The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-05-02
BY
MRS. BAILLIE REYNOLDS
(Continued.l

(COut1nueQ.l
Il have had two years In which to
undo the effects of fourteen years
hopeless spoiling,'' said Miles I'd
Laura
How remarkably successful you
have been,' she answered, smiling
most admiringly upon Selma Not q
trace of the spelling now remains"
"Ah," said Selma tragically. "let
any girl that thinks about marrying
my brother come to me first for his
character. He looks so kind and
good, but underneath, he is pig
headed old tyrant, a person you can't
argue With" Her remarks were In
terspersed with pommellings of her
brother with one soft little fist, which
ne parried, half laughing, but half
angry too
Adelaide Noble stared until her
pale prominent eyes nearly dropped
from her head. How willingly would
she have stopped her own neck to
the yoke, how happily obeyed Miles
every WISH anu Wnii1 loI OAc &C.
mainder of her life!
Meanwhile, Jem had gone to where
his aunt sat under the beech.
Mrs. Trent has just turned up" he
and heard the row we were making,
SO she looked in to see what was go
ing on. She is coming to say word
to YOU"
"Oh. Jem," said Mrs. Bardsley,
chow uniucky,'' She looked apollo
getically at Lady Bun.
"Oh. don't mind me-" said her
ladyship. who was very busy with
her knitting, as usual. They are
constituents. and / have to say good
day to her at a garden-party, so what
is the use of being ridiculous about
it? Yes. they told me how your
dark That landed you in a small
difficulty. However, these things
soon right themselves. We make al
together too much fuss about them"
ho Si4C 6POhC, L-6ui q, AZ hCA lON0ay
green gown. with the hounds and
the frisking children, came out of
keep, and crossed the turf to where
they sat-
!. But, owing to vernon's thought, all
was we'll Lady Bun had spoken, |
and this sufficed for Sophia and the |
Turpins.
Laura was duly welcomed and ask |
ed to stay to tea; and Mr.. Turpin and
Miss Tarlton both found themselves
able to recollect the fact that they |
had met Mrs. Trent before at Car
ronlea-
The children clamored for one
more round of the new and delight |
full game before tea, with Mr.. Con-
roy this time as the ogre. Laura |
said she was certainly going to play
too. From what she had seen of it, |
the game looked most fascinating.
So they all returned to the keep, |
and once more the fun waxed fast
and furious.
isn't Sir Miles charming said
Laura softly to Jem, as she stood be-
side him during a monetary lull,
gazing at the baronet's stalwart form
under hah-shut lids
I'm very glad to hear it." replied
lem, good-temperedly.
kind of shudder passed down
Laura's frame, warm though the
sunshine was. Her last arrow had
failed Her power over Jem was
gone. Not even jealousy was going
to bring him back to her. He was
lost, SO completely that she hardly
knew him for the same man. And
yet she could not forget him, could
not cease to struggle to recapture
his regard. She hardly knew why.
OF all men with whom her life had
been concerned, he was the only one
who was her master. Dan, the vio-
lent, the rough, coarse animal, would
crawl 10 her feet at the least flick OF
the lash of her tongue Those others,
n the past-her husband, her lover
both these had been, at least for a
time, wholly under her sway But
Jem never.
In the emptiness and boredom of
her return to comparative respecta-
bility as Dams wife, she had resolv-
ed upon the conquest of young Bards-
ley. She had employed every vile
she knew She had led him on and
on. by such slow gradual stages that
he himself was not, conscious of the
pull of the silken fetter. She had
led him up to the eliminating point:
and there, the intrigue had been in
terrupted In most cases. this would
serve as fuel to a mans passion. Why
had it utterly extinguished Jem's? It
was Selma, of course. And yet-yet,
in her knowledge Of the mans tenn
permanent, Selma hardly seemed, as
she vulgarly put it to herself, to fill
the bill.
Well, it was and must remain to
the end of time, an inexplicable thing
that power of the young girI-tho
immature. the undevelpped-over the
mind of the man who has passed his
first youth. She laughed softly to