Part 18 (1/2)
”By no means,” she answered coldly ”I seek not the coone
He stood where she had left hiallant prayer of thanks Next he laughed softly to hih that oeful with bitterness
”Fore George!” he !”
He reseated himself upon the fallen tree, and there he set himself to reflect, and to realize that he, orn and callous, coh on such an errand as was his, should wax sick at the very thought of it for the sake of a chit of a maid, with a mind to make a mock and a toy of hiht, forgetful of the wrongs he had suffered, abandoning the vengeance he had sworn Then with an oath he stehts
”God in heaven, areen?” he asked hiain, that to look into a pair of eyes should s but their existence?” Then in a burst of passion: ”Would to Heaven,” he muttered, ”they had left me stark on Worcester Field!”
He rose abruptly, and set out to walk aiht hih
”Sir laggard, I knew that willy-nilly you would follow me,” she cried
And he, taken aback, could not but shtly
CHAPTER XIV THE HEART OF CYNTHIA ASHBURN
Side by side stepped that oddly assorted pair along--the maiden whose soul was as pure and fresh as the breeze that blew upon theo had been etfulness had led hiirl upon the threshold of wo to her untainted mind a joyous, wholesome business; the hted save the one odious hope of vengeance, which ly, and that otherwise he had likely enough cast from him And as they walked:
”Sir Crispin,” she ventured timidly, ”you are unhappy, are you not?”
Startled by her words and the tone of theht observe her
”I, unhappy?” he laughed; and it was a laugh calculated to acknowledge the fitness of her question, rather than to refute it as he intended
”Am I a clown, Cynthia, to own myself unhappy at such a season and while you honour me with your company?”
She made a wry face in protest that he fenced with her
”You are happy, then?” she challenged him
”What is happiness?” quoth he, much as Pilate may have questioned as truth Then before she could reply he hastened to add: ”I have not been quite so happy these many years”
”It is not of the present ly, for she scented no more than a compliment in his words, ”but of your life”
Now either was he i the deeds of that life of his, or else did he wisely realize that no theme could there be less suited to discourse upon with an innocent h he had not heard her question, ”I would say a word to you concerning Kenneth”
At that she turned upon hi yourself that I would have you talk It is not nice to disobey a lady Besides, I have little interest in Master Stewart”
”To have little interest in a future husband augurs ill for the tiht that you, at least, understood me Kenneth will never be husband of mine, Sir Crispin”