Motion Picture Story Magazine (Aug 1911-Jan 1912)

20 TEE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE strolled out of sight down a green walk, but his eyes followed Amelia's form, with a look of longing admiration, as she tripped lightly beside the dark, handsome Osborne. Perhaps he was a trifle lonely — this awkward, silent fellow — but he was accustomed to being alone ; he had never strolled down shady paths with a fair, young creature clinging to his arm. So he walked about, watching the crowds, and keeping an eye on the box where Joseph had ordered their supper to be laid. Every one in the party, Joseph included, expected that Joseph would propose to Rebecca before they returned for supper. And yet, an hour later, when they came up to the box where Amelia and Osborne sat waiting, it was perfectly evident to Amelia's anxious eyes that Rebecca was not yet her promised sister. The fact was that Joseph, left alone in the shaded path with Rebecca, had suddenly been seized with a panic of his old bashfulness, and found himself unable to utter the fateful words. In this crisis he thought of the bowl of rack punch, which he had ordered to be served with the supper. "The punch will tone me up," he thought, desperately; "it always does. ' ' Aloud he said, ' ' Let 's go and eat, before we walk any more," and the disappointed Rebecca acquiesced with a forced smile. Alas! As a bowl of prussic acid caused fair Rosamond to retire from the world, and a bowl of wine sealed the fate of Alexander the Great, so did this bowl of rack punch cast its fateful influence over all these young lives. The young ladies did not drink it; Osborne did not like it; Dobbin was walking up and down in the distance, forgotten by the whole party; his thoughts were of Amelia, but his loyalty to George forbade any rivalry. The consequence was that Joseph, in his anxiety to tone up his courage, drank the whole contents of the bowl, which produced an effect at first astonishing, then painful; for he talked and laughed so loudly as to bring scores of listeners around the box, much to the confusion of the ladies, and to the disgust of Osborne. "For Heaven's sake, Joe, shut up, and let's go home," cried Osborne, and he rose with the ladies. "Stop a moment, my darling," shouted Joseph, seizing Rebecca around the waist, his bashfulness entirely gone now. The crowd around the box laughed and shouted, as Rebecca tried vainly to escape, and a scene seemed inevitable, when Dobbin suddenly appeared in the box, and loosened Joseph's hold on Rebecca. "Take the ladies home, George," he said, quietly; "I'll attend to Joseph. ' ' Poor Rebecca! It was a sad ending to her hopes. As the girls sat sewing next morning, Sambo brought to Amelia a note from her brother Joseph, which seemed to settle the matter. "I am too ill and upset to see any one," the note read. "Am leaving town for a long rest. Pray excuse me to your friend, Rebecca, for my conduct last night, and entreat her to pardon the words I may have uttered when excited by that fatal supper. ' ' If Rebecca indulged in any outburst of chagrin and disappointment, no one except the silent lady in the mirror knew it. She accepted her fate with outward equanimity, and the next day Amelia was left to mourn dismally in the great house in Russell Square, while a carriage whirled Rebecca away to her place as governess at Queen's Crawley, the country home of Sir Pitt Crawley. Rebecca soon made herself popular at Queen's Crawley. The two motherless girls were charmed with their new teacher, who coaxed and flattered them into the prettiest behavior possible. Their oldest brother, Mr. Pitt Crawley, disliked and distrusted the girl from the start, in spite of her exceedingly modest, respectful manner toward him. But even he was forced to admit the great improvement in his sisters, and old Sir Pitt was openly delighted with Rebecca. She volunteered to copy his letters, she was in