The Argosy — page 343: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

322 The Missing Rubies. of the aunts was to remind Godwin of their unjust suspicions and cruel mistrust. His face hardened, and his voice grew haughty and cold. ‘“‘T have ceased to concern myself very much about my relations’ opinion of me,” he said, proudly. And then his glance turned to Beatrice, and he got a little smile from her. Miss Lindrick saw the smile, and saw, too, that the girl’s profile was pretty. And all at once she discovered that her own heart, usually so cold, was hot and angry ; and she was even conscious of an unlady-like desire to inflict personal chastisement on Godwin’s companion. How dared she smile so familiarly on a man who had once been Miss Lindrick’s accepted lover ? The curtain drew up again, disclosing the room in Portia’s house, and Portia’s fair self reclining on the cushions of her couch, and then came that spirited dialogue between mistress and maid which book-learned Beatrice already knew by heart. She forgot all about the conversation she had just overheard ; her eyes and thoughts were spell-bound by those two graceful women in their rich, quaint dresses, whose sweet accents seemed to give a new meaning to the old words they spoke. With them, in those moments of enchantment, she lived and moved, and had her being ; her attention never wandered for an instant; her blue eyes shone with happy interest; and Godwin, looking at the expressive face by his side, contrasted it with the world-wearied faces all around him. Happy girl, to be so fresh and young and easily amused! He almost envied her the capacity for such intense enjoyment. Miss Lindrick, still feeling mortified and annoyed, thought the play a great bore from beginning to end; and inwardly vowed that she would never see anything of Shakespeare’s again. It was all so elaborate and unnatural and long-winded, she said to herself; and it was sO exasperating to see Godwin sitting by that girl’s side. She could not bear it to the bitter end, and before the curtain rose upon the last act, she had whispered to her father, and the pair quitted the theatre. Their departure was a relief to Godwin; but he heartily wished that he had never met them. He was beginning to forget; and Alma’s voice had awakened those sleeping memories that he had lulled to rest. And so it came to pass that Beatrice found him quiet and grave when the play was over. A shadow had come over him, and Beatrice felt that the atmosphere had suddenly grown chill. There are women who possess such a happy self-confidence that they can chatter on to a silent companion, convinced that their bright- ness is sufficient to dispel his gloom. Sometimes they succeed ; but ten to one they fail, and the dejected one votes them a nuisance, who will not let him have a fit of the blues in peace. And there are other women so dense that they never perceive any changes of mood— COMMICMDOOKS EO) m