Year: 1874

l hr~-@0s <Aho W AAho 40 AAAOAO L hCPO III
boyish love secret from every one
mo easy matter as you may i'm,
agine.


@When I was fifteen had an at.
tack of typhus fever. 1 was staying
at Wyville at the time for the sum
mer vacation, with my uncle, Sir Ru-
pert. He had perfect horror OF
sickness, or fevers especially; and di-
rectly I was taken ill, he left the
house pay visit to some friends
near Windsor. He promised me that
when the school met again he would
ride over, and give the fellows at my
house the latest accounts of me.


81 did not return to Eaton till after
the Christmas holidays, and then
Nora was gone-where 1 could not
learn. In vain 1 made inquiries of
different people in the town who
knew the girl by sight. All 1 could
learn was that neither she nor her
mother had been seen since the be-
ginning of September. l was nearly
frantic with anxiety. 1 give you my
word, George, that never but once in
my life have 1 felt anything like the
utter grief and desolation of that
time, when 1 thought of Nora, with
her extraordinary beauty, thrown
upon the wide world with no other
protection than that drunken old
mother.


swell, time passed on, and when 1
was eighteen 1 left Eton and went
into the Guards. Ny mother took a
house in Hartford Street, and 1 lived
with her. l went everywhere, and
was made much of. / was heir to
Wyville Castle and fifteen thousand
year-to say nothing of the baro-
netcy; and l could have married-as
my uncle and mother were always
telling me-almost anybody chose;
but l did not choose.


"Strange as it may appear, l never
met girl l could care for-never
met any one who could make me for
get for one moment my childish love.
l grew tired of everything sooner
than most men, and at twenty, hav-
ing obtained several months leave of
absence, 1 started for a tour in the
East with my old friend Baynsford,
who was then Captain Fellowes.
When we were at Smyrna / received
a letter from my mother telling me
that my uncle was going to be mar
ried. AS / had been taught from
childhood to consider myself his
heir, you may fancy, George, with
what feelings of disgust 1 received
the intelligence. My mother wrote
very illegible hand, and moreover al
ways crossed pages; consequently de
her letters was no easy task.
| could not make out the name of my
uncle's fiance, although Fellowes and
sat up half of the night trying to
discover it. My mother said Sir Ru-
pert had met her in Paris, and l
thought the word we could not deci-
pher looked like French name.


London was no place for me now,
I decided, and determined to leave
the Guards and exchange into some
regiment going to Canada country
was particularly anxious to see.
We fingered good deal on our way
home, and were a great part of the
time in out-of-the-way places, where
we saw no newspapers. Thus l miss
ed reading the announcement of my
uncle's marriage. When arrived in
town 1 heard of nothing but the ex
traordinary beauty of Lady Wyville;
and many were the warnings l re-
in jest, half in earnest
not to fall in love with my aunt.
1t was very odd but felt no curiosi-
ty to see her. On the contrary, the
idea of making her acquaintance was
rather repugnant to me.


81 left card for my uncle in Gros
venor Square, a day or two after /
returned home, at an hour when /
knew she would be out; and l de-
clined, on the plea of prior engage
ment, an invitation that l received to
dine with them the following even
ing.


IA few nights afterward there was
a large ball given at the Russian EN-
bassy. l heard directly 1 entered
the house, that my uncle and his
bride were there; but there was a
great crowd, and l never caught sight
of them. Toward the end of the
evening, just as l was going away,
the Duchess de - came up to me
in the conservatory, and told me that
my uncle and aunt were just then on
the staircase.


"sYou must come and see her,
George, she said to me; she is per-
fectly beautiful


81 made some commonplace reply,
such as that it was only very pretty
women who ever admitted beauty in
others, and then, with the little
Duchess on my arm, l went to greet
~ uncle and his bride.


sShe was dressed all in white-not
the faintest trace of color about her
and her lovely face turned as white
as her bridal wreath, as she came face
to face with me. 1t was Nora-Nora
whom I had last seen in rags, bare
footed, asking aims from the passen-
gers, and now met again thus-at an
ambassadors ball and talking to a
foreign prince!


"My uncle introduced me to his
bride, and / made profound bow,
and with face as white as her own,
congratulated her on her marriage,
and expressed the qualification l felt
at making her acquaintance.


"She gave me such a look, poor
girli l knew then that she had
never forgotten me. passed on
with the duchess into the ball room,.
and l felt rather than saw that Nora
turned to look after US.


"sIs she not beautiful? my COM
panion asked with levity. 'Ah, l
was right; l could see you were des-