The Argosy — page 293: what you’re looking at

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

274 The Village Blacksmith. He had never called her darling before—that Vera remembered, But before she had recovered from this outburst of affection, Mr, Tempest continued : ‘‘T am going to be married.” If he had struck her to the ground, Vera could not have been more amazed than she was at this piece of news. She withdrew her hand, but not roughly, and turning to the chimney-piece she caught hold of it, and bowing her head against the hand that grasped it, said, when she could speak : ‘So soon ?” Not another syllable of reproach did Mr. Ryot Tempest ever hear from her. That rebuke—and it cut him to the quick—was wrung from her in the first moment of her agony, for it seemed to Vera that this was the hardest trial she had yet been called upon to bear, She might have suppressed it, no doubt, but it seemed to her that she owed that protest to her darling mother’s memory. ‘‘Tt is sooner than I should have wished, but there are reasons why it is expedient ; the archdeacon is dying, and I am to succeed him,” said Mr. Ryot Tempest, hoping this information would some- what console his daughter for having a step-mother thrust upon her But Vera did not even hear him, or at least she did not grasp the sense of his words. ‘‘ Who is it, father?” she asked after a long pause, during which Mr. Tempest wished she would rebel and say something that would give him an excuse for ordering her out of the room, instead of taking it so meekly. | ‘Mrs. Jamieson, my dear.” Vera gave a little cry like that of a wounded animal, but still she said not a word, and Mr. Ryot Tempest proceeded nervously to enlarge on Mrs. Jamieson’s perfections. “She is a most charming woman, shrewd, clever, handsome; in short, everything that can be desired ; a fine fortune, and a magnifi- cent figure.” Vera made no reply to this; she had formed her own estimate of _ Mrs. Jamieson’s character, but she judged it wiser to keep it to herself. ‘“‘T hope it will be for your happiness, father,” she said presently, and then she slipped quietly out of the study, and running upstairs ~ locked herself in her own room, where she indulged in an outburst of passionate weeping. The next three weeks were very unhappy ones for Vera, She was obliged to see Mrs. Jamieson several times, and to bear that lady’s friendly advances as patiently as she could; but she was forced to acknowledge her father was right: Mrs. Jamieson was certainly 4 fascinating woman, though all the same Vera did not like her. She felt she could never trust her, and she had a very shrewd idea her — father would some day find he had made a mistake, but that woe | not be till it was too late. Gomicbdooks ae —— — 2 = 7 a