The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-02-17
LADY CA r.
TIE SEQUEL OF a LIFE.
~
BY MRS. OLIPtANT.

of Torrance. And with both sorts of
these visitors Garry could not help
seeing-or perhaps she only imagined
it-that though her husband and her
self were treated with great curiosity,
it was Tom who a looked to with
the chief interest. He was the future
possessor of all. Though she had en-
tire sway in the house as she never
had before, yet she was nothing but
a shadow. as she had always been.
And the children would have liked if
possible to ignore her, too. AS for
Tom, he got altogether beyond her
control. When he vas not shooting,
taking upon himself premature airs
of the master, he was riding about
the country as his father had done,
going to all kinds of places, making
| acquaintance everywhere. He came
| home on several occasions, after a day
Of roaming, with red eyes, half-fall-
ing, ~half-leaping, off his horse, max
ing his entrance audible by all the
tumult of rough revilement, calling
loudly to the servants, discharging
oaths at them for imaginary delay.
The first time this happened, Lady
Car only suspected it with alarm,
which everybody about stilled as best
they could, getting the young culprit
out of the way. THE matter? there
is nothing the matter, Beaufort said,
coming to her, a little pale, but with
a laugh. tom has lost his temper.
He is vexed with himself for being
late for dinner. I'll have a talk with
him by and by" as that all, Ed
ward?" she said. What should it be
more?" her husband replied. But on
another occasion, as evil luck would
have it, Tom made his entrance just
as a party, a large one, in which his
place vas vacant, was sweeping across
the hall to dinner, and his mother,
who came last, had the full advantage
of that spectacle-her son, standing
all despatched, unsteady, his dull
eyes fierce with angry light. Halo,
mother I'm a bit ate. Never mind,
I'll come as I am" he cried, steadying
himself, beating his muddy boot with
his whip. Lady Car threw an an
guished look at the new butler, who
stood splashed and Indifferent at the
door. There was not eve an old
servant full of u to coax the
foolish, w%retched boy away.
She had to go in and sit down smil-
ing at the head of the table, and en-
terrain her guests, not knowing any
minute whether the boy might not
burst in and make his shame visible
to all. In the midst of the sounds Of
the dinner-tahle, the talk, and the
ring Of the knives and forks, and the
movements of the servants, other
sounds seemed to reach her a Of
loud voices and noise outside. She
had to hear it all and make no sign,
but talk, that her neighbors on each
side might not notice, with what was
almost noisiness for Garry. Perhaps,
though it seems more horrible at such
a crisis to be in the midst IF the COM
pulSOIy ludhS-USllCl VI SOSlCly, IL ID
better for the sufferer. She kept up,
and never WINGED till the dinner was
over, and the endless tune in the
drawing room after, and all the
guests gone-those who were from
the neighborhood to their homes,
those who were in the house to their
rooms. Then, and only then, did she
dare to breathe, to give way to the
.devouring anxiety in her mind. She
had hidden her husband &c, co." to
the smoking room, or anywhere with
the last guests, and she was alone
The whole house had been changed;
the old furniture displaced, all it's as
sociations altered; and yet in that
moment everything came back again
the catafalques of old, the vulgar
splendors, the old dreamy surround
ings. The boy! the boy! She thought
she saw his father come out before
her, as she had feared to see him all
these years, saying with his oil brutal
laugh, Your BOY; none Of yours.
Mine! mine!"