he stl AD A niTTFD DFTKOMIMr. i-rf',7 v n u By CHAPTER I. I know how silly it is of me Jo fct over this 'separation of a f ew weeks, Jack, but I'm suffering from that most feminine of all feminine ailments a presentiment. I have a horrible drend that you will not come Jiack to me just the same as you leave me. Jack Dornton knew this was all very foolish. He loved pretty Ethel Mallett rery dearly; so, instead of putting his thought into words, he kissed the tearful face and lovingly comforted her with tows of eternal constancy. "You know I needn't stay down there until the pictures are finished," be said. "As soon as I have the sketches well forward, I shall come back and complete the larger pictures from thorn at home; and, though I shall be working very hard, that will not prevent you from, coming every day to watch my progress and cheer me up for an hour or so in the afternoon." Ethel smiled it was rather a pitiful attimpt and turned resolutely to the breakfast table. , "It was good of yoc to think of com ing 'to breakfast with us, so that we might see the last of you before start ing," she said bravely, as she busied herself with the coffee cups. Mr. Mal lett came down a few moments later, and breakfast was gU through with due decorum, in deference to "papa's dislike to emotion." , Shortly after the meal Jack was tramping away his portmanteau in one hand and a portable easel in the other. He had been engaged to Ethel Mallett for two months, and they were to be married as soon as he could provide a suitable home for her. A fortnight after he had obtained the reluctant consent of Mr. Mallett to this arrangement, a cer tain Lord Summers, attracted by two water colors of Jack's in a fashionable gallery, had found him out and offered him a liberal commission to execute a series of six pictures, the subjects to be selected from the immediate neighbor hood of his lordship's place in Exbridge shire. Jack had jumped at the offer, see ing that it would enable him to place little Ethel in a home of her own two months sooner than he anticipated. So here he was, after a two hours' run, hard at work in the woods of Mal lingford, skillfully and rapidly filling in the leading features of Mallingford House and its surroundings. While his fingers were thus busy, he was recalling the conversation he had had with Lord Summers upon the place of his first sub ject. "Would you wish me to begin with . Summerfield?" Jack had asked, wheD taking his final instructions from his Lordship. "No; I should like to be at Summer field .myself when you are there. I think you had better make Mallingford House your first subject. It is about ten miles from Summerfield, and you can work your way toward there. I shall be down by the last week of July, and hope to haVe the pleasure of showing you some hospitality." Jack bowed his thanks. "You will be delighted with Malling ford," his lordship went on. "It is a noble place, and I have a rather peculiar Interest in the property. The late owner, Sir Paul Mailing, was a most eccentric man, with a very exalted notion of his own importance as head of the house. He had never married, and was mortally offended with his brother Geoffrey be cause he took unto himself a wife at the age of thirty-eight without first consult ing him. l'oor Paul! He was a great friend of mine; but I'm bound to confess that he was of a most unforgiving dispo sition. Would you believe it, Mr. Dorn ton? He was so unjust as to disinherit Geoffrey and leave the whole of his prop erty to his ouly sister's only child, Pau line Lufton. liis will confirmed his rep utation for eccentricity, for he made even her inheritance conditional; first, upon her taking the name of Mailing, and, secondly, upon her not marrying under the age of twenty-five without her guar dian's approval and consent. A very awkward thing for the ghardian. I am that not-to-be-envied pernon. So, you see, should tho young lady in question happen to fall in love with some poor beggar of a fellow, I could not consist ently give my consent, and she would have to give up. either her love or her position as owner of Mallingford, one of the finest seats in the county." , "In which case 7" Jack said, iuterroga tively. 1 "In which case the disinherited broth er would have his own. But I am glnd to say that my charming ward will be tweuty-five In September and Will then be in a position to please herself in her choice of a husband for which I am A voutly thankful, as it relieves me of a serious responsibility." , "I can quite understand that."' "I was in hopes at first that I should not be called upon to exercise my guar dianship at all. When Sir Paul died. Pauline was away with her father , in Italy. He was a sad reprobate, and spent his time chiefly in gambling houses, leaving his motherless girl among all kinds of people.' Well, as fate willed. this Lufton died just a .month , before Sir Paul, and, though we made every effort to find his daughter, we could ob tain no tidings of her. W traced the father and daughter to Naples, where the former died; but after , that, we could hear nothing of her. We sent eut agents. i i i t i ii l uii v it i ii v ai CHARLOTTE M, BRAEMB we advertised, we did everything we could. At last, after five months of fruitless inquiry, and just as we were losing heart, and wondering whether we should not begin to hunt up poor Geof frey, she appeared suddenly at my so licitors' offices. She looked wretchedly ill, said she had been working her heart out as a teacher of English at a Spanish school, and had only recently seen one of our advertisements. She was nine-. teen then and that is nearly six years ago." And now, as Jack Dorpton stood in the shady wood, with the noonday sun mak ing little patches of white here and there wherever it could pierce the thick foli age above, and. with a buzzing of insects in his ears, he was weaving all sorts of romantic fancies concerning the owner of all the beauty surrounding him. CHAPTER II. From behind the bole of a large tree Jack Dornton was being narrowly scan ned by a young lady, who seemed well pleased with the Inspection. 1 She watch ed him at work for some minutes with a decided look of admiration in her eyes. She turned from her survey presently, and stooping down, crept away slowly among the brushwood, making a detour with the evident intention of reaching the spot again. In the meantime Jack, stretching him self after his spell of work, noticed a small natural mound covered with soft velvety grass. The more he looked the stronger became the temptation to take ten minutes' rest He yielded at last, and found the mound an excellent pillow. . Before be had enjoyed two of the al lotted ten minutes' rest, his open locket, containing a portrait of Ethel, dropped from his hand, and a myriad of gnats buzzed and whizzed in happy freedom round his head. ' Jack Dornton was fast asleep. At that moment a woman came glid ing by in full view of the easel. She was a woman of surpassing loveliness, tall, stately, with mass of golden plaits coiled round and round her head, full melting brown eyes and ripe red lips, a skin rivaling the peach in its delicate coloring, and a carriage queenly in its every movement. Her dainty cambric gown, cunningly made to "more express than hide her form," trained carelessly among the ivy roots and brambles be hind her. , Her simple straw hat she car ried in her hand, and her whole air sug gested the pretty "maiden meditation fancy free." She gave a well-feigned start when she had come well in view of Jack's easel. It was not pleasant to watch the swift change that came over the beautiful face as she marked the vacant seat and thought herself alone. It revealed un mistakably the defects of her character as indicated in the cruel little curves at the corners of the mouth, which were generally concealed beneath the pretty confiding smile that from long practice had become habitual with her. Advancing cautiously, she glanced around, and soon' discovered Jack's whereabouts. She went quickly to the easel, and critically examined the morn ing's work. Turning aside, she remarked to herself, "With such decided talent and such an appearance, he would be sure to succeed if he were properly taken up." She then walked on tip toe to Jack, and scrutinized him quite as crit ically as she had scrutinized his work, and evidently with as much approval. Then her quick eye detected the open locket by his side. She looked carefully at the sleeper and having assured herself of the soundness of his slumbers, went down upon her knees by his side, the better to examine the portrait. She started visibly when her eyes fell upon the sweet face smiling at her from the tiny trinket. , She rose quickly and walked away a few yards. "So she is this landscape painter s village maiden!' " she muttered vindic tively. "Surely there is some fatality in his coming here! . I can't be mistaken, it is the Barue Insipid babyishly pretty face that Lord Summers pointed out to me in the park the other day. , And she loves this Apollo, does she? And per haps he thinks he loves her. Well, we shall see what we shall see!" . i There was a significant glitter in her fine eyes, and au instantineous tighten ing of the red lips seemed to tell of a hard, cruel heart beneath, the fair ex terior. But the expression of her face changed as if by magic when Jack roll ed over on to his side and showed signs of waking. She had posed gracefully before the easel, and awaited him. 1 "I believe I've been asleep," he mur mured drowsily, raising himself on one elbow, when his eyes fell upon the daz zling loveliness of the girl so earnestly regarding his picture; and in the first glimpse of Pauline Mailing, Jack's senses and artistic perceptions 1'ere alike rous ed, and, springing to his feet he went toward the easel. "I beg your pardon for the liberty I have taken in examining your picture," murmured the woodland nymph melodi ously. "I hope I did not disturb yon. May I be allowed to continue my Inspec tion?".. t . : . V' Jack, hardly awake even yet, mut tered something' about "too ' much hon or." ... ; . -r .. ' .... I- "You are Mr. Dornton, are you not?" she continued, still looking at the pie tore, and giving Jack time to pull him' self together. "Lord Summers told me he was going to ask you to make a pic ture of my house." . . " 'If was! Miss Mailing then, and no woodland, nymph, after all.'. Jack felt ils appointed,'' though he coiM not tell why. "I. suppose you will remain here for some days. May I offer you a little hos pitality during your stay? The village inns aro, I believe, wretchedly uucomfort able; and I should not like a friend of my guardian's to be driven to thoir shel ter while I am at home. We are two lonely women Just nowf and but dull com pany, I fear; but we will do our best to make you comfortable for this week at least. . Next week I am off again until the end of the season, and shall have to leave you to the mercies of the ser vants. Say you will come." ' "Thank you very much," Jack began hesitatingly; "but I did not anticipate in fact, I made no preparation " "Is that the only difficulty?" she in terrupted gently. 'Tray don't let that stand in the way. Mrs. Sefon and I will .Bhut our eyes to the enormity of a morning coat at dinner, and will promise to think no less of you on that account. We dine at half past seven, so that we may have an hour or two of these lovely summer evenings in the gardens." Jack raised his soft felt hat, and watched her graceful figure as she glided away down the dim leafy vista of the wood. He wished that she had stayed longer, that he might still be looking into her. glorious eyes, watching the ever changing lights that came and wer as rapidly as scudding clouds across a Ham mer sky. When at last a curve in the path hid her from view he turned agtin to his work with a heavy sigh, wishing It was already half past seven. CHAPTER III. "Now you are to consider yourself quite at home, Mr. Dornton," Miss Mai ling eali3, as she rose from the table. "Stay and meditate here in solitude,' or come out on the terrace, as suits your in clination." . . The moon came out by and by, throw ing from behind a curtain of tender gray clouds a soft, silvery, shimmering light over the landscape. After Mrs. Sefton had gone Indt.vrs, Pauline led the conversation In a manner that quite entranced her companion. The witchery of the evening, the beauty of the woman, and the spell of her fasci nations wrought upon Jack's Impression able nature, and his dreams that night were of lovely women with golden hair and liquid brown eyes. A week later, Jack Dornton stood at the breakfast room window, apparently absorbed in the calm, radiant beauty of the scene before him; yet his breast was torn with conflicting passions. Pauline Mailing was returning to town by the midday train, and the pain that her proposed departure had caused him had also opened his eyes to the hateful truth that he had been unfaithful to his little Ethel's memory. "What a blind fool I have been," he told himself, wrathfully, "to stay here day after day, and not see my own dan ger! Miss Mailing has been very kind and gentle; but I dare say she looks upon me as belonging to a very inferior class to her own; and I, to show my gratitude, must return her womanly kindness by presuming to fall In love with her! Apart from my supreme con ceit with regard to Miss Mailing, I have behaved shamefully to Ethel," he went on; and a flush of self-condemnation crept over his handsome face. " I've been away from her a whoje week, and only one short note have I went her." He seated himself at the writing table In the window and seized a pen. He nibbled the penholder, as If In expecta tion of receiving inspiration from the act. Before he had quite made up his mind as to the wording of his overdue love letter he heard a rustle at the door, and Miss Mailing entered in her elegant traveling costume. "How I shall miss your pleasant lit tle morning chats, Mr. Pornton" with a gentle sigh "our happy sketching expe ditions, and our delightful evenings!" "You canot miss them as I shall," Jack returned. "You think not?" raising her eyes slowly to his arid dropping her voice mournfully. "That shows how little you know and appreciate your gain in pos sessing the hearty love and esteem of a few true friends, instead of the monoton ous adulation of a horde of mere fashion able acquaintances. You cannot under stand, because you have never experi enced it, how the emptiness of our lives sometimes palls upon us butterflies, and what we would give at such times to have a real object in life; how we long for the affection of one disinterested creature!" Here Jack would have precipitated himself bodily into the yawning chasm she had so conveniently opened for him, but for the entrance of Mrs. Sefton, who proceeded to dispense the comforts of the breakfast table in her own inimitable manner. . The carriage was at the door before the meal was properly over. "Good-by, Mr. Dornton," said Pauline, as she stood with one dainty foot upon the step. 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"Ah-hah, squire!" chuckled Hi Spry, the Tillage wag and cut-up, upon en countering the old codger next morn ing after the date of the appearance of the greatest show on earth. "Ketch ed ye in a yarn! Told me ye was goin' to take boy to the circus and I seen ye right smack up on the tip-top seat last night, without a single sign of a boy with ye!" "Took the boy I used to be, years and years ago!" returned the veteran, crabbedly. "I'm in my second child hood, golram ye!" Puck. Signature of Oyer. 30 Years HURMY STOCKT, NMfVORK OITY. )