Wilmington daily commercial., 1872-08-27
TFrom Peteson's Magazine.l
IN A LINEN-CLOsET
ny DAISY yENTNoR,

look SO paneu' III III a V'uiJ i.3
pah in me-" Her voice trembled; she looked
% childlike in her distress that Tom fell more
desperately in love than ever
II won't ask you a question:, said he
..pnt that fellow looks troublesome. Prom
,.a me- If there is anything which ! can do
to help YOU, you will let me know?" And
Kathleen promised, and then they went back
IN the house, and found Valdor installed COM
fortably on the piazza, deyoting himself TO
Mrs Macdonald; wa.
,horonghly bad, unprincipled man. His an
,ient name gave him the entree into the first |
oircles in Paris and there honest Paul Mae
Jnnnld had met him, and been 80 charmed |
with his fascinating manners and handsome |
f,ce that he had given Valdor bluff, hearty |
'',itotion TO visit him in America And the |
,inn had come now when Naldor could only |
retrieve his ruined fortunes by grand coup, |
so he bethought himself of the beautiful |
younr Girl whom fate had been cruel enough |
ia throw in his way one summer at Geneva. |
and about whose charms hung runor OF
hrirrss.ship. Kathleen would have opened |
her rinnocent browneyes in wondorment could
She have seen the triumphant smile with
which Valdor placed in his trunk a little
racket of six letters, written in her pretty,
.rhooLgirI hand, and tied with bit of rose
cll0ied ribbon.
But before three days had passed, Kath-
lrpn began to feel as if net was closing
around her. Somers had thought better of
ouarcing with her, and was only too eager
10 be reconciled when he saw Naldors devo-
lion, who, with the prestige of his Partisan
success. and the aroma of title to drive the
women crazy with, bid fair to east the all
conauering Somers into the background.
Valior admitted that he had met Kathleen
abroad. and looked such unutterabe mystic
rrs when he said it, that SOmcrs was seized
with a frantic fit of jealousy What business
had the Frenchman to be hanging over her
chair, and usurping his place? Try, as
Kathleen did, to avert the storm, it came at
last and it was "A far worse affair than even
she anticipated
The Van Deusens were to have n ftte, and
a. the Van Deusens were very grand people,
their fte was to be totally unlike any other
fte which the human mind had ever con
reiyed. 1t was an afternoon affair. with a
ball in the evening, and, as the places were
fifteen miles apart, the entire party of the
Nacdonalds were asked TO stay all night in the
Van Deusen mansion Kathleen was not as
much impressed with the honor as she should
have been indeed, her remembrance of that
ponderous family in Washington, last winter,
was not calculated to raise her spirits to any
undue height but she owed ii to herself to
appear at her best and she did so, blooming
out into unsurpassing beauty at the ball.
There were three scions of the house of
Van Densen, each more lank, ponderous, and
ungainly than any other variety of the hu-
man species, and Wilhelm, the superative
degree of the trio, elected to open the dancing
with Miss Glare proceeding which struck
horror to the soul of mamma Van Dcusen,
who hated Mrs. Wexford cordially, and H.
,cuded Kathleen in that charming sentiment,
10 less degree. And Wilhelm was SO pom
dcrous that the girl actually gave Naldor II
gracious smile, when he came toward her at
the end of the dance-a smile which Naldor
chose to interpret In totally wrong sense.
She realized how imprudent she had been,
when she found herself wallzing with him
proceeding which she had carefully de-
cned hitherto His triumph shOne in his
eyes, and terrified her; She stopped abruptly,
aud pleaded fatigue.
There are lights in the conservatory,
Vador said, softly, leading her in that direc-
tion and before she hardly realized his pur.
pose, he was pouring an impassioncd avowa
Of love in her ear
"Comte WALDORF" she said, haughtily
This is very unnecessary and very ridiculous
as well. You are nothing, less than nothing
to me. | don't see how you dare TO presume
ON the schoolgirl days at Geneva. believed
in you, then. was even fond of you, in t
dreamy way" A scarlet blush lit her face
She hesialed "Pray do not distress me il
this way any more. You have some letter
,of mine
"Well?" Valdor's sneer was cruelty sig
niiicant. go ON, Cara"
Il wish you would give them to me.
''And you really expect me to grant tina
modest request, he said, with gentle pea
Of laughter. Il do not part with those
m'dmie, unless"
"Unlcss what z"
"Unless to Monsieur Somers. You can be'
Judge how the perusal would please lin
Also, little story of the evening on the lake
quite rOnldRzd ) is it not, eara p
The whole diabolical scheme burst o
Kathleen with lightning ccarness, as she r,
allied how completely she was in this man
power. She fell blindly into chair.
what the devil are you saying to til
lady, sir ?" demanded furious voice, ant
opening her eyes, Kathleen saw Somers
front of her.
"Mademoisees secrets are sacred, sal
Naldor, sardonically.
"lleyward, don't listen to him. Indee
he has none" cried Kathleen, almost besit
herself "Comte NaldOr, how dare you i
sinuate-"
you will explain this to me-" Some
saul CHOkluS WIFI rage, anu TdlSlllS MS SlO
10 strike Naldor in his face. But the bio
never descended, for, with frightened or
Kathleen strove to stagger TO her feet, caug
at Somers arm to save herself from fallin
and tainted.
After that, period of confusion, Nj
Wexford rushed frantically TO her sister, a
Madam Van Deusen sailed majestically aft
her, pursuing up her unbelieving nose, a
deciding that Kathleen was only getting VI
sensation. She felt little more chartab
however, when she saw the girls white fat
and gave orders to have her guest attend
by her own maid, opined that Miss Clara W
more delicate than she looked, and reco
mended bed and entire rest. So, VIII
Kathleen came to her senses, she found h
self on a genuine old-fashioned four-post
bed, quite Van Deusenisli in appearance, al
for moment, could hardly recollect whit
she was
II don't know what business you had
give me such a fright, said Mrs. Welfol
rcsentingly, quite regardless of the vicini
of the severe-looking maid 'You had /
Ter not get up"
''Ellal oh, Ella don't go, said the g
struggling TO breath, as memory returned
hrr. To whom could she appeal? Not
Mrs. Wexford. Like an inspiration, she
Imembered Tom.
81 want to see Mr.. Archer" said she
last
Mrs. Wexford regarded her with wond