The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-02-16

Roger-but of course men never un-
derstand these things-the trial that
poor girl has always been! 1 can as
sure you I look upon Belinda as a
chastisement, sent to me for some
wise purpose by Providence"
She seats herself on a sofa, dis
creetly away in the half light, and
with an air of resignation takes out
her pocket handkerchief. "Ihave made
sacrifices no real mother would have
made for her-can 1 ever forget the
| devoted, bland attachment of her
Door dear papa for me? Sending her
away, heaven knows at what expense,
to the continent, and always writing
that she should have the best of mas
tiers, and everything; and now this is
the result. How painfully plain she
is"
plain? No, Rosie, anything but
plain. Belinda is just at that awk-
ward age when n does not know
what to make of girls, and her dress
is not quite like other peoples, Is It?
But she has magnificent eyes, and a
pretty hand"
"A pretty hand! Belinda's hands
pretty Why, they are enormous,
six and three-quarters at least, two
sizes bigger than mine, and a brown,
but you think every n you see love
ly, Roger" says Rose pettishly. II
believe n might just as we'll be ugly
ones self. 1 have never heard you
speak of any woman yet that you
| could not find something to admire
in her"
And all because of you, my dear
est" cries Captain Temple, with
warmth. when a man admires one
woman supremely, can you not i'm
agine that every other woman, yet,
even the p~lainest, must possess some
thing fair in his sight for her sake?"
He comes across to her, stoops and
| rests his hand on his betrothed's
fair head. 1t is a favorite action of
Rogers, and one that Rose would be
| exceedingly we'll pleased to see him
abandon. Who can tell what horrible
trick postiche or plat may not play
one in some unguarded moment of
more than common tenderness?"
"Oh, Roger, how can you?" She
| shifts a little. uneasily from his touch.
Really you get sillier and sillier
every day" 1t is a fixed idea Of the
widows that Roger Temples feelings
| for her are precisely of the same ire
pressible and %rapturous nature as
they we're when he was a boy of nine
teen-a happy, fixed idea, tightening
Rogers courtship more than he wots
of. Lucky, I am sure, that Belinda
is gone. Do you know I was afraid
you would say or do something en-
%barrassing before her! How do I
look, Roger dear? Tired and hide
Gus, don't I? Now, / insist upon
your telling me the truth"
How do I look, Roger dear? is the
burden ever of their love scenes.
Compliments, not caresses, are what
Roses heart Of hearts yearns for;
and Roger, after the past few weeks
apprenticeship, finds it no very diff
cult task to frame them. To have to
pay compliments to the same woman
during six or eight hours Of every
consecutive day would in most cases
be a tolerably severe strain on a
mans imaginative faculty. Rose,
who is absolutely without magma
ton herself, requires the exercise of
none in others. A parrot gets no
more wearied with it's own eternal
Pretty Poll" than does poor Rosie
Of the eternal, pointless, stereotyped
commonplace of aattery.
"You look charming. I never saw
you look better. Your eyes are as
bright" Roger does not find a smile
come readily to his hand, but Rose is
content to take his good intention on
trust. And your dress-all these
lavender frills and this white lace!
Rosie, how is it that you always man
age to wear prettier dresses than any
: other woman in the world?"
He must have asked her the same
question, on a moderate calculation,
! about two hundred times since they
were first engaged. At this moment
he knows how often he has asked it,
and the precise luttering of denial,
and little bewitching, foolish laugh
with which Rosie will respond. And
he signs; if he had courage to relieve
his soul in the way nature prompts,
would yawn. Terrible point in a love
affair when we have learned to dis
guise anything!
! II shall be quite unhappy about
my dresses if they do not arrive
soon," Rose goes on presently. Ten
large cases, you remember" Does
not Roger remember those awful ten
cases we'll? in Paris, Bordeaux, every
where? And a bit of blue ribbon
on each. There can be no mistake
if the railway people are honest. but
abroad n never knows. I'm sure
nothing would have been easier than
for Belinda to run back to the sta
ton; still, she did not offer, and in
my delicate position as a %steplnother
1 have never required the slightest
attention from the poor girl.
"Oh, Roger" Roses hand Is in
her lovers now, and he is beside her
on the sofa, IF 1 dared. how much l
should like to tell you a secret
cpmatbipr uo orc oil ooncorood ips,,