Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-06-04
BY {
ANNIE
EDWARDS.
CHAPTER XI.
Continued.

CHAPIER al.
Continued.
OF the same temperament as his
race, Clifford had cut himself off from
the hunting and shooting, the coarse,
athletic animal excitement which to
his ancestors had been so blessed a
safety valve; and his hereditary crav-
ing after strong emotions gradually
came to be appeased over green baize,
not over green country tields-a sub
stitute dearer in the end, and by no
means so full of zest in the enjoying.
AS years wore on years which
brought Jane Grand to the extreme
verge of her cold and faded YOUTH
Clifford Mohun, the model heir once,
was spoken of by the men and women
of Chesterfield parish as an outcast, a
pariah-"the last Of the Mohuns and
the worst, and that, my dear madame,
Is, think, to say enough"
And then Jane knew in her heart
that she clung to him more tenderly
than in the palmiest days Of his first
popularity, and that, if he should re-
turn, she would-not wish to marry
him. for was not the shame Of her pa
rentage upon her still? But be his
true, strong friend and warmest coun-
selor, now that { II the rest Of the world
were looking cold upon him.
These intervening years. too barren
of incident to bear more than pass
ing description, had left Jane now
within two or three years of thirty
IN age which very young girls look
upon, in unmarried women. in much
the same light as forty or fifty. Jane
felt very old herself. All her contem-
poraries-the Miss Tenants, the Miss
Gillets of the mill, the cottage girls
who had once been her monitors i'll the
Sunday married long ago.
The young girls and brides Of to-day
had been children when she was ell
gagged to Mohun. She belonged to the
past-dressed in gray. sad colors, or
in black like Miss Lynch Gt was so
dressed that | first saw her in High
street of Chesterford ST. Nary. and
made no attempt whatever at reju-
venescence. She was very amiable
with any young people across whom
she CHANGED to come, but quite cold;
could take none of the genial interest
in the loves and hopes Of the rising
generation which very much older peo-
pie than herself-poor Miss Lynch, for
al, 10 orJ
She was in no way bitter or jealous
of them, but her heart was shut-shut,
sealed, frozen around her own disap-
pointment; and she knew that it was
SO, and that she could never alter its
condition. She got through life alto
gether-rOSe and ate and walked and
went to church and listened to the con-
versation of Others-in Il very uniform
frame of mind, one, l believe, not u;l-
common among thousands of we'll ellu-
Gated unmarried women among orr
countrywomen. And the only time
she lived, really lived and felt and
drew the breath or positive vivid life,
was when she was alone in her room
at night and the tho.ght of Clifford
was strong upon her, and the ring that
was to have made her his wife lay
clasped, in fevcrish, passionate clasp,
between her poor thin hands, SO inert
and cold and passionless in every duty
they performed by day.
Now, I am far from upholding Jane
Grand in her weakness; indeed. viewed
from my own personal place of stand
ing her want of right -mindedness un-
der her trials seems to me to be some
thing truly fearful. Fortunately, how
ever, we do not all form precisely the
same opinion upon the shortcomings
OF our fellows. The Vicar of Chester
ford was a man whose discernment
and strength of mind | cannot seek
to impeach, and yeti can only record
however much in my judgment | may
condemn)-and yet year by year the
Vicar of Chesterford grew more and
more infatuated with respect to James
reflections. He was ignorant for Il
very long time, as TO the real condition
of his heart; and as long as he cOntn-
ued so, and only spent two or three
hours out Of every day in James So
ciety. he was happy.
But the bitter moment of awakening
came to him at last. One summer
mornng--as the poor man was quietly
looking across the clover-thc convic-
tion flashed before him, clear, strong
impossible of contradiction that the
aesthetic had no longer any place what
ever in his feelings toward Miss
Grand; also that he regarded her worn
and faded face of eight and twenty
with very different regard to that
with which he had used to call her his
little love, his picture, his angel, his
Madonna, when she was seventeen!
CHAPTER XII.