Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-11-21
CHAPTER x.-tCont:aued)

CHAPTER A--tCont.lued.)
81 loved my aunt very dearly Mr.
Lansdell," she said; $50 dearly that
could endure a great deal for her sake;
but l cannot endure the insolance of her
son"
And then she swept out of the room,
leaving her cousin standing alone In a
sunlt window, with the spring breezes
blowing in upon him, and the shriu voice
OF a woman crying primroses sounding
in the street below.
ne went home, dispirited, dishearted-
ed, doubtful of himself, doubtful of all
tne world; and early the next morning he
received a letter from his cousin, coolly
releasing him from his engagement. The
experience of yesterday had proved that
they were unsuited to each Other, she
SAID; IL was better that they should part
now while it was possible for them
TO part friends. Nothing could be more
ulgnlned or more decided than the dis
missal.
Mr.. Lansdell put the letter in his
breast; the pretty perfumed letter, the
eiegant, ladylike letter, which recorded
ms sentence without a blot or a blister,
without one uncertain line to mark where
the hand had trembled.
Inc hand may have trembled, never
theless; for Gwlendoline was just the
woman to write a dozen copies of her
letter rather than send one that bore the
Ialntest evidence of her weakness. Ro-
lano put the letter in his breast and re-
signed himself to his fate. He was a
great deal too proud to appeal against
ms cousins decree; but he had loved her
very sincerely, and if she had recalled
MIN, he would have gone back to her and
would have forgiven her.
de lounged and dawdled away his
time in drawing rooms and boudoirs. on
moonlit balconies, in shadowy orange
groves, beside the ripping Arno, in the
colonnades or Venice, on the Partisan
boulevards under the lime trees of Ber-
I'm, IN any region where there was life
and color and gayety, and the bright
ness of beautiful faces, and where a
man of naturally gloomy temperament
might forget himself and be amused.
Mr. LansdelPs life abroad was neither
a good nor useful one. 1t was an arti-
fetal kind of existence, with spurious
brilliancy-a life whose brightest mo-
ments but poorly compensated for the
dismal reaction that followed them.
Now, in the bright July sunshine
Gwendoline and her cousin lounged upon
the lawn, and talked of old pleasures
ana old acquaintance, and the things
that happened to them when they were
young. If the lady ever cherished any
nope that Roland would return to his
allegiance, that hope was now utterly
vanished. He has forgiven her for all
the past, and they are friends and first
cousins again; but there is no room for
hope that they can ever be again what
they have been. A man who can for
give so generously must have long ceased
to love; that strange madness, so nearly
allied to hatred, and jealousy, and rage,
and despair, has no kindred with forgive
ness. Gwendoline knew that her chance
was gone, and there was secret bitter
ness in her heart when she thought of
it, and she was jealous of her cousin s
regard, and exacting in her manner to
him.
&wendOline catechised him rather
closely as to what he had done with
himself upon the previous afternoon; and
he told her very frankly that he had
strolled into Hurstonleigh Grove to see
Mr.. Raymond, and had spent an hour or
two talking with his old friend, while
Mr.. and Mrs. Gilbert and the children
enjoyed themselves, and prepared a rus
tic tea.
1T was very pretty, Gwendoline, 1 as
sure you," he said. Mrs. Gilbert made
tea and we drank it in q scalding state;
and the two children were all of q
greasy radiance with bread and butter
The doctor seems to be an excellent fell
low"
"Oh, the doctor! that's Mr.. Gilbert, is
it notY said Gwendoline; land what dc
you think of his wife, Roland? You
must have formed some opinion upon
that subject, l should think, by the
manner in which you stared at her."
did | stare at herr" cried Mr.. Lans-
dell, with supreme carelessness. II dare
say l did; always stare at pretty WON
en-. Yes, l admire Mrs. Gilbert, and
like to look at her. l don't suppose she's
any better than other people, but she's
a great deal prettier. A beautiful piece
of animated wax work, with little ma.
chinery inside, just enough to make one
say. Yes, if you please and No, thank
you 4 lovely nonentity with yellow
black eyes Did you observe her eyes?
Nor Gwendoline answered sharply
Il observed nothing except that she was
a very dowdy looking person. What is
Mr.. Raymond's motive for taking her
upI He's always taking up some extra
ordinary person"
But Mrs Gilbert is not an extraordi-
nary person; she's very stupid and COM
monplace. She was nursery maid or
nursery governess, or something of that
kind, to that dear good Raymonds pen
niless nieces."
There was no more said about Mr.. and
Mrs. Gilbert. Gwendoline did not care
TO talk about these common people. who
came across her dull pathway, and rob
bed her of some few accidental rays of
that light which was now the only radi-
ance upon earth for her-the light of her
cousins presence.
He loved me once" she thought. as
she sat in the summer twilight, watching
her cousin strolling on the lawn. looking
so tired-so tired of himself and every
thing in the world. He loved me once
it is something to remember that"