A Disappointment

Sí? ND NOW, MY LITfjpN tle girl, I think isyfr- S for me" said Aunt _J4'fCV eanor whea her JmSL y " niece had taken off TS il' her things and set" SftíSrv v t'ed down comfort"v" 'E B ably in the cosy XUw-A K drawing-room after tSHifiy ZÜnF er journey. "From - your letters, dear, and something in your face, I think that you have met somebody you like wh lie y ou were at Wimple Bay. Who is this artist you spoke of? You have never mentioned nis name or said much about him? Am I right in guessing that you care for each other?" Lilith blushed prettily. "You are a wltch, auntie. I scarcely mentioned him." "Perhaps reticence speaks more than words," said Aunt Eleanor, in her gentle, sympathetic voice. "Well! I do not think that I am in love with him," said the niece, thoughtfully; "but he ís very nice, and he seems very fond of me. He is coming back to town in a few days, and spoke about calling to see us." "And what is his name, dear? You must teil me all about him." "His name is Ralph Trevor, and he has three pictures in the Academy this year, so I suppose he is quite a wellknown artist. I want you to take me to the Academy to-morrow to see them, auntie. He is not young, between thirty and forty, I should think, but he is very handsome. I told you how we met; we were cut off by the tide, and he helped us to get on the breakwater. I do not know what we should have done if he had not coma to our assistance. Next day he called on Mrs. Montressor, to inquire whether she was any the worse for her adventure, and we met every day afterward." She had run on quickly without glancing at her aunt's face. Now, as she raised her eyes, she was surprised by its expression. "What is the matter, auntie?" she cried, springing up in alarm. "You are not ill?" "No, dear; your news startled me, that is all. Teil me, dear," she pushed back the pretty golden ringlets from the girl's low, smooth forehead as she epoke, and looked earnestly into her bright eyes, "teil me, dear, that you have not given your heart to this Mr. Trevor?" "No, auntié; I like him very much because he seems so kind and nice, but I do not think that I am in love. Why?" "I think that I ought to advise you not to let yourself become too fond of him," said her aunt, thoughtfully. "I do not think he is a man who would make my little girl happy." "Do you know him then, auntie? You have never mentioned his name," said Lilith, in surprise. "I have not seen him in ten years," said her aunt. "Did you never mention my name to him?" "Only as Aunt Eleanor, I think. How etrange that you should know him." "Yes, the world is very small, dear. Ten years ago I thought that I should become Ralph Trevor's wife. We were both twenty-five then. You have often wondered why I never married. Perhaps I ought to tell you now. Ten years ago, you know, my father was alive, and I was considered an heiress, more of an heiress than you are, dear, for your grandfather was one.of the richest merchants in the city. Ralph was a rising artist then, and not so rich as he is now, and he pretended to be very fond of me. I considered Mm everything that was good and noble, and I thought that I was the happiest woraan in the world when he wrote and told me that he was coming to ask my father's consent and mine to our marriage. I have the letter now, and will show it to you when we go upstairs. As it happened, we were to have a houseful of people on the evening that he proposed calling, and I had to write to him to ask him to come on the following day instead. I do not think that the sting would be so great if it were not for the letter I wrote him, for I showed plainly wffat my feelings were for him, and I cannot bear to think of it even now." She paused, as if overeóme by the remembrance of the heart revelation which she had given to a man unworthy of it. "And did he never come?" asked Lilith, gently. "No, dear, the next day my father's bankruptcy was announced; he died from the shock, as you know, and left me practically penniless. If it had net been for your dear father, I should have been without a home. And all through my trouble I was wondering why Ralph did not come to me. I could not realize how despioable he was till a week after the funeral, when he sent me a cold letter of condolence from abroad, and expressed polite regrets that we should not meet so muoh in future. I have never seen him since. You are crying, dear?" "Yes, auntie, for you." She flung her arms arouñd Miss Monton's neck as she spoke, and kissed her. "I am glad that I know, auntie," she said and walked out of the room with her face a little whiter than usual, and her beautiful eyes still full of tears. When Ralph Trevor paid hia promised cali, Aunt Eleanor was out, and Lilith saw him alone. "Did you tell him who I am?" said Miss Montón, when she returned, and Lilith shook her head. "I only told him that he must not come to the house again, auntle." She seemed unnaturally reticent about what had passed, and her aunt sighed as she thought that the man who had ruirted her own happiness. had also caused her idolized niece a heartache, and she soon ceased to question her. "I am sure that I did right," she said to hereelf, half afraid lest her own resentmeni against the artist had rendered her unjust. "A man who could be so calculating could not niake Lilith happy, even if she knew nothing of the past. I am glad that she realizes the fact." A few days afterward, however, she was called to alter her opinión with regara to Lilith's wisdom. Her niece had gone out for a stroll with no companion but her dogs, and as Miss Montón looked out of the window awaiting her return, she was startled to see her bidding "Good-by" at the gate to a man whom she recognized instantly, although it was ten years since she had seen him. The years which had changed her from a marriageaWe girl to a settled old maid, seemed to have passed over Ralph Trevor without leaving a trace behind on nis handsome face or splendid figure. It seemed to her, as she looked, that Lilith conld not help caring for such a man and making excuses for nis heartlessness in the past, but she was grieved to think that her revelation had had the effect of ing her Lilith's confldence. "I see that Mr. Trevor brought you home, dear," she said, when her niece entered, and a shatle of annoyance passed over the girl's beautiful face. "Yes, I see him somewhere or other ■every day," she said, quietly. "He is always on the look-out for me, and'follows me everywhere." "But if you do not like them, dear, you can easily put a stop to hls attentions by telling him so," said her aunt. Lilith blushed a little. "I will do so if you wish, auntie." "You raust please yourself entirely, dear. I have told you something of his chaíacter; It is fór you to decide whether you can trust your happiness in his hands." Lilith thanked her without giving any definite reply, and her aunt sighed, and hoped that a girl's wilfulness would not make her ruin her life-long happmess. Perhaps, after all, Ralph Trevor would make her a good husband, since she liad money, and there was no fear of her losing it, as she herself had done ten years before. She could understand only too well the attraction that he must have for a young and romantic girl, but she wondered a little that it could have made Lilith forget the injury he had done to the aunt she undoubtedly loved. "Why did you not ask him In?" she asked; and Lilith flushed again. "I thought that you would not like to meet him, auntie. I am afraid that I have had to teil a lot of stories to account to him for my refusal." Aunt Eleanor sighed, and asked no more questions. She was not surprised when, a week later, the girl carne to her with a face flushed with triumph, and a note in her hand, the writing of which Miss Monton recognized at once, although it was so long since she had received a letter in the same hand. "Mr. Trevor insists on coming tomorrow to see you, auntie, and asks whether you will give me up to him," she said. "I must wrïte and put him off till the following day, as we have promised to go to Richmond." "And what must I teil him when I see Mm, dear?" For answer Lilith read her the note she had already written to delay his visit. "Your are going to trust your happiness in his hands, then, dear?" said her aunt, wben she had read it. "I am sure that he really loves me," answered Lilith. a "I want you to take me to the Aoademy, auntie, this afternoon. We have not seen Mr. Trevor's pictures yet," said Lilith, two days later, and her aunt looked up in surprise. "But you have asked Mr. Trevor to come at four, dear, for your reply." "I shall leave my answer," said Lilith, and as her aunt's gentle eyes questioned her, she went on: "Here is the answer, auntie. It is only a photograph of yourself taken ten years ago. I think that he will understand, and I hope you do not think me a very wicked girl for having tried to make him feel a Iittle of the pain he gave you so long ago."