LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7752, 2 March 1905, Page 4

LITERATURE.

Hp;'' THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS. k£° "Ueß SjHhrfa, and what sort of & Retinas havo you had 1 a ■ Hi SyHta Marchaad tad just stepped cf the train ot ».«u-i'»--iy.iu..iu ■Mstatian, St. Leonards-oUrSea, and EHkad t«*to«td upon hvn sister kdith u Hl&iaii that bad rather mnio warmth in |||fc then the usual sisterly salute. Bk ' Bke was a remarkably pretty girl. BlaM ewry detail of her spick-and-Km toilette was finished off in a Egway that showed tbat she tboroughjgjhr understood the art of dressing. A BpJßigat jHicker. however, upon her protHPty face vjeaoud to show that she Egftras worriid about something ; and EHsJr tester's keen eye immediately de-GT-ttcied the feet. Jg'. "Oh, Hylvia ! " she said anxiouslb k» I " you don't mean to $a. v "that, Bf\ after all the trouble we took to see IP your clothes fixed up and everything, te : sou didn't .have a good time al i SVamKngham Hall ? " j£ ~My dear Edith," said her. sister, ~ pumping up a smile for the occasion ' yof course % bad a lovely time, and C wajoyed myself ever so much ; and 0 tody Framlinghatn was just as nice I- as ever she could be." :" -Oh, weH, tben, that's all right!" ?_ skid Edith, as she turned away to a*t after Sylvia's luggage, which " ' was being taken out of the van. But •t. alba knew quite well that there had fceen some rather bulky "fly in the fe.-- aiatment!," or Sylvia's sunny smile f would have coma rather more spontaneoutfy. g Sylvia had been away to spend a 5, .|nrtnjfb* with a school friend at E.JfraiDliocham Hall; aad, as the Mar•f * «£ands were not at all w«4l off, it I*-'" tad involved a good deaj of plan- £; (jag and contriving to get together ■'.''.» suitable outfit for a visit of thj's %' Mm* It had been managed, however. gjLand they all agreed that Sylvia I," looked so nice in her simple toilettes '"' that no one could possibly have any i" fault to And with her appearance. s?' But that evening, when Edith Came • . round. jnk> Sylyia/s room to have '■» v * efcat.?before going to bed, she mani aged to get out o! her the explanai- «enpf the "puckerJ" wWch bad ~- warped the place of her customary L aunshtae smile. | " Tell me all about it, Sytvie," * said Edith, persuasively. |" "It's all told in one word, Edith," !~ said Sylvia, bursting into tears; Sj * and that word Is—Bridge'. "■ p " Good gracious, Sylvia !Do you £ mean to say thatt you bare been 6- gambling ? " |7 "My dear girl, in a house tyke F. that, it's simply impossible to help m H I Everyone play* : and, of course, |> - ait first I won, and it seemed simply &,' tovery! And then the luck' changed, ft- and now Oh, Edith ; I positively W, daren't UP you how much I owe ! " g. * Yan poor child ! " said Edith, BE' putting her arm affeetionately round W her sister. "Go on, and tett me all E, . •boot it." gj "TToull hare « fit when I tell P you how much I owe ! " said Syl--1 ***• W ■■" Ksver mind the fits. -Tell me ! " | JsrU ttitk.. firmly. E. " **ll. then," said Sylvia, defiantg- ■■■* v * owavabout X3OO ! There ! " g* Her slater gasped. "Oh, Sylvie t fe. How awful t " she said at last. F " What on earth are you going to g *V» T " t "1 don't know." said Sylvia, mis«t erably. "There was a man there &■<• named Sydney Egremont, who offers £/ ad to lend me the money. He is a fg" millionaire, or something. Hut he is fcwawfe an injufieraWe little .-ad that have died rather than be an obligation to him." Wf ~ I should think so indeed ! " said K" Edith, indignantly. Sr soon alter, in a very raelK* aachoty frame of mind, they botli K^, went off to bed, and slept the sleej W. of gilds who have only just " con* out." Wt ' l^"J ,ert morn ing Sylvia came inp to Edith's room with a letter in her f„ - hand.' " listen to this, Edittt," sht > said, eagerly : £•: *'«f dear Sylvia.-I hope you got r hnek to St Leonards safely. We arc you very much here, £; ""*■ r *«ard to the trifling Bridge I 4ebf» that you left behind, I hope h'.-fa*- will no* trouble your head oaj ajbout ttoem, as a friend oi gfc* yours, who wishes to be anonymous, *** settled everything up for you.— M * li ™«"« H yours sincerely, gq Cecilia Framiingham.'' K:. _" Hooray ! What luck for you, ByWe f " exclaimed Edith, seizing Bjt "P°» Lady FramKngham's letter. K. " I *' Jn ! ! ""> not so sure about Et: Imt, saM Sylvia, mournfully. •• Ol |r-coarse, it is that little bounder m z Egremont who has done it. And I K~„akm*C see now how lam very well KSr*«> go on snubbing him."' '* •°PP«> a » notw" said m:~ jWlth, doubtfully; and she began to wbl conceive that her sister had only her position from the E.V *y*ng-pan iajo the fire. morning Sylvia and Edith EgjatroKeU into Hastings to listen to band, and whilo they were sit-EF-nsflt by the baths, a somewhat overW£ , dressed young, man approached, and g; 1 took of his hat with a flourish. K, TOood moraing. Miss Marchandl" J£ he said to Sylvia. %k " Good morning, Mr Egremont! " Kv anW Sylvia, trying not to look aop:- j noyeil r as she introduced him to ■ her sister. And the young man gtr, nfomptly tooK • peat between the |>" two girls, and proceeded ,to make fevhtaseU •greeable. according to his &?.>Jignla.

explained that he was . •' • certain hotel, and that he hoped p -** foinething. ol them during the |p> Wurt few days. * WW »uflkiea% obvious that he - graatly admired Miss Sylvia.; while j?V *■*» «® • **• otber hand, evidently xraad 1m attentions decidedly di»g; tasteful. "At last, when they had to go back fey. *° ■luneh, and the time arrived to y P**l-byet Sylvia, with a great Y «ort, nerved herself to remark in a s ♦one. '' I must thank you very muck, Mr Kgrmoot, for giving so b®dly settled things up for *• *t, Frwnlingham' Mall." ' At on first moment he looked mys- - tilled, and then he remarked, choerf- l»Uy, "Oh, yfs ! That's all right, •jf Miss Marcband ! Please don't Bay &».«Bother word about it."

|gr,r But tf Sylvia did not say any g*» more about if, like that parrot, site |\ tjbougfat the dickens of a lot. And fe.' nw hr father amf mother began Sl,.' to wonder what had come over their i "sunny Sylvia" to make her so.rct.C :nikibly serious. 5 For .the next few days Sydney &t' Egranont Beemed to be lying in \f r wait for them, whatever direction P"- they Blight choose to go in. And Edith Jiarchand, unfortunately, soon that she disliked him S*te as much as Sylvia did. At the same time both girts reCognised that fact, that they could &,' not very well snub him. as they [1 Would like to have done, while SylS via was under such a very definite '■ Obligation to him; so they were obliged to endeavour to follow out j tile injunction of the I*6almist, who , Dub us to '•.suffer fools gladly." All the same, they both found the pMDenR and the increasing familiarity' ties of the man so intolerable that Sylvia almost made up her mrrxl : that a&e would go straight to her lather and make a clean breats of V the whole thing to him. fc- But from this she was deterred by 3 two considerations. In the first plac< her father held extremely rig-id an<] f old-fashioned views on the subject of gambling, especially for women , and for this reason Sylvia simpij dared not confess to him what had 'happened. la the second place, ho was verj badly 08, and Sylvia knew perfectly W yrtil ttat it had been a pinch for the g£.n*t of the family to rig her out to go on the visit to FramE liogham Hall; and it seemed to t» jc : '_ rfbly ungrateful to go to him now, IgCAnd tell him that she wanted him to jj pay another three hundred which she KM«t ten riW.v enough to lose at McAad so. like Brer Fox, die kept on S|b*«ytag nothing; and for the next SlMniilit she suffered severely from g£jke attentions of Mr Egremont, who did not improve upon ac*e said at last, one HHIV> " I imply can't stand that, ■Hpte houoder much longer ! He gets ■Kltir nerves." has got heaps of money« ' **>gßcsted her sister, prubad all the money In the n<i ." said Syjvia, cm- '' ' l wouldn't make him ■■Egjjy.h't less impossible, would was obliged reluctant,fitb facr. HE9!t. • sufficiently evi*r Egremont considered which he had estabattention by his Bridge debts a t *™' "•> sufficient to ta assuming that Mb jß9t. altogether distaste.

Indeed, Providence had endowed him witi so high -an opinion of himself and avl hii works Uiat the bar. possibility of anyone preferring hiroora to his company simply never orcunel to him. As a result, Sylvia found herself growing absolutclv desperate, as she found it more and more impossible to es.-ape from -t-iij-. superfluous young man, who so assiduously -dogged her footsteps. I (To be continued.)