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Show Even Johnny was disappointed at tub lack of interest on the pan or his friend. I but remembered having heard that Law- j rence liad oeon hard hit before he went i to Africa tliat nothing less, indeed, than , a broken heart liad sent bum fonb to those distant shores. ! Then, before Addenbrooke tnew what ' was happening, l'leming plunged Into tho very heart of hu own particular grievance. "It was last year," ho said, "at a country coun-try house. It began from the moment she came into the room. 1 don't pretend tliat she was the tirst; but it wus diller-ent, diller-ent, somehow. I um not even sure that 6he was good looking, but there, waa something about her if you cared at all well, you cared! She stayed a week, and at tho end of tho time 1 told her. more or les directly, that I loved her. I i was to fiee her the next day in Ijoudon. Tho next day. an it hapcued. 1 was pro-vented pro-vented by my mother's iter ions illness.-I illness.-I wrote and told her this, begging her to fix a day for my visit She made no reply, and four days Liter 1 called at the house to bo told she was out of town. Tho next day 1 accepted the otTer of The Waterloo Placo (Jazette, and went out to wi.o u worthy of Berr "She it engaged to taer cried Addtn- brcote. witn sudden passion. "And. by ; Heaven, 1 think it is I who am too good j I for her I" i i The ptusiou of such men aa Addon I broofce u a terrible thing. ! Fleming quailed before It. Q gath-) gath-) ered up his paper in lilenc and went j from the room. i - v- Mrs. Grey swept up to Addenbrooke i as he stood with ha liaud ou the knob of the drawing room door. ' "Oh, I'Tofeiior Addenbrooke, I am so I sorry," sho cried. "So am I," he answered, curtly, j - It wus two days after ibe events of the! last chapter. Lydia had made her choioe, j ! and now, ut Iter own request, was to take j ; farewell of Addenbrooke. I As site came forward, with flushed ! cheeks and shining eyes, to meet htm. it ' struck him tluH she resembled the picture af a llacelmnte ho had seen somewhere. : A Bacchante In a tailor made gown. with the neatest of culls and collars i poor Johnny! , "I wished," she said, when their greeting greet-ing was over, "to thank you with all my :- AilUL-NDilUUiE. ! ID qctb du you r' r,7 for wur oo acia . Aii'n Ii 1'tiut Enu VVea . ... - L Lyclla could not help wondering why -tm-f-itftb Addnibro-jlio siiould Lwsonai-Ions Lwsonai-Ions t marry hr. She wan litamling at tlie window, her -eves mr:li;niir;aly fullowuig the familiar, famil-iar, insitti 1 1 ica: it Hereof the profi-ssur as he pimlk-d dtiwu ihu gravel walk to the gate; an. when lie had pit--...-d iroin vit-w tihe Kit down in the iieareht cliair and continued her reilet-t mm U was vtry htran-e. Kim had no love to give him, and hnd tnUi htm mj, quile frankly; he mii.it l:ii')w. a.s every one knew, of that rniii-rai.le mhdr with Ijwrence Meniiri'r, wan ho not Fleming's intimate friend, ihe l.-t jrnon who had tu.-eu huu before he went to AJncu? iloreover. her gla.- had taken Lo reflecting re-flecting a woman who ivaa nud and piile and old U.-furo her time; surely not the w.itftan with whom a man would be expected ex-pected to wUli to lxin hta life, When we havu Itecorne to ourselves a daily tiurden it U so hard to realize that our pn-rieneu can le desired of others. And vet bins had been aware of Adden-bro-ike'tf devotion finin the days of llie gixid but obstinate little boy, with uta-sie for cheiiiieal experiments, tothoae of the modest young man, who lurked unobtrusively unob-trusively in doorways for tliu purKso :tt saying good night to her, and wxHtiKvays at baud to till up vacancies.. fcSho hal been uwaivnf it. but had given It little heed; now, in Iit loneliness, her sorrow, the thought or that devotion moved her strangely. SI it had been herself drifting on to middle ago, haggard, loveless, unloved, tho KorrietiL of spectacles, the emotional woman whose emotions liavo wrecked her. Addenbrooke: and Addenbronltc's love interposed themselves like u slueld between her and her fate. She had given him no answer, but she knew by now what her answer would be. Tho door opened, and Mrs. tirey, her mother, camo into tho room. bho sat down in silenco a chill, comfortless com-fortless presence and regarded her daughter from tho distance. These two women lived together witli-out witli-out profit or pleasure to either. Mm 1 Grey was capable of making merit ices, but sho lacked tho priceless gift of home making; while Lydia, on her part, chaid beneath the restrictions of a relationship in which neither atlinity nor affection I "Tluit's enouga." said Addenbrooke. ! m a low voic. "he wue a brute. Let us : htcii no more about him.." . There Is no more to hear." ho an- ; 1 wt-red with bitterneu. "tltat ii the end : i of my story A week later I h-ard Iw ! j had gone abroad." Addrnbrooke put his arm bout Lydia i and, drawing her head to hu shoulder, j stroked her hi.ir backward and forward with In a kind hand I tier recital hud pained hlnx He knew , ! tlw; pertidity of his sex. but thin particu- lar olfender had oao beyond all recog- i ; nized linuis, limits which, in his own i persoti, Juiinny had always refused to ; recognize. The thought of the misery ; uillicted on his proud, sensitive, passion- . ate Lydia made him sick with anger and speechless with sympathy He rose at last and, buttoning up his coat, tried to speak m tones of reassuring cheerfulness. J j "by the by, Lydia, Fleming has come back. You remember Lawrence Fleming? Flem-ing? They are making quite a lion of him on account of his new book. He's ' just the sort of man to enjoy being lion- : ized." Lydia looked at him. speechless, and ho went on: "1 expect that ho will bo turning up at my rooms In tho course of a day or two. i Ilu left a portmanteau with my landlady before ho bailed. Good night, my own dear gtrL" And ho held out both his , bands. Lydia looked at him sharply and with rising vexation. She liad found out long ago that sub- 1 tlo hints were quite thrown away upon Johnny; but surely, surely he must know tho truth. Either he was the most consummate actor or the densest person living. ' it was impossible to entertain serious- , iy tho idea of Addenbrooke as a consummate consum-mate actor. , in. 1 ( Addenbrooke had rooms In Gower , street; a sitting room and a bedroom, di-1 di-1 vided by folding doors. Tho whole ajiai tnient had begun life as what liouse ' agent call u spacious double drawing room, and boro yet the marks of its former state of existence. The mantelpiece, which now supported support-ed a host of bottles, variously shaped and tilled, was of whito marble, heavily carved summoned up to the imaginative imagina-tive mind visions of gilt clocks aud candlesticks can-dlesticks under glass shades. Tho walls, hung with whito watered paper, were divided into panels by strips of gold beading, and from the ceiling a 1 shrouded chandelier depended from a heart." "And 1, he said, "wish to tell you this. Do not think that I merely took advantage of you. 1 believed thai 1 1 could uiako you happy 1 believe It 1 still. " bho smiled sadly, and Addenbrooke broke into a sort of laugh. "(Jh, Johnny, Johnny!" she cried. He had no intention of being pitied, even by Lydia. j "Don't distress yourself about me, Lydia," he said; "1 have had my chance. FerhapH I ought to tell you tliat I do not think you have chosen the better man.'' They talked u little aimlessly; then Addenbrooke held out both his hondB in farewelL It was Lydia, who. drawing huu towards her. kissed lus face for the last time, She knew, as he stood there facing bar, that he was passing out of tier life forever. for-ever. For the moment he seemed transfigured, trans-figured, no longer insignificant; a tender but inscrutable presence pitying, ironical ironi-cal Some inarticulate voice in tier heart cried out to him not to leave her; uncon- j sciously she put out her liand, and then he was gone. i Not long after Fleming was with her j He had his arm around her waist and 1 was kissing her lips us Addenbrooke had never kissed tlieia. Amy Levy in ilei-1 gravta. Africa. I m sure 1 don't know whv 1 , cared. Sho wasn't worth it; she had : given mo every encouragement had even allowed mo to Lisa her. I suppose there was a richer fellow on hand, or one : whoso father didn't happen to keep a shopr I Fleming rose, shrugging his shoulders, i ; Addenbrooke remained silent. Tho voice j of lira. Raster, announcing that t h j portmanteau was in Lawrence's room, f , came as a relief to both. i "Hy the by," said Johnny, In a low ; voice, as tho other felt for his keys, "all 1 this took place at the U cades' In War-: i wickshire, from March tho 2Stb on I wards?" j I "Oh," answei-ed Lawrence, with some vexation, pausingon his way to the door, "I suppose you know all about it like the J rest of tiie world!" And he went from i the room. ! IV- i Addenbrooke remained behind, pacing the ridiculous, incongi-uoua apartment, ! ! while an unwonted storm of emotion1 raged within him. ! The parts of the puszle lay, fitted to-1 . gether, in his hand; it only remained for t him to step forward and proclaim the. solution of a most commonplace enigma. I An inetiicicnt postman, a careless house-1 maid on some such undignified trifle ; . had the whole complication hung, like many another complication before iL I No doubt, sooner or later, the missing j j boro a part , "So it was to be Johnny Addenbrooke : after all," reflected Mrs. Grey; "a (lower . .street professor of no particular distinc- j tion. Well, Lydia was getting on; and, : if a girl means lo marry, 6he had liettor manage to do so before she Is llve-and- j ; twenty. And there had been nothing, it : seemed, In that affair with young Flem- , ing." Mrs, tirey was disappointed. It ' is true that Fleming's" father kept a glove 6hop in Regent street,, whereas the Atl-denhrookes Atl-denhrookes had been gentle folks for generations; but nobody minded that sort of thing in these days. Lawrenco Fleming Flem-ing went everywhere, did everything; his new book from Africa had made him more- of a lion than ever; hence ho was more to be desired as a husband than poor Johnny, who went nowhere to speak of and did nothing but his work. Lydia rose slowly and went over to the writing table. As she took up her pen tho whimsical thought struck her that, when the other children had carried their pence to the sweet shop, Johnny had always preferred I to invest his capital in mysterious com-' pounds nt the chemist's. A faint smile hovered about her lips ns sho wrote. When the letter was finished, sho laid her head a moment on the desk and shut her eyes. The old dream, from which she was turning forever, had rushed with cruel vividness into her consciousness: conscious-ness: Bchtrt cllcb Oott, es war tu schon Rcweseo; Bi'-iiut dlcli Gott, os hat Blent milieu hHh She rose, stiff and cold, and went over to her mother. ! Lydia was a graceful creature, tall, slight, faintly colored; some people 1 : thought her beautiful, others could see ! no beauty in her whatever, j "Mamma," she said in her strange. i ! pathetic voice, "Professor Addenbrooke has asked mo to marry him, and I have . written to Ray 'yes.'" I II. ; Addenbrooke was spending tho even , j Ing na usual with Lydia at St. John's ' Wood. They were alone together, Mrs. Grey having discreetly retired to her own room, and tho talk between them flowed with tho ease of intimacy and af- . fection. ; It was now tbreo weeks since their en- gagetnent, and already something of Ad- j : denbrooke's calm happiness was bejnn- ; niur; to bo reflected in Lydia's face. She j appreciated, what only women can ap- j precinte, the consciousness of making ! : another's happiness by - tho mere fact of '. ' her presence. That is, 1 think, u pleas- i uro too subtle for tho masculine palate. Now, as she laid her hand lightly on liis, ! ' she enjoyed, as it were, a reflection of ; tho delight which she knew herself to be conferring by the act. "Johnny," sho said, "will you let mo tell you to-night what I have always J meant to tell you? about myself and J , that other person." She finished her 1 phraso thus vaguely, not doubting but ' tliat Addenbrooke had mentally rounded j it off with greater accuracy; somehow ber lips refused to utter tho name of ' Lawrence Fleming. "My dear." ho answered gently, "tell mo nothing which distresses you. 1 don't ' want to know. I know you liavo been ; very unhappy; but one day, 1 assure you, , you are going to bo happier than ever." j She smiled half sadly: '.'Johnny. let , me tell you. I think 1 ought. Perhaps, . when you have heard, you will want to ' go away from mor-rfrom a woman who . has been so cruelly humiliated," j JJe laughed, drawing closer to her in : the firo light. "Since that's it, Lydia, perhaps you'd better tell mel" lie saw tliat she would never rest till she had disburdened her mind of the old, unhappy things, about which personally j he had small desire to learn. j They were so Infinitely touching, these poor women and their love stories: their anxious interpretation ot looks and words aiulsmiles; their pathetic, careful i;arher-ing i;arher-ing up of crumbs so caretcsslv scattered ' So Lydia, with hair averted lace, lnv-gan lnv-gan her story in the strange, uncertain ' voice which, from his bovlmod upward, j had had power" to thrill John Adden ; brooke to the inmost depths" ot In iin 1 "It 13 nearly a year ni;o,' she tn'im J "al the Me.mVs place in Wr u i.--lm; 1 arrived on 'March 'Jrt. mid MhoiJ n week It b;v'i;l Iroin Un- be-ic Wheu I walked into the drawing r n , where he wa ManJIru by the t.-a i;iMf it seemed that 1 had walked m to a new, and strange and wonderful world '"I ' lived in that world for a week, and tl was 1 like a lifetime. Looking kick, it asion- j tshes me how every one at once accepted ac-cepted tho situation. Then. I na raro i ipi.istioned it than 1 question . tho rising' of tlie sun. The day came when I was to go. and He bad said u-nhiug definite, tome. I. living In mv H'j paradise, j waa neither surprised nor afraid. At . -hist, an -hour before I left, he took me ' in hL-iarins, yes, Johnny, yes he took me1 in ins arms and kicd my lipa, and told mo tliat he would follow mo the next ; day." ' twelfth cake like decoration in whito. and gold plaster. Addenbrooke had drawn his writing table, with tho lamp on it, close to the firo, and had settled down to a long night's work. It was the evening following fol-lowing Lydia's confession, and he was too busy to get up to St. John'B Wood : lie sighed at tho thought of this, then j plunged luto tho pile of papers, which not only covered the table, but over- j Uowed into several neighboring chairs. I lie had not been long at work when 1 tho door was Hung open, and a man en- : tered tho room. "Still in these gilded halls, Johnny I" j Bald a voice, which was not 'quite so drawling nor bo full of quiet humor as the speaker seemed to intend. : "Fleming, by ull that'B wonderful!" cried Addenbrooke. rising with extended hand. : Tho new comer was a large, heavily built young man, with dark hair, and a complexion, originally florid, burnt crimson crim-son by the African sun. IIo was distinctly handsome, though the lower part of the face was a trifle heavy, and there was a lack of finish about the ears and nostrils. j "Sit down," said Addenbrooke, clear-' Ing n chair, and resuming liis own seat. "Examinations, ughl" Fleming flicked with his large finger at the papers ou the desk "If it's not your own exams., it's other people's, poor old Johnny!" Fleming had tho greatest contempt for ' examinations, in which, indeed, he had conspicuously failed to distinguish himself; him-self; the less brilliant Addenbrooke having hav-ing a commonplace knack of getting into the first class, which in often the way with your dull, plodding fellows. These two men had been friends, after a fashion, since their first term at the University. In those days Fleming had been a raw, unhappy, Belf conscious young man, subject to miserable, hideous fits of shyneM and secretly ashamed of the paternal glove shop. Now, perhaps, he was too fond of talking talk-ing ulxnil the glove shop, of drawing jocose jo-cose comparisons between himself and a well known glover's son of Stratford on-Avon; on-Avon; and tho only remaining mark of his shyness was n certain emphasis of self confidence, Addenbrooke's affection for him was rather u survival from earlier days titan anything else, though Johnny, It must be owned, was uncritical, and, like many persons, Imposed a far less severe se-vere standard of conduct ou his friend than on himselX. "Where do you hang out'" asked Addenbrooke, Ad-denbrooke, gathering togethei the despised de-spised examination papers "I have leen down at Twickenham with my jeople Can't stmid much of that, you know I am looking out for chambers somewhere Bond street way, and Mrs. Baxter Is going to put me up here for u night or two " "Oh. good You know Sirs, Baxter has that portmanteau of yours?" "Yes; she's fung it now, 1 believe, from the lunt-m. There are-pome-papers in ft X look at to-night." Fleming lea7pn his chair, his eyelids drooping tnoouuy. as they had a trick of doing, then ho said discontentedly! discon-tentedly! "Haven't you got anything to tell a fellow?,. You London people uro all the same. One goes away and lives what eemsa lietimo-lt's so cram full of experience ex-perience and when one gets back, not a soul remembers if It was last week or last year they met you at the Jenkinsons' dinner party." "From what I hear, you've no cause to complain, Hem ing." "Oh, of course, one's pestored with Invitations from a lot of silly women one never heard of!" grumbled the new lion; "but isn't there anything in the shape of news?" "Well," eaid Addenbrooke, slowly, "there is one piece of uews, but I don't know that it's interesting. I am thinking of getting married," Addenbrooke had never been o shy man, ho was only very modest, and he had not accustomed his friends to take an Interest in his affairs, Fleming opened hiseyesfull and stared tits friend lu tho face. There was always Mimeihing startling In his appearance, under then? circumstances; perhaps because be-cause his eyes were so rarely sluvn perhaps because of wnne quality in the eyes them-sf I ves Thoy were curiously bright 'hh-I verv brown not a dark niampie. bur a beautiful unusual brown. Look :ng at them, it .is easier to realize real-ize th- power, such us It was, which Lawrence Fleming -possessed over his fellow creatures : "Addonhnioke," he said, leaning forward for-ward .and Bpeakin wil h sudden In-tensity. In-tensity. "us you value your peace of mind, have nothing to do with women!" Lie flunc himself back, laughing a little, lit-tle, and letting fall his eyelids. In a few minutes he burst into a fierce tirade against the wholo female sex, taking Addenbrooke's Ad-denbrooke's announcement merely as a W4fc clew would come to light, when ho himself him-self had made its discovery of no importance import-ance whatever. Had ho been of a melodramatic turn of mind, Addenbrooke might have laughed laugh-ed aloud at the irony of the situation. His own dream was shattered forever; but of that fur the moment ho scarcely ; thought. ; ' What ho saw most clearly was this:! that, by his own act, ha must make Lydia over into the hands of a man unworthy un-worthy of lier -un likely to make her Iiappy; to think of whom In connection with her seemed contamination. But the man whom Lydia loved withal! There was the sting, tho shock, that for the moment took away his breath, and made I dm pause, palo, motionless, in his walk. Then suddenly, beforo tho modest and uncritical mind of Addenbrooke flashed in vivid colors tho image of two men qf himself mid his friend, lie saw Lawrenco Fleming with his showy, unreliable cleverness, his moral coarseness; the man stood before htm revealed re-vealed in all his second rutcnesa. And r -aw himself, John Addenbrooke, Adden-brooke, as he had always been, in tho dignity of his trreproacliful life of his, honest, patient labor. Ho looked on this picture and on that and knew each for what it wuo worth. L Then ensued in tho peaceful breast of Addenbrooke a terrible war of thoughts and emotions. Life, which had hitherto been a simple matter enough, a mere case of doing ! your duty and minding your own busi- ness. had assumed a complexion of crust ' difficulty. And yet he knew that tho more ob- ! vious aspect of the matter was not a complicated one, ! Lydia no more belonged to hhn than a dog who Ijad followed him homo and '. had been claimed by its master. ; Ho was bound, in common honor, to ! reveal the facts of which ho had acci- : dentally become possessed. Should he go to Lydia and say: "This man, whom you prefer. so infinitely to myself, is far less worthy of you than I. He has not led a bad life, as men go, but ', he has not led a good one." Men dr tho j world do not do such things, but then i Addenbrooke wus not a man of the world. ' And If ho had no other ; right over Lydia, had he not that of his own lifelong life-long love and her three weeks' tolerance of it? Tho door opened to admit Lawrence Fleming. He had changed hfs coat, and bore a bundle of papers and a pipe in his hand. "Any tobacco?" he 'said, taking the empty seat at the writing tuble, Addenbrooke nodded toward t Jar on tho mantelpiece, continuing his troubled promenade across the room. It was dawning, painfully, but surely, on his mind that his hands were indeed 1 tied; that it only remained for Lydia to choose between them. "But it is I who would have mado her : happy t" thought poor, obstinate Johnny j "Any matches?" scid Fleming, with ' his lingers in the tobacco jar. Johnny made no-answer, and tho-othei; : fumbled in the pockfttipf hii ooat -Jr'1---I "By George!" I This time Addenbrocko- was Vrnised, i and camo over to the- table. ' "What's up?" he said. Fleming ointed In silence toa stamped and addressed envelope tying. at his feet. Johnny picked it up. with a dull sense of relief that matters had been more or : less taken out of Ids hands, lie know, before ho looked at it. that it was ad-'. ad-'. dressed to Miss Grey, nnd that it was Fleming's customary carelessness fn the j matter of jw-sting bis letters which hud wrought the mischief. I I .aw rence- was much excited. "It had 1 slipped behind the lining of tho pocket j I have just taken the coat from my port-i port-i martteau. O, that poor girl! that .poor ; girl I what taust sho have thought' of "hie , all this time?" I Addenbrooko faced him Buddenly i "Do you. intend," ho said, in a lowvofc. "endeavoring to repair the mischief?" : It is possible that he liad a low opinion of Fleming's constancy. "1 will go to her to-morrow I" crico Lawrence. A sudden pang of personal anguish. an intolerable sense of bereavement, shut through-Addenbrooko; '.,;-' He thought: "After all, perhaps, 1 am nothing buta jcalousdovil who begrudges my girl her happiness." j Aloud, he said: "Thero may bo dlffl- ! culties at first. In fact. Miss Grey is engaged en-gaged to bo ma mod." j Fleming rose, with an exclamation. . I The two men stood facing one another; Lawrence, flushed, excited; Johnny, pale, with tenso eyes and 'nostrils. '. "Lydia engaged! Lydia! Tho women are all alike. Could sho havo no patieuco. , no trust, but she must needs throw ber- 1 tlfaway la a lit of ueon tome fellow |