LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2039, 6 September 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A JUNE LOVE STORY. [From "London Society."] ( Continued.) * Yon guessed ?' he said; ' yon saw I cared for her.' ' Yes. I'm sorry for yon, tid; but have yon told her ?' ' Yes; yon think I'm to blame, I know. Perhaps I am; but I wonder whether you wouldn't have done the same in my c»:e. I ought to have kept out of her way, ycu'li say ; but I couldn't, and wouldn't have done so if I could!' ended Sidney defiantly. 'Qui s'excuse s'accuse,' said Arthur, 'I didn't say yon were to blame, but I think you were.' ' How ?' asked Sidney sullenly. * Nina's engaged to be married.' •I know that well enough,' said poor Sid, with a groan. 'Come, be a man,' returned Mr Hilton kindly; but feeling rather guilty in his inmost soul for quietly giving such cold comfort to his friend, while his own cour.-e of love had run so smooth. 'lf she were married you wouldn't have told her you cared for her.' 'Of course not. What do you take me * I say yon wouldn't havo aone so: but after all it come 3 to much the same thing. It is a kind of inßult to a girl to tsll her y u care for her when she is engaged to another man. It implies you hope she will change her mind, throw over the other fellow, and take you; and therefore suppose she has engaged herself to a man she doesn't care for, which I say is insulting her.' 'I don't see that,'answered Sidney ;m patiently. 'lt's wire-drawing. When a man lovea a girl and can possibly win her as she is, pure and dear and fair, or when, like me, he has not even hope, he has a right to tell her that, fool as he is, Fie has been able to see how lovely she is. I had a rght to put my fate to the touch, 'and save myself from being haunted by the idea that it might have been different if I had told her all. I shall never think that now.'

Arthur felt foolishly, irratioa»l!y sorry for ttelad.

Q .' V m g n ' p g n P to Lindon tomorrow,' said Sidney, after a pause, ■ I shan't bo down hero sgiia till she and that fellow have gone. So good night atd good-bye for the present.'

* warm hand grasp was all answer. Sidney spring over the stile by which he and Mr Hilton were standing, and went swiftly homewards «Joat as wftlt, thought Arthur. «If Ninadoesn t cars fur him he had better be out of the way ; and if sha does she isn't the sirl I take her for, or worth his love, if shedoesn'fc throw over Caltho.-p and endure her mother'3 black looks, She mayn't know her own mind at once ; but when she does she will do v„-hat she thinks right, ruat easternaud £15,000 a year.'

Chapter IV. It was ten days later, the afternoon of Tioely's garden party, and the garden at Farley was bright with pretty faces and dra-soH. M- Caithorp tras oa view, and his host mentally wundered how he liked it, remembering his own agonies as an engaged' man; bus Mias CaryleV fianc-i was gifted with a serece urbanity of manner, enviable, if Grand isonisn, which enabled him to defy criticism even in his prjsenc trying position.

Cicely flitted about, bright and animated, sustained ly the coepcijusaess that the supply of foes was snffiaient, and that her draas was the prettiest in her trousseau. Only one thing rather disturbed her peace of micd—Nina.

Fur the list ten days Miss Cirlyle hadT not been like herself ; with every one except Mr Ca'.thorp she was nervous, fitful, and restless; and towards him her manner bad entirely changed. Her old bright, p'ayfal, half defiant, half bewitcoing ways with her lover had vanished; she was Btrangely humble, gentle, and qaiet. A high"y commendable change, perhaps, considering Mr Caithorp was soon to be her lord and mater; and yet there was something in Nina's subdued, insurer which perplexed and distressed her sister. Among the first arrivds were the Anßdells, Sidnev'a mother and his sifter Lucy, a pretty chatainc, two or three years his senior.

'Have von heard from Sidney lately?* inquired Cicely, as she stood chatting with Mra Anadell on the lawn, wiih Lucy and Nina etaDding by. ' I expeet you will see him over here this afternoon' answered Mrs Ansdell. 'His fath-r went np to town two or three days ago, and I had a letter from him this morning, saying that Sid looked anything but well, and that he should bring him down with him by thia afternoon a train. I left a note at homo to tell them to cime and join ns here, so I suppcsa they will torn up at about six o'clock.

' I'm so g'ai/ said Mrs Hilton, who had of late forgjotttn her disquietude about Nina and Sidney, now that <*i r Calthorp was at hand to gu ird his own interests. Nina said nothing, but a tumultuous throb of j>y seemed to overp iwer her. In vain ehe said to herself it was nothing to her, his absence or hi» presence. She has missed him so terribly, that, whether it were right or wrong, she culd not but rejoice in the thought of seeing him once more. She waa her old self again that afternoon, mutinonß. coquet'ish, and charming, and looking her very best in a quaintly pretty drsss of foulard, in which g Id and cream and olive were cunningly intermingled, looped over an olive-silk pstticiat In her slouched white felt hat, and at her throat, she wore yellow roses ; her eyes were shining and her cheeks had their loveliest flash. Mr Caltho'p had reason to be proud of his choice of a wife.

He looked, however, rather moody than otherwise Nina seemed suddenly to have recovered her old independence of manner towards him, and favored him with leas of her attention than she vouchsafed to gawky undergraduates and rubicund and cortly J.P.s.

Mr Calthorp meditated a gentle but firm. remonstrance, when he and his betrothed should once more be alone. He was not jea'ous, or he thonght so; but be'wished Mna tn cultivate a greater teticence and repose f>f manner than were hers at present. It was true that Nina's demeanour that afternoon laid her open to the charge of wayward gaiety and coquetry ; a d only her brother in-law. as he noted the brightness of her eyes and the vivid color of her cheeks, suspected she was under the influence of some abnormal excite ztent. Bhe herself hardly knew what she did or said ; her whole being seemed absorbed in iutent waiting for the coming of the man whom, ten days before, she had rebuked for daring to tell her of his Itve Why had he not understood her words, her heart, better? Why had he not wrenched hor necret from her, and claimed her by the right of his love and hers ? For she loved him, and, now that it was too late felt as though she coald have faced everything—the world's sneers, her mother's anger, Mr Calthorp's ju«t indignation—with Sydney Ansdell by her side. It was no good thinking over all this now. •'-he had chosen for herself. till she was glad she wculd see him onc=< more before she left Farley next week. When she came there it would be as Mr wife.

So she waited and watched and listened, lanirhed and talked, played tennis and drank iced oi ffee, and Btill neither old Mr Ansdell nor his son appeared, and the afternoon was nearly over. Nina's heart sink within her breaßt. Sidney would not come to-nikht. It was eight o'clock, and nearly every one had gone, txeept lira Ansdell and Lucy, whom Ciesly was trying to pur-uade lo stay the evening. ' Well, since oar mankind haven't had the grace to come and es 'ort us home, I don't see why we shouldn't revenge ourselves, marom*.' said Luey. 'Arthur will walk home with yon,' Cicely was beginning, when a Lervant crossed the lawn wit Si an orange-colGred missive ia her hand.

' The page from Deightou brought this, over, ma'am, f r Mrs Ansdell.'

Pnor Mrs Ansdell! She taok the telegram qu'etly en ut>h, expecting to find within a lme from her hu-band t > say he and Sidney would not leave for London that day; but when she had opened it, she stood staring at it a». if dazed. Then sha held it to Lucy with a sob.

* O my boy, my boy !' Nina stond by, her lip 3 white and quivering at the sound of that cry. Luiy read the telegram—- ' "R. Ansrl-11, Royal Hotel, Coltham, te Mrs Ansdell. Deightoa Place, Tunford. ' liailway accident near CoUham. Sidney dangerously hurt. Come to us by next uptrain. It is urgent '

Chapter V. Two honrs had passed since the arrival of the telegram. The Aasiella had left for Coltham with Arthur, who saw that both Mrs Anadell and Lucy were 80 utterly wretched an! stupefied that his escort and presence would ba a comfort and help to them.

Mrs Hilton and Mr Calthorp were sitting in the drawing-room. Nina was not with them, and they both fancied she had gone to her own room, a? she pleaded a headache earlier in ths evening. «Do ycu expect Hilton back to-night ?' inquired Grerald. * O yes ; he said he was sure to return by tho la-.t train, and sent wcrd from the station that the line wss clear. It's Tery sal, isn't it? Poor Sidney I* * Very sad. Is he theVdest son V « THo • Jack Ansdell is"the eldest; he is in Tndiaw'ith his iegim.nt. Sidney has only just 1.-ft Oxford, and is reading for the Bar. « Which means living on his father for thenexfc fifteen years.' •■,„., « No, it doepn't in his ca«e,' said Cicely, rather'angrily. 'Sidney was left £SOO a year by his mother'a brother, and he is very c'ever. Arthur says he is sure to make hia way, unless now—' and Cicely broke off with a sob. • are tired out, Cicely, said Mr Calthorp. 'lf you won't think me impertinent I should advise you to follow Nina's example *nd go to bed. I*ll sit up for Hilton.' Ha s. oke kindly, almost tenderly. Cicely shook her h?ad. • I couldn't sleep if I went to bed. I ant too anxious to know how the poor boy is. He is BU.;h a dear fellow!" and again the tears filled hex eyes. ' Don't let me keep you in here,' she continued, after a few moments' silence. «I know yon want t> smoke.' ~ , ~ « Wei', I might have a cigar outside, said. Mr Calthorp. 'ltis a lovey night.' (To be continued.