in life
but some energetic fellow or another
has stepped in and utilized it before
my very eyes"
"You have been spared the agony
Of expectation at all events" says
Daphne gayly. II was five minutes be-.
hind time. Think what you would
have had to suffer during those five
minutes if you had really been on the
lookout for mew
A feeling too delicate, too ingenious,
to be termed coquetry, prompts her to
smile on Felix Broughton, willingest
recipient, let what will betide, Of any
pretty woman's smiles! Sir John and
Clementina, absolyed from the neces-
sity Of being lover-like, find plenty Of
themes in common as old acquaint-
ance, and the little dinner. party of
four passes off brightly.
Fair faces, youth, soft summer twi-
light, yiands from the hand Of an art
ist-all the needful property" for con-
vivial success is surely present at the
feast, whatever jarring elements may
be latent in the destinies Of the feast
ers.
They dine, they take their coffee
afterward on deck. Toward eleven
o'clock, and when Daphne is beginning
to think of Jean Marie and Of her four
mile walk to Quernec, the sound of
voices, the splash Of oars, was heard
approaching through the stiffness. A
minute later, and the missing mem
bers Of the yachting party step upon
the scene; five people, never beheld
by Daphne save arid the Rembrandt
like effects of this one midsummer
night, yet destined, by virtue of their
very isolation, to stand out vivid flesh
and-blood personalities from the cam
vas Of her memory forever.
Lady Lydia birmingham first, tiny
Irishwoman, dressed like q child of
fourteen-pretty, despite irregularity
of feature, through her excess of ami
nation, her black fringed, iron gray
eyes; a tiny witch Of woman utter
ing, pell-mell, in q fine west country
blogue, whatever sense or nonsense
it is mostly nonsense-may chance to
enter her wild Hibernian head.
Next, Mrs. de Mauley, Lady Lydia's