The Story-Teller.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 7, 22 December 1869, Page 3

The Story-Teller.

| THE BISTERS.

" Oh, Elsie ! what lovely flowers! Where did you get them ?" exclaimed Janet Fraser, bending her head to inhale the fragrance of the delicate exotics thai her sister held in her hand. The colour deepenoi in Elsie's face, as she replied hastily, " Mr Roscoe gave them to mo —they are out of the conservatory at The Rims.'' Janet's dark eyes flashed, and a bright crimson spot glowed on her eheek j but 6ho laughed scornfully. " What a flirt that man is !" she replied. " I'm certain he thinks you are in love with him. He implied it the other day, and laughed at you for your folly. Ho would be a catch, indeed ! Lady Roscoe, and mistress of The Elms ! Well done, modest little Elsie !" "Janet, how can you !" exclaimed Elsie, indignantly. " You have no right to say such things. I never sought Mr Roscoe by word or deed. It is very unkind of you to say so," said the poor girl ; and she hurried on with swelling heart and burning cheeks to lock herself in her room, and cry passionately over the beautiful flowers which had alternately caused her such ploasure and such pain. Janet and Elsie Fraser wer« half-sisters, the daughters of old General Fraser, who, after having lost his right arm and his health in India, had returned to England with his motherless child, Janet; and to the surprise of all who saw the two together, won the affections of his pretty, gentle cousin, Mary Campbell, and married her. Two children w<jre the result of the second marriage, the eldest a boy, Harry, who followed in his father's steps, and at the time of our story was in his regiment; and Elsin, who had her mother's fair sweet face and gentle manners. Janet was jealous of her pretty, winning younger sister, '*hose gentle, amiable disposition gained the affection of all around her, which her awn unusual beauty aud haughty, dignified manners failed to do. She was very much admired and sought after among the young gentlemen of the neighbourhood, all of whom were proud of a smile from the

beautiful Miss Fraser, but the one of all others whose favour she cared for, Edmund Koscoe, the handsome young squire of the village, eldest son of a baronet, and heir to the most teoattfvil estate in the pieferred Elsie ; and JanetTa s'u.yp, jealous eyes saw it, and spite of the cordiality vrvth which he greeted her, and the many times his name was on her card at the different balls in (he neighbourhood. There was live years' difference in the ages of the sisters, aul Janet's dark, foreign beauty was as its height when the graceful, blooming Elsie "came out," so that none of her former aduirers deserted her for the quiet younger sister ; but Janet saw only too plainly how Edmund Roscoe's eyes would wander eagerly round the room even while he greeted her, and brighten with pleasure when they rested on Elsie's slig'lt, giriish figure. Yes, Janet saw all this, and knew that the man she loved with all the deptli of her passionate nature and all the strength of pride and ambition, cared nothing tor her when her sister was by, and Janet fiercely resolved that Elsie should not win him, and that she would. So now, whilo Elsie wept in her room over the fragrant exotics, Janet stood in the drive before their house, her dark eyes flashing and her cheeks crimson, as she angrily tupped the ground with her foot. Very beautiful she looked, her short upper lip just curled, and her shapely head thrown back; and so thought Mr Itoseoe as he rode rapidly up to where she stood. The colour deepened in her cheek as she saw him, and her large eyes softened, while a gracious smile played round her beautiful mouth. "Mr Roscoe !" she exclaimed, asf'she shook hands with him ; "on what errand are you hound ? My sister told me she had just seen yon." " True enough," he replied, with a smile, " and I was tool enough to forget to give her this note for your mother, so I rode back to deliver it Vly mother mjans to give a ball on the twenty-fourth of this month, which is my birthday, and she wrote to Mrs Fraser at once, that you may

make no other engagements. This is but the second, so I hope it is in time." "Thank you—[ am sure we are free for that day," replied Janet. " How kind of Lady Roscoe to take so much trouble." " Oil, it was no trouble," replied the young man, as he bent to adjust his stirrup " I was coining this way, and offered to bring the noti. But now I must be off, for J am going to dine with the officers at Ashtown." Lifting his hat, with an admiring glance at the lovely face before him, the young man rode rapidly away. Janet saw the glance, and was too well versed in 6uch matters not to read i; aright. " Not yours yot, Miss Elsie," she murmured, triumphantly—" and never shall be it I know anything of the power of beauty over men. So he forgot to give the note I He must have been deeply engross vi for that j but I'll take good caro they hj ive no more such meetings." She turned slowly and entered the house, [ Mrs Fraaer and Khk weje in llw dra" - " r

room. The latter was arranging tho (lowers she had received in the large vase in the table, for she was determined her sister should not think she treasured thorn because they were Mr Roscoe's gift. " Here is a note from Ludy Roscoe, mama, asking us to a ball there on the twentyfourth," said Jauet, coolly. Mr Roscoe just brought it." "I wonder he did not give it to yon, IClsie, when ho gave you the fl mors," remarked IVrs Fraser, as she opened it,. '• No, no, matmiu, it was too good an excuso to pome te the house," said Janet, with a light laugh, which undo Elsie's heart boat quick, and she thanked the gathering darkness for hiding her hot cheeks. " She managed to get the (lowers, but he prudently forgot all about the note until it was quite too late," continued Janet. " Well, he succeeded, so [ hope he's happy." Janet left the room, carelessly humming the " Mabel Valse," and well satisfied with her work.

When Mr Roscoe entered the drawingroom the next day, just before luncheon, Janet hardly knew whether to be vexed or pleased. He had slept at Ash town the night before, he said, and thought he would call in on his way home, that he might take Mrs Fraser's answer to his mother's note, and so spare her the trouble of sendiug it.

A slighter excuse would have served with the General or his wife for the appearance of such a favourite as Edmund Roscoe, and he was of course pressed to stay to luncheon. Elsie was not in the room when he entered ; and as he looked round for her, his eye fell on the flowers in the vase, and he coloured and looked slightly vexed. He had hoped that Elsie would have kept them for her own room, and such had certainly been h«r intention before Janet's taunting speech. The effects of the said speech were also visible in the cool, distant manner in which Elsie greeted him when she entered the room. Janet marked this with satisfaction; but she was not quite to well pleased with the soft rosy blush that mounted to her sister's cheek, making her look more than usually pretty. Luncheon over, the old General insisted on a game of crochet, which the soft, warm days of April had induced them to begin ; and Janet began to see that that her tactics had not been quite so successful as she had hoped. On the contrary, Elsie's reserved manner and evident avoidance of him served to pique Mr Roscoe, and stimulate him into being more than usually attentive ; and Janet could have stamped .with rsge and mortification, as she watched the earnest, loving glances which the young man bestowed pav her sister, and his eager pursuance of her ball, ii only to rouse her from her perfect indifference of manner. They played till late in the afternoon, V-nd then Edmund Roscoe reluctantly ordered" his horse. He tried in rain to get a few words with Elsie aloae before leaving, but she was not inclined to help him, ami Janet was determined to thwa-t him ; so, after a lingering pressure of the hand, which made Elsie's cheeks glow in spite of herself, he rode thoughtfully away. Janet went immediately to her room, locked the door, and flung herself on the bed. " tie loves her !" she exclaimed passionately, her face burning and glowing with rage. " That quiet, pile little thing has succeeded without an effort, wh 'e I, with ail my beauty, have fai'el. But no, not yet! I s'lall hj ive a hard fight for it, but she shan't beat quite mi so easily. If I don't win him, sho shall lose him, or my name's not Janet Fraser!"

Elsie wandered round the garden, in spite of the gathering darkness, in a tumuli of conflicting emotions. K» - ery tone, every look of Mr Roacoe's during the day had seemed to her to prove that he loved her j but tlioso horrid words of Janet's rang in her ears. " He is only flirting with me," she repeated again and again to herself. " Ho does not really care for me; and yet how much I love him ! —I feel I do, and ho sjos it, as Janet says ; but he shall not see it any longer. I will not, be laughed at: I will be colder and colder every time I meet him Oh! I wish I had never seen him," sobbed the poor girl, as she leaned against a willow that hung the lake, and pressed her bauds to her throbbing br >w. Unable to appear indifferent, unwill ng to show her real feelings, Elsie day aftei* day carefully avoided Mr Roscoe, driving with her mother in the pony-carriage, or walking with her father. Occasionally she met him, but, when with her parents, she was easily able to escap 3 more than a mere shako of the hand, and she sighed within herself at feeling a glow of delight at his warm pressure, and the eager, questioning gazj of his dart eyes those bright, clear eyes, that were fast gaining a troubled, sad look, that, she would not perceive. Janet met Mr Roscoe again and again. Certainly her wales were more frequently in the direction of The Elms than they had bean ; but Elsie's heart sank as she heard how da/ after day ho walked homo with her, unconscious that his chief reason was that ho might hear Elsie's na no, or b <■ her in the drive when he left Janet. No, Elsie knew nothing of this, and the poor ch Id's heart grew faint and sick as she became more and more convinced that lie had but amused himself with her, while in reality he [loved her lwdV.lifftLji&Jiajflf i So the twehty.foirth of t|, c month J,', ,v

near, ami Elsie's teu<\s foil slowly us «.'.. thought of the happiness who would hj; had In the anticipation of it when she !.•- lievoii Mr Uosooo loved iior. tioinotiu; she thought she would uut go, out ;■■•■■ dared not encounter her parents' tot • questioning ; she feared that already ti must perceive her pallid cheek and hea< eye, and she strove hard to torn hor tni bright self again. Shortly before the ball, Mr Roscoecu?: with another note from Lady Itoscoe, b.-: tfing that if Mrs Frasor feared a drive after the ball, they wool I all spom the night there. Klsic and Janet w*.. both in the drawing-room when he w announced, the former playing the ■'.•■■ dreamy airs she loved so well, but eh. rose quickly us ho entered, and bent ovm the music stand, replacing her music, ( hide the hot blush that spread over lw> face It soon parsed, and she was pa it, as death as she quietly gave him ha;hand, Mr lioscoo turned aWay, with : , suppressed sigh, from her cold, iudi|j'ea-:ii; greeting, and his eyes rested with pleasure on Janet's lovely face, her beauty heightened by her crimson cheeks and happy smile. Involuntarily his voice took a warmer tone as he addressed hor, and Elsie, with an aching heart, noted the change, and offered to take the note te her mother.

Mr Roseoe's gaze followed Elsie as she left the room, aiul after a few minutes' pause he said, hesitatingly, " Your sister does not look very well, Miss Praser, n.ir very happy." Janet eletiched her hand and her heart beat fast ; but she replied carelessly, I' No, she's not very happy just now. Iti is a love affair; and being so young, *hM frets over it. I dare say mutters will ail" come right when they meet." _ Mr Roscoo started, and a hot flush dyed his features, but he said nothiu<; and when Mrs Fraser entered the room with the answer to his mother's note, unaccompanied by Elsie, he hastily took hi* leave.

Oh, Janet, Janet, how far jealousy and ambition led you from every kind an! gentle feeling ! She saw no more of Mr ftoscoe for several days, and an uneasy feelintr was creeping over her. Had he left the place in his disappoint nent and grief? But no, he could not do that when his mother was giving this ball expressly for him. Ah, well, let her story work fo'r a few days, and then ho would be the more rea ly for her to mould to her own wishes.

The twenty fourth came at last, and, restless and excited, Jani't walked alon<r the road towards The Elms in the after" no hi, more from habit than from an/expectatioa of meeting Mr Roscoe ; but her heart heat fast as she heard a horse rapidly coming along the road, and recognised hi,'. ,_ own chestnut thorough- bred. It was only ; a "groom after all ; but Janet caught siurht. ' of a bouq\\«itJn bis hand, and slopped ni-.u./ . 1 "Are you~gom^to l l i , ,e < icii,;rrtrsy'' &h<*: -J asked, a-j quietly as her beating fe&iV 'J would let her " "^J "Yes, miss," replied the man, touching his hat; " I was to leave these flowers foe Miss Praser. " Very well; I will take them," sai<i Janet, holding out her hand for the flowers and a note he showed ; and tho groom undoubtingly gave them to her, and rode off. Janet stood still, faint and giddy with excitement, for the note was for" Elsie, a id she knew only too well that it contained the deafcii-blow to all her hopes. Her plans had miscarried, and Mr Roscoo had written to know his fate. Elsie would gladly accept him, and she—(To be continued in our next)