The London Kelt

JoTie ordeat of zaisv Price. By MARIE CROWTHER. (Continued from No. 3). "Oh, no," she said, the Squire himself spends most of his time in England, and his children only come to Glaslyn for a few weeks in the summer; they are being educated on the continent." Then, I presume," I continued, that they and the Hafod people are strangers." When we were young," she said" Jane and I often went to Glaslyn to see Lily, Squire Egerton's daughter. She was not allowed to come to the village alone, but the sons, until they left for College, were always seen with the other village children. Lily generally comes to see us when she is at home, and her younger brother, Harold, is a favourite in the village, but Philip, the eldest, is said to be as proud and arrogant as his father, and he very seldom comes home to Glaslyn." Was that Harold whom we saw in the field a few moments ago ? I asked. Yes," Daisy said, he always likes to spend his time in the fields with my father's men, and his free and kindly manner have more than once, it is said, incurred the displeasure of his father and his elder brother. Phiiip is meant for the Church, and he has the'reputation of being a very dull scholar and to be of dissipated habits, but then, you know, English Squires in Wales often hide the intellectual disqualifications of the eldest son by bringing him up as a parson, for then he is able to retain his social standing without having to depend upon the resources of his own mind. Harold is very clever, and takes a delight in making a museum of his botanical collections when at home. He has distinguished himself on more than one occasion as a scientist." By this time we had reached the farm, and Jane was waiting to take me into the orchard to see the 6 apple-trees being stripped of the ripe, mellow fruit. After dark, Jane and her mother were occupied in stowing away the apples, and, as Daisy had gone down into the village, I threw a shawl round my shoulders, and went out for a walk in the cool, autumn evening. I turned in the direction of Glaslyn, and at the sight of the Squire's house, rising in the dim light "ke a dark tower against the clear sky, I meditated upon my conversation with Daisy in the afternoon. I passed again the gate where we first saw Harold. All was still; and save for the gentle rustling of the leaves on the trees, no sound broke the tranquility of that calm, August evening. I turned homewards, and after walking for some distance I became conscious of voices from behind. The speakers were near enough to enable me to recognise Daisy's voice, and she was saying; "Yes, Harold, you will forgot and be happy. You will have the whole world of thought open to you, and be free to aspire to heights which have hitherto been unattained by any man you will have new ideas and you shall have the aid and the sympathies of your fellow-men to carry them out. But I shall have to live out my life among people who will not under- stand me, and whose simple, uncouth ways must and will always remind me of an episode in my life that was at once full of pleasure and full of pain." "Daisy," Harold replied, I cannot listen to your words. Do you not know, dearest Daisy, that when a man loves, his love is everything all else is but an insignificant item that will never come under his consideration. I have been a fool to disturb the innocent tranquility of your mind and to cultivate in you an interest in these books and papers of mine, all unconscious that I was putting into your hands the material wherewith to build up a barrier between us. You were happy in your love for me, before that, were you not, Daisy ? If I loved you less now, Harold, I should still be happy," Daisy said. It is because I love you so much that I have come to the present decision. I see a time when you will grow to feel the necessity of aid and sympathy in your scientific researches, and fail to find it at home; when you will begin to see that your wife is ignorant, illiterate, and unworthy of you; and when in the end, you will even feel ashamed of her untrained mind. When I think of that time, a horrible dread comes over me, and I become more and more convinced that, were I to marry you I should be doing you an irreparable wrong, and pre- paring for myself a life of endless misery and self- reproach. In after years, Harold, when your book is published and your name is known all over the scientific world, you will come again, and if you still feel that your love for me is stronger than Heaven and Earth, and deep enough to overlook the chasm of illiterateness that lies between us, then will I be happy, and will be yours." I shall never change, Daisy," Harold replied, though I became the greatest man in England I should not be happy until I got you by my side to share with me the joys of fame and renown. I will not go away without a more hopeful answer from you." Harold," she said, let my decision abide until we meet again. It is getting late, and mother will be anxious." They quickened their pace and were soon past me and lost in the distance. This, then, was the secret of Daisy's heart. That Harold had something to do with her sad- ness I had had no doubt from the first, and the conversation I had overheard revealed to me the nature of the fears that clouded her young mind. (To be concluded in our next.)