THE STORYTELLER. ERMINE'S DREAM.

Thames Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 10852, 29 April 1911, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE STORYTELLER. ERMINE'S DREAM.

A ROMANTIC STORY OF TO-DAY.

OHAPTEIR! 111

Mrs Romford and her young party came foadk late from theii' picnic, Ermine, from her o\ni room, heard the children tumbling up-stairs, tired cross, and quarrelsome —heard also the cheery tones of their mother trying to keep order, the bang of Roger's chamber door, as he took refuge there after tine parting aggravation whidi (brought forth » yell from Clara—listened to the various soundb which, demoted tha gradual settling to i"&st of tbxs household, and then, in the calm silencei of the night, sought to dompiwe her ruffled spirit and to understand what had happened to her. iSlhei recogpi&ed that tho great experience foreshadowed 1 in her dreams had come tio heir—recognised it wjth a keen pang of disappointment. She had dreamt of beauty all through, such ovious, tangiblo Ibbauty as she had seen in the picture in her mother's boudoir 1; there was v.n intenser teauty in what had dome to hor, of which she Was dimly conscious, but, because the form of it wasi not. the

form to which she had 1 accustomed I her fancy, she could! not receive it. This, grave, business-like, forty-year-old German gentleman loved 1 her; she could not doubt how he loved her; she thought with a thrill of awe of the joy andl, despair which , had) revealed themselves by turns, '' and had so utterly transfigured his usually impa.ssi"v|o doiuntenancie. It frighteMed her a little, but it moved hen- a g!rteat deal, tin's strong man's love of which she had) caught a glimpsa—just ;,s the superior strength of manhood, however manifested, always- terrifies and imprafKes weaker woman. Sihei was moved to tho very -depths of her nature, but she was bitterly disappointedly she was puzzled, 'bewildar'ad, vaguely dissatisfied with hea-self, with eiveiything. Her lotVer—sJie shrank a liWte at the word even in thought—was so kind, so tender, m brave under his repxilse; he wasi like a hero', like the tat hero of her dreiamsi! Ah. why vflaa he sa stouti? Vffoy did she temembcr at that moment his heavy gait, hisl ungainly oontour, his illfitting, carelessly-chosen garments? Was everything wtbng in this strange World—everything*—even this- last, test refuge of hea' hopes; or was it she who was wrong.!—she whose whole life, ■whose whole being, was a mistake and a disappointment?

She sat long in the moonlight at her window, looking out en the ghostly shadows of the trees in the part; and it was< longer still ere fatigue over-mastered" the tumult and excitement of heir mind. It was morning when she fell asleep, and! out of lietr broikten and uneasy 'sliunbeirs was avoht-d this dveaim

She was out alone in a dlaris moonless and! starless night, stumbling along an unknown road, with sinkingl heart and weary feiet. Overhead dark brandies met, and al-ound her their shadows gathered in a, black mystery of darkness, which seemed to approach and enfold her. She spread out her hands to keep it off, as it were; she wasi faint with terror and fatigue, when suddenly strains of soft sweet music floated around heir, first distant and then more near, the perfume of flowers breathed through the d'aiflmetes, and! a. light, too soft to dazzle her aahing eyefi, stole through the trees and g!uided her tremibling footsteps into, a smooth and) even pwth. And, following thia path, she found the light grew sforonger mid clearer until ' it shone through an open doorway tapestried with green leaves, beneath which sihe entered into a room full of warmth and light. And) in the middle of the room Ctarl Hintsttenstern was standing with outstretched arms and a radiant facie, and he was saying, "Sb you have come to me! You are dmrly welcome!" And in her dreams it seemed the most natural

thing in the world' that, w-'eiry, forlorn, desolate as she was, she should shelter herself gladly and thankfully in those Welcoming arms. • It erta-iiok heir as- strange that, waking from this dream, the first object cm which her eyes rested was Mr Hintstemstern's bouquet! He, poor fellow, had set omt on his homeward way, feeling like a man who is all at once shut,out into cold and darkness from the warmth and -biigihtneoß of some, gay cii'cilc. All the happy assured vj&ions of the mottling 1 had fallen crushed at hi* feet; ho hardly knew his way albout the changed world into which he felt hiirujclf suddenly thrust. His fellow-passengers in the ra,ilw:iv car-

ringe to which he miadb his way mechanically scianned witli some curiosity the hea.vy stupefied-lookiiifr traveller * who carried a pale half-faded rose in his hand—poor Oarl clungl unconsciously to this last spar'from the wreck—and the driver of the Imokfly which ho Avas accustomed to employ, finding! all his efforts to attract nttention unavailing 1, went back wbudelins 1 aiid osoontentod to his stand. The twilight air was thrilling with softojj* melody from under the" little brother's hand .as Oarl drew 1 near his home. Fritz, hearing .his heavy ttvnd! on the gravel path, paled at tlio sound, and: his hand trembler!

amongst tho chords, breaking them into a tenderer mdJence which rfarfr 1 tho tear* into Oarfs eves. He ;->;>.sscd the? open doioj- without ;i pause, and went up straight into his own room ; : ,i,d then Fritz, witli the quick intuition <-f bis great love. knr\v. what had hupp-.-iu-d" "Alch. nth," s ->id he, vrih | ; ,iwdrawn sighs of grief rm l wnstcni^tion breathing f u >n his sihikvt.

humian instrument, "that it should be so!"

• * » » After this the world! settled clown j into its usual coiulr&ie —for Oarl, the couirting-houstej with its billa of lading, its longl columns of figures, its interminable fclorrespondenoei; for Eirmine, the schoolroom, with its tedious routine of ill-spent lessons, its rebellion, its daily petty worries and vexations. Oarl was a shade paler, as the little ibrother knew, ! and Eirmine a ahadle quieter, as no one knew; and there wals an ache in the heart of each oveir which the inexorable routine of life rolled unheeding. I Mi' Ronifoid returned home on \ the Siaiturdlay, and 1 on the Suu--1 day, which the two brothel's were, in | the almost invariable habit of spending at Bridgnorth Hall, there was a ' chorua of surprise; and disappointment at their non-oppelarance. "Did you know they wfera not coming, Philip 1" Mrs R.omford inquired of her huklband, as shei gjano!ed at the two empty chairs at the family dinner-table ■;■

i "Not I," answered the master of the hoiusel. "I hadn't time to' stop at the counting-house ,asi I tome through Clliesitren-pool yesterday—my train was tern minutes late; but I thought I should ble sure to sea Hintstenstern to-day. Perhaps he'll turn vp 1 yet." '• "Oh, I say, this is humbiis*!" was Roger's view of the subijeciti, wheTi the 'family met again for tea —which meal, as well as dinner on Sundays, was always taken in full family* conclave—>and it was evident that the Hintstensterng would) not now put in an appearance. "I wanted oilcl Frit:? to show me how tin make my flies." ' "Bo'gter 1, don't te md!ei!" reprovedMrs Rbmfordl "You should say 'Mir Frite.'" "It is odd of Hintstenstern," re- ■ marked Mir Romford!, who had not , yet been congratulated by his partner", and w*as eager to talk over l.'S election triumphs with him. "It is . really very odd." "Yes 1, it is)," assented ]iis wifo; . "andl it is an age since we have seen ■ i either of them. They ha.vc not. been I here since last Sunday." f I "Hintsty was a-t ho\no when the. . wasp bit me," lisped little Katie *"Mr B&ntsltensiteiW' spoikc Errn- ; me, with a. little effort, "called here . on the afternoon yon were out at the l picnic." "I never heard of it!" exclaimed

Mrs E'omfordL "How was it I never heard of it? James"—to the sorvant —-"how often have 1 told you always to ."ive me the rmmas of visitors, who calf when I am out? "I did not answer the door, ma'am," explained the man; "I was out that day, ma'am, with you, "Yes. I remember," assented his

if you please to remember/ mistress. "Then inquire of tlio maids which of them opened the door to Mr Hintstenstem and neglected to tell me of it." The man returned with tin; nsme of the delinquent, and Mrs Uomford descanted for "-o'lie minutes ">n the fiarlesßinessi of s<nvnit,s. It was not a very impoit-int matter, after all, but it/was iSWlay, nr i the lutly had r.othing to do. an 1 her active !jmj.erament required constant mcvement of one kind 'or 1 another. Ml: S3 Leigh breiathed a, sig;h of relief when the discussion ended; she bad a slecret feeling of guilt, and she trembled lest a further investigation of the sufbjeeb would reveal her interest in it. Just then it seemed to her the most terribkf thing in the world that all the story of that evening should be spread out before these people. The dangler however was of the slightest; the v'eiy last' thing that would have occurred to Mrs Romfoitl would! be to cTornieot the absence or doings of so important a person as her husband's: partner with such a very unimportant person as he* governess.

Another week passed, and still no visit, from the brothers!. Elrmine believed that she was glad of the respite : she thought that die never wished to see again the man whose loVa had! never ceased to seem so incongruous; hhe wished that she could bloto ouit the whole episode from her histoiry, thaiti s:he could retulrn to the dreams winch had 1 been so jru'thjlessily distinibbdl But tliat Waa not to be; the uprisings of uneasy lieflecitiion would not' be stifled, the new atmosphere: of uncongeniai thouglit would linger albout her, snid sha could not help (but trace out i lie dim suggestions it offered. All this time she thought only of herself; she had hardenedl towards

poor Carl, her once good freind ; she was sometimes even angry with-him whetn she felt how much more lonely she had made her life by taking away from ib the solace of his friendship. Like most other thing*?, thisl friendship Ib&cainie much mere valup.lble now that it was lost tc. her, and the substitute whiqh he had offered was so impossible. It never oi'icairred to her to question its impossibility ; and through every stage of thought there forced! itself a certain rag/ue self-reproach which, whilst, it made hen* restless and rl- j most fretful, did not soften her mood towards Carl—poor Carl! iSho was quite angry with him

when a week or so later she heard Mr Eomford toll his wife in answer to ono of her daily inquiries, that he did not know what had oome to Hintstenstern— he was hipped or something. Hs ,Mr Eomford!, advised him to t-tika a ruin to the coast— nothing like ai good blow and a, dip :n the sea when a man felt seedy. j Not that he believed Hintsten&tern 'vould take his advice; he was an

(To be concluded.)

obeitinate sorb of' fellow, and ho would go on "grind, grind at that confounded mill of business^ —MV iß|omford, sinca he Went into Barliamentj had got albora the business....

"AjLl the better iov you," however, was his wife's answer to the ■.. last part of hia speech; and then, in her demonstrative good nature, she announced her intention of driving into town on the very day, to "look, after the poor fellow!" "I'll bring him out here," she said. "He is working too hard; and he can taike a good rest, and sit about under the trees all day; and there will Ibe the children tio amuse him."

"Ol' to torment him," laughed her hiuband, whosei awn powers of enduranae on tha side of his children w>ere not so great as his wife's.

Eirmine was very angry now' —so unreasonably angry that she- even triedl to maik'e herself believe it was all a plot of Carl's to get ill and be brought dloiwn there toi be nursed, aaid so to keep himself and his ridiculous love before her eiyes.

Nfrt thafc she really believed 1 anything of the kind; ibut thei vtery injusiticie of the tliought made her more and > more angiy with . him, when it should havle ibelen with herself.

Mrf Romford tried all her powers of persuasion upon Oarl in -vlain. He was no* ill,-ha said);only the great heat of the weathler tilted him a little; and he must on no acc-oumi leiave the counting-house now- that Mi 1 Riomford's Parliamentary dirties called him to London. And), for the rest he had good air and fresh air ut his own house, where he alept every night. And ha .must net come to dine on Sbndays whilst the warm weather lasted; he would' rest at horns then, sk> that on Monday he siiould be refreshed, and the counting house should 1 not sutler. Fritz? Yes, why should not Fritz diner? He was there; he could speak for himself. '

Fritz, handing the lady to her carriage, did spelak for himself, and, faithful always woi'ldl not speak for on* of his brother, although Mrs Romford, with sundry shakes of the head and ominous prophecies of that "nasty low fever," if he did not. take cam," tried to draw out his opinion of Carl's- starte.

"Bid he say ha was not ill? Then hd is not so, and it is just as he says,—ithaib this bo warm weather is. the cause why he growsl so palei—agi you slay he i 9 palei—and it will lie. btasib that hei should rest himself the Sunday, and I will rest with him; and you must tell the little children, and Rogler especial, that I make him flies for his fish and send them to him very soon, sx> that we* have! the great play together when tihe rain comes."

And with this Mrs Rfomford was forced to hi satisfied She went, home, and, for w'nait of other lisitenerS, poured out her 1 prognostications of evil in Mists Ledght's unsympathetic ©ails.

"He ia sickening for low fever, I am sure of it,'" she persisted, "and

Fritz clannoit) oir will not see 1 it; he looks exactly asi Clara didl before she had it. And-those misteralble batchelors nevei 1 ard propeiiy loidked after. A man of his age wants a. wife; but I never" oan gtet Mi" Hintstenstem to think of such a thing; he's a confirmed old bachelor. And 1 I know a lady who would exacstly suit hin-, a sensible woman of fivei-and-thirty, plain,* but pleasing, w;th o little money—a very suitable match in every way. I offered to ititroduco him; but hd would! not hear of it. Abd, now that lie is going to be ill, I dard say he will ible sorry. Perhaps it will teach him the Value of matrimony." "Perhaps so," Elrmine asteented, with faint interest.

And Mrsi Romfordl, pending the lesson, Mievedi her solicitude on Oarl's account by setting the cook to prepa>re sundry nourishing; delicacies, which the German housekeeper" sidomfully repudiated as fast as they cainc to hand