Constance Royal.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2087, 21 November 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

Constance Royal.

It wag a °al fas 1 ". The Reverend E Iward lliyal did not hctieve nno worcVof tin doctrine he expound' il. Beiidei thH ongma'ity in a clergyman, he poa^'ed the further distinctions of a ptiv&fe fortune, aid ft lovely, high-brad vife, bs gool c.3, or better than, she was beautifu'. Such were the exceptional influence 1 ; which combined to create Miss Constance Royal. Her father continued topreaou the doctiine which he hul believed for ye&rs, from forca of habit, and b?ciase bs would have been ashamed to tell his wife that ho uas a fraud and u coward — ao r. loving wivea cf even average in tel'igencG aio ever deceived, unlcbs they cheerfully concur in the process. Mrs. If jyal concurred to the extr-nt oJ Bilence. Hpv e\istenco becarao a hiJ-'cn wound, sensitive to every touch. She found icat fium complicated thoughts only iv hey child's prophetic eyea, clear aud durk as the wells where Truth liea concealed from all but her votaries. It is not what wo do, but what we are which affects our children, and thtir intuition, when we «cc its effects on their growth of character seems strange to ua. Constance grew up doubting human eincerity, and oirayinq her soul in tfefianb truthfulness against her kind. She was traiihfal to all, and sho had f»ith in none, not even her mother, nor hsr friend Eva Douglaaa. Eva'a brother wad a surgeon, lie was unfortunate enough to lcssadLtiii^uished patient through a hazardous operation. The patient's widow exonerated Dr. Douglas horn every shadow of blame. " That sounda noble,"' paid Gon&tance ; " but what do yen suppose she would Bay if there was RDjthing to bo pauied by letting people know wha 1 ; the really !ch ?" " You are cruel," returned her friend, " especially when j*ou know how my brother loves you." " I wish you would ba more careful of your English," said Constance " You mean how your brother says he does." Mra. lloyal oaw how benuHful her daughter was growing. Sho marked her refinement of manner, her dignity, her po.ver over young minds, her contempt for eveiytliing mean, yet something in her an\iom mind took the shape of a fear, as in the presence of evil. Constance realised the fear, but ncvei dreamed of its cause. "My precious child 1" E&id Mrs. ltiypl, smoothing her daughter's hair with trembling adoration. "Say 'child,' mamma; nobody can deny that." " Oh, Constance, are you not precious to me ?" cried her mother, wounded to tears. " Not quite really, mamma. You have a horror of me because I understand life too well." Mrs. Royal BbranU from hsr daughter's eyep, and left tho room. " I will sacrifice everything called happiness," said poor Constance, " but there shall live one human being unduped by the others." "Constance," cried her friend ono day, "congratulate) me." " What for ?" a°ked Conntance, lifting her dark unconquerable eyes from a volume of Voltaire, bound in the softest calf, Liko many another, she chose the literal- u< o which fostered her dearest weakness, and taught her to deem it strength. " I am engaged — engaged to Alario I" 4< Why ?" inquired Constance, unmoved. 41 Don't be savage, darling 1 Because I love him, of courflp." " He has been a bad, wild fellow, Eva." " Oh, he is going to change now. Up Gays I canrrpke a new man of him. Ho gays his salvation liea in my hands. O!i ! what couW be sweater than to bo his good angel ? " "Bah!" said Constance. l -\ou like his figure and the shape of hi 3 uo?e, .iid you are delighted to be licensed to meddle. As for him, ho has concluded that he had bettor reform, and he prefors that his wife phould have the bother ol it to exerting himself." Tho day after lnr friend's marriage Constance was standing under a rose aroade looking at the sea. Thero was a brighter light than usual in her daik eyes, and r roseate spot burned softly in cither oheek. " Dear, noble Constance," Dr. Douglas was saying, " you must not send mo from you because of my love. Though I love you with all the fervor which the truest husband can feel for his wife, your refusal must not banish me. Your friendship, dear, if your priceless love can not be mine, is a greater happiness than 1 ever hoped to win before I met you." "Dr. Douglas," said Conatanco, as it listening to a voioe and repeating its words, " you love my beauty and my intellect ; you do not love mi . You have never even taken the trouble to find out my real nature. You find my imago haunting your thoughts, perhaps disturbing youv work, and you Uko the natural way to exorcise its power. As for your wanting my friendship, you mu"3t excuce me if I can not accept a pretence through which you would hope to win me." " You ohill my very hoart, Constance," said Robort Douglas, sadly. "It is true, I did not know you. Cut oh, child, I believed in you ! You will never bo saved by faith. Good-by 1 " And ho went his way. Constance threw herself down in the grass, and cried and sobbed. She had saoriticed her own living heart an well as her lover's on the altar of her disbelief. At last phe rose. " This is what tho truth coats," she said. •' No wonder few people can afford it 1 " Ten years passed. Constance sat with her friend, whose "husband bad been killed, ta a drunken frolic.

y)- ■ w\< worn a-i Ii a j^nr i. t\h-> v, j t ;t on her frxcDii'.- Moulder. G'.iaß!,«nce v. ordered if the pooi v.ocir i f-fjeobcxcd how ah? had triod to save hei from the nnrriage. Suddenly x>a raueil her heari. "But I pity yoa the nioat,^ Blie said, tbiouj,h bar tsara. "Me ? " asked Constance, amnzed. The ohildren camo in, r,nd E/a forgot to answer. Cons'nnce wntchpd them caress their mother with a dawnmg tairor. She had seen ohildrjn before, of course, but something new now Etriuk her. She had never doubted tho sincerity of a ohild. " Darting Jiftlo mamma I " murmured the litl'e ones. '• Ba happy 1 wo love you." Tho oldest girl, a child of eight, with a swec-t, serio»3 face, laid her cheek against her mother's, and put hor arm 3 round her nco'j, -vvliile thajoanger ones climbed about her, &nd onehUlo ihing patted her thin hand, chanting, " Dat flwpptie band, dat sweetie hand, Dat sweetie hand of mins." Constance's eyes brimmed 1 over. In vain she tiied to keep back the unwonted tears. The accents of loving trust Bank into her heart l»k<j dropd cf molten lead. Eva took up her baby, feeling in the pocket of her black dres3 for a letter, which Ehe handed to Constance. " Head it, ' sho said, and fell to kissing her boy, aa mothers do when they want a draught of hfaunlv balm, fre^h drawu, for the healing of earthly sorrows. Constance opened tbe letter mechanically. Hot eye fcl! on the signature, and she started and flashed aa nsvei bat once before, under tho rone arcade ten year? agooe. "llobut Douqlats." Tne lut^eio txa in lines of fire. '•Manama pst, mamma pet," chimed the little voioe3. Constance sprang to hor feet. " I must go, Eva. I will bring it back. Good-by." Locked in her own room, she read the letter which de&Uoyedhcr youth's illusion. "My j>\rLi\r. E\ \, — I wish I could comfito you, but all yon say shows me that you aro my own true hearted little heroine, undaunted by grief. And your letter tells me more than tbK It tells me that all through your fierce trials you have kept your brfuviny heart, that blf-3=i>-.g of all. " Ko, dear, you can no| holp it that tha crud nisvn^mg will comeback and mingle wilh the retrospect which every bereaved wife would wrh unalloyed, i'ou muet aometimea feel indignant still, for truth will not and should not ba distorted. Bat light aa weli n/3 shadow is in every n=pect ol life and love, and if Truth gi?rs oue hand to JuPlice, she should ghc tha otLcr to Faith. Dear girl, to worry about nisi lam a ktlle perturbed just no v. No 1053 a question than maviiif.e p.'es_nfc3 itself. Our gocd old Dr. DAne has died q'uto poor, and eweot litile tSibyl is too delicate a blossom to fscapo cruohiog i£ some loving heaifc does not givo he* n shelter. "I am not OAarhaj/py in the thought of sucb p, marriage, nur do I ever forget that I onco iliearnod — how vainly ! — of a nob'e creature sharing r.s an eq'ial in all my joys, ail my aiiii'atbns. " AVel), sifter mine, shall I wed the wood blosjom ? Ch lurcn, at least, build up our old shrines of faith aga.u. " SYt'.'a of your owu Labies am' { your own dear S'-l£ to your brother. " Hoc Dv-uoLib." " Now comes the p»naUj,'' aaid Constanoe. "Ibnve nevpr Bpar.d idjfcH fcr tho truth; I will uofc '-.jara uiysclf now." And she \vrote to Dr. D-uplas. Tlu cry of the proud v/oman's heart, cDufjHi-ing her life's mistake, wos eloqus'it, and rjvesled the pritbt of tha "old Hhrliife," in all the sweetness and at:cH^U» which her lover's dream had lent her a decade pas*. When the letter was gono, Constance was seized with a horror of what ehe had done, but it yiiH p.i«t recall. She moved aimlessly about, going without food or sleep for two days and two nights, and theu the answer came. Consfanca flow to tha place where ehe had lain in tho graes and erieJ her heart out so long ago. 11 Hero, only here 1" she cried. Her tremtying fingers almost tore the letter opening it. Strang", tbe letter 1 * dancad before her eyes, now appearing a confused maos oi hieroglyphic, now Heeding altogcthtr. A hand came over her shoulder and covered tho p^ge. She turned with a cry of rapture, and two strong arms closed around her with an answer which needed no eyes to read. An hour later the two walked down to Eva'a cottaga. "But whore i 3 my answer— the letter, I mean ?" asked Constance. "D j you love mo ?" ho asked. " Perhaps— a little," she answered, laughing. 11 Do you believe in my love for you ?" She looked up into hii uyes. "As I believe in my God and my soul." He stooped aud "kissed her where she stood." " Then you shall see ;'' and together they read : " Coxstvvc r, — I have no right now to stop to pity myself or you. One hour ago I pledged myself to g'unrd the life of a sweet ch'ld, vrho must not be betray rd by one disloyal u ord from "]'ior.EßT DoCl.li^." Constance dropped the letter, and looked away from litr lover. For one instant Suapicion and Doubt fought for their old prey, and then she put them away, and, raising her glanco to his with the shining light of unavailable faith in her clear eyes, she smiled, and said, "Well?" " My darling, you never will Luow what it cost mo to write those cruel words. When I had done my duty I was like a maniac. I could have torn dov/a walls of stone to reach you. Oh, to hint you, my dovo, in return for yonr glorious love 1 to kill your new-born trust f Oh, darling, that hour has left its mark. Sibyl found me in a swoon, and, child-like, sought its cause, and found it in your letter." " Oh I" cried Constance, and covered her eyes. " Why, dearest, have you any idea how prtvnd your letter waft? Littlo Sibyl, when she had half drowned me to bring me to consciousness, cricj : "Go to her this mirute 1 Tell that nngel jou aro free I" 11 But you, Sibyl ?'' I Baid like a fool. "Mo? 1 she cried; " I never lovrd you." '• And co I followed my letter just iv time. " Yes," said Constance, with a radiant look, " for I cover would havu given you a second chance to snub me, had I road tuit* answer onca." She put the paper in her bosom. Ho whose lojalty to an unloved bride, she thought, U of this calibre, when tempted by the woman ho loved, is a true man ; and she said aloud : " There is one trouble, ltobeit : I shall belicvo m ymi only too much ; but aro you* going to teach me to tind heroes and heroines everywhere?"— The Cent my.

Why is the sun like n Rood loaf? Because it contains many currants. Why ai-o tears liLc potatoes ? Because they epriDg from the eyes. Whj is Qnocn Victoria like a hat: Because they both have crowns.

441.