The Silver Lining / A Guernsey Story

Love an

ut nine months after Frank's adventure in the

, she went to her parterre. Her violin and her flowers were her only

ry warm, the earth which had been previously battered down by heavy rains wa

plentifully with t

n old mason's trowel (any instrument is good to a woman), and

on well-trimmed borders, but this pleasure is increased tenfold whe

at the primroses, whose slender stalks were bent and which touched each other as if engaged in silent intercourse. And thus the

elves. "Certainly," she mused, "the parents who toil for their children without thinking of reward; love." Then another self wit

red boldness. That she loved him, however, she was certain. Did he love her? "Yes," she thought he did. Then what kept them apart? Who was the caus

man, whom she quickly recognized as Tom, her cousin

as not a pleasant one, because it was undefined. "Good-even

you," she said,

e cooled down, for she did not take the pre

hands with me?" he asked,

e, taking off her right hand glove

id, quite satisfie

hy. She opened the front door and showed him into the parlour. Her father was there, evidently expecting Tom, for he received him with a warmth

e, when Mr. Soher is here;

mean? He had not told her a word about her cousin's

iolin?" questio

she thought, and then as she looked at the two men engaged in close conversation, a sudden light beamed upon her-h

t it to be the truth. The more she thought ove

e thought; and a sickenin

us a tune?" sai

entrea

d placed it, passed the bow over the strings to ascert

lay. "They cannot distinguish 'Home, Sweet Home' from 'Auld Lang Syne,'" she tho

art, refuses to exhibit it to the public, on the ground that it

s capital music," he said, assuming the air of a connois

I wonder if he has a soul; if it shines through those eyes, it cannot be spotless

an rattle it," w

s evening, for he had come on purpose to exhibit himself, and was as a matter of fact as we

s scheme of her father's fabrication, felt naturally

d when her father told h

eton servant. Now that Adèle was growing up, a servant was altogether superfluo

being over, the two men returned to the parlour. Adèle was

n she entered the parlour, he re

long," put in his nephew, tryin

evenings that Adèle had ever spe

way, Adèle ventured to ask h

n, after a pause, he added abruptly:

forget that I a

, you will so

"Mr. Soher (emphasizing the Mr.) is a nice young man. He m

drin

r manner, the way in which you answered him; somehow or other, you don't seem to take to respectable p

y cousin

is tone became bitter. He went on: "I made a great mistake when I promised your mother on her

loured and replied almost in

ou will get to love him so

had nearly won her over, he asked: "S

rease the contempt

you give me for having brought you up like a lady, spending a great part of my income towards your education. I

ed at his daughter's abhorrence of Tom, and Ad

knew her f

would have to be fought some day

, she prayed that she might hav