The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-02-13

1'"'rhe dsy aRsisshhfs3 4qI.Ef56{ l|>j;(E1. l|>j6E
sdhef WI an 'a3fal' 'aay ina XAnss;iSt 81.
'nd.r5.nd yet, it1hs' hid iohllJy' allJ' ,.blsen Il
quite athoneit Il she tifsd u 81, ishe
"ooldn's hsve concealed the tact '''t,, from
him that she went to Z p,aIltty l,Il that same j,
night and enjoyed it'vsry nuch. d
T. Geofrey Armstrong was not made d
=, the stuff to waste in despair because, , ,
woman was fair and Dot for him. &c
loved Alice, and would have married
her and faced fate with h6r, if he had
been suffered to do 50 1t this juncture.
But she thought she wanted i brrough.
am and ridiug.horse, and hs had
about two hundred year.
He TODD a tutorship and travelled,
and under a nom de plun,a he' mliiads
himself famous by his pm in /. very re.
1'mnnerative way, He gave hims.N two
years to equip himself With such mu.
'nitions Of war q should ;,nabls him to
| lay .isge to Mrs. Hsrdy's camp and
| carry off Alice. But he was not q
sneak, and TO during those two. years
he determined to let the gill ! stand
firmly on her own feet-to aot entirely
on her own judgment, without any uu-
| dernining influence from him. -. -.
= The two years expired just before
that family gathering At southsly.t par.
'opage:house, and Geqaiey .Armsnoue
| :c' returned a. to London with j. 4tsr..y Re.
Patt.stiop that would ih.get m.de any 10.
n.n proud ,1ss e bs % his :vite, epd th.t bad
the ed1dll|tisn.l .1l|!Vsn. charm Of brissing him
in about two thousand > ys.r.'' Clever,
doYgmstis, d! q gifted with \ subtle huuor
!! that 4q, detected new forms of fun =. in
everything, hewas the most refined,
snd .' at the same time the most popular,
:b4uprle,,que g writer Of his day.
Alice knew nothing Of. this, .s I
said, he wrote under = nom de plxn.e !;
and 30 the reputation th,t had the
genuine ring Of the metal about it had
no special sound of sweetness for her
moreover, in the meantime rho had
takeh up other, interests. She had
not ceased to love tho man who had
stormed her hsart on that never.to.be.
forgotten day when they had sat under
green trees together for the 6rst and
last time She had not ceased to love
this man, but she had ceased to believe
that he loved her, and 80 expectancy
and Roger Templar carried the day
against the memories that she called
'sld," poer thing.
Roger Tsmplar was q man with
whom il ~as religion to have his
moneys worth for his money ~. he
himself expressed it. "A clever; hard.
headed man, with = habit Of driving
str'ight through every obssrvation-
]. rot res!lt4le,.lY, !l! i bit dsterniq,dly. a.
had "done well in life" from the time
when he had taken all tho tit.bits from
his brothers and sisters in the nursery
up to tho present moment, when all tho
fattest bits in the professional pudding
fell to his portion. The son Of coun-
try clergyman without very much in
terest, he had established himself as a
lawyer in London, and it was 10 tho
course Of settling the claims of some Of
Mrs. Hardy's creditors that h, first saw
Alice.
Ae liked his money's worth for hi,
money, and he allowed that he would
have his moneys worth if Alice became
his wife,, whatever price : be paid for
her and 80 he made known his inten.
lions, and Alice hated poverty !. and the
result Of this combination Of eircu,im,,=
stsuces was that Alice stood locking
out this Christmas morning with a
dreadful feeling upon her Of each move
mont she made manacliag and lettering
her still more heavily.
The Templars wore all very fond of
her. devoted to dear R ,gsr's choice"
was tho sisters phrase when expressing
their sea6meuts ooneerpiislgi; hssr." Tho
worst Of it was that Alice didn't care
for their elaborate exhibition If ddevo.
/ ton. She was always ;drsamily' won.
sdeting what ''poor Gsof'' would fesl
1hsn she was miiasti,d. .":'} *a2AT
She hassa The 7p.rady which Tho
P.abtlsd: :Hs shs was la; goiaS;g 10 sham
fauiiy feeling isBa 'ihters,t,' sasd bslisf
ia being .dns IF thsaa; Tor ffor iaqsy ima2qny long
hours ;sand they would believe her,
and be kind and loving to her; aud
never think that" every time Rogers
patronisini had" touched her 2gles,y
hair she Wa ahiysrine with the ieel.
ing that he)vas infringing on Geof's
rights. On Geef's tighu-Gtohrey,
who had forgotten her!
She went down, in spite Of this feel-
ing, with her fair face irradiated by q
very satided smile, for she Was looking
70 exquisitely pretty in her new silver
grey satin serge, trimmed with black
velvet; and as she went down Roger,
the universally successful, met her, and
reminded her grasiousiy that in three
| weeks she "vould be bis wife )" and
| IL ALL, .L..ln..l :.-..JI-