A Lost Leader

th skirts a little raised crossed the lawn. Lindsay,

r him. "Mrs. Handsell and I ought to have come out here, and you and unc

preceptress-in modernit

ay or think horrid things about my best friend. She's a dear, wonderful

he answered. "Do you honestly th

doesn't grub about by himself nearly so much, and he'

at he seems quit

like you, Richard. He hasn't any right to be content

elf out upon, the

some strange ideas,

with the old ones," she replied. "Mrs. Handsell is doing us all n

on ear

peless," she murmu

I seem to recognize the ins

chard!" she

t came she was all right. That fellow Borr

xclaimed, demurely. "I t

elf, and has a way of looking on which makes you feel a perfect idiot. Neither

softly, "that you do

the theatres, the dressmakers, Hurlingham, Ranelagh, race meetings, society, and all that sort o

ughed

loquent, Richard," sh

ion, until his eyes are on fire. She describes new pleasures to you, and you sit at her feet, a mute worshipper! I can't think why s

as weary of cities and wanted to get as far away from them as possible. Only last

his cigarette a

d. "A moment later she would be describing very cleverly, and a little

getting afraid of you. You are

e supposed to possess. We know truth when we see it. But I am saying

ook he

ust remember my mother. I was brought up at a pleasant but very dreary boarding-school. I had very few friends, and no one came to see me except my uncle, who was always very kind, but always

deed," he ans

no

h to satisfy one? Of course it is very beautiful here, I know, and sometimes when the sun is shining and the birds singing and the sea comes up into the creeks, well, one almost feels content. But

had sounded so natural that some part of

really don't know why your uncle has never

. For days before he fidgets about and looks perfectly miserable, and when he comes back he always goes off for a long walk by himself. I am perfectly certain that for

nod

was only at college then, but I remember what a fuss

was the reason?"

nt with Lord Rochest

imed. "Uncle is as

he asked, "to go bac

es spa

rse I s

cy he has been quite the same man since Sir Leslie Borrowdean w

laug

they were conspira

t I believe them to be

cha

u something that I have no right to tell you.

!" she exclaimed. "Do

old mine so when

e? But-I wonder t

any improper reasons for calling herself Mrs. Handsell, or anything else she liked. The explanations given were quite satisfact

now her r

knew, and they were satisfied. Perhaps

you like you can take me down to the orchar

sne from the village, was soft, and, for the time of year, wonderfully mild. Below, through the orchard trees, were faint visions of the marshland, riven with creeks of silvery

imed. "Do you need a wrap, or ar

yes were strangely bright. There was a tenseness about her manner, a restraint in her tone, which seemed to speak of some emotional crisis. She passed out into the quiet garden, in itself so exquisitely

us sit under the cedar tree. Those young people se

he answered. "It is a ni

the words seem difficult. These wonderful

red, smiling. "That is one of the joys

"You have pitched your tent. I

onth ago," he exc

rowing young again. I believed that I had severed all the ties which bound me to the days which have gone befo

the moonlight. His deep-set g

don for two days, and you have come back a changed woman. Why

have never been happier in all my life. But one may not linger all one's days in the pleasan

d. "You are too vague. Yet-you say

n happy," s

back, like a city slave whose days of holiday are over? What is there in the world more beautiful than the gifts the gods shower on us her

he murmured, "if t

cedar tree. Her hands were clasped ner

istinctness, "are like wine. They mount to the head, they intoxicate, they tempt! And yet al

imed me if it could, but I laughed at it. Our destinies a

t life, I mean-may have its vulgarities, its weariness and its disappointments, but it is, after all, the only plac

owards," he answered. "We

er head a l

ss is a gift, not a prize. It comes

hed sco

ping softly up into the land, a long drawn out undernote of breathless harmonies, the rustling of leaves there in the elm trees, the faint night wind, like the mu

o

well that I love you. I meant to have said nothing just yet, but who could help it-o

Her face was deathly white now.

you. You were in

es

hy

d bus

a, in Mert

a litt

about that?" he as

. The person whom you visited-I have heard a

lips. A strange, hunted expre

e. Am I asking too much? Remember

ything to do with

rs," she answered, "and it is quite true that we

dean for many years," he repeated

eral months away from everybody, and, if possible, unrecognized. Perhaps I had better m

rly. She waited for him to speak-in vain. A sudden mist of tears blin