Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-07-01

her trunk. g. 1po1ink brilliantl,
handsome . q - notes IN R3b.
ert's hand. H - bsauty In eve.
| ~ nerve and fbc kis frame. All;
| il WAS terrible % 6k ohs had deceised
him so-phyed = H. %.
4 hope, he nj = ln may essr
wiring your heart ~ 1ase nina and
was turning aMa[ - 11nnd puf eut
You win scare 11o me- she
said, knowing - - e n. but
l am veFy soEzys = -. I ~ poor,
and wnnfe1 - y HI sness I
! EsuhSG&a 04 z<a - = kS6c7IE m
to win you, and instead I have lost you.
l shall suffer more than you win, Rob-
ert Lonsdowne, after al, for besides my
humiliation, my love begins where yours
ends.'
She was gone while the word. were
yet ringing their sweet meanings in his
ear
Clever Maud Winthrop. She guessed
that however much he might try to hate
her; he would not be incapable by a SUBJ
tie thrill at the thought Of being loved
by so beautiful q woman as she knew
herself to be.
Where now? not to her Uncle Ira
vers, where the news of her deceit might
arrive before her. Home-there was
nowhere else to 60, and she had barely
enough money in her purse to pay her
way there.
How it happened no one could guess,
but somewhere on the route she found
the infection, and it spread SO rapidly
through her already fevered veins that
by the time she reached town she was
in the first stages of delirium, and could
not tell where her home was, SO she was
taken to the hospital.
Maud Winthrop had the small. .pox
They found her uncle's address in her
trunk, as well as Robert Lonsdowne's,
and both were written to.
Mr.. Travers was too angry to go to
her, but he sent word that she was to
have every comfort her situation requir-
ed at his expense.
As for Robert Lonsdowne, all his re-
sentiment crumbled to dust when he got
that letter. He seemed to hear that
soft, sweet voice pulsating on the air.
He saw her as she had looked that last
evening, when she said Where your
love ends, mine begins
He went up to town without a word
to anybody, and would not come back,
though they were frantic to have him.
His mother comforted herself some
when she heard that Maud lay i'll of so
disfguring disease.
she will ns~er get ubsnls same girl
she said. And that was asfrue pfoph.
ecy.
Maud winthrop's face had been her
fortune, and when disease abandoned
her shaken frame at last, it took with
it every remnant of that once brilliant
beauty. Maud shrieked aloud when she
saw herself for the first time.
Meanwhile, Robert Lonsdowne had
hovered in the vicinity, waiting for news,
and securing to the woman he imagined
he still loved every comfort that money
could purchase.
At the earliest day that her convales-
cence would permit, he wrote to her,
asking to renew old relations.
Maud Winthrop could not refrain
from tears as she read that manly, af.
fectionate letter.
1 could not permit it, she wrote him,
making great effort to be unselfish for
once in her life. your family would
hate me, and you yourself do Bst know
what you ask-you do not know how
terribly am changed
When he persisted, she consented to
see him once:
He came-eager, brave, loving.
She attired herself as he had been
fond of seeing her, in white; but she
could not by any witchery of the toilet
clothe her attenuated and bowed shape
with the old lovely roundness and grace
of proportion. Neither could she make
this scared, white face glow with the
old richness of color and expression
which had once been its glory.
But, if he had known it, this Maud
Winthrop was far worthier of being the
queen of his heart than she Of old had
been.
Robert Lonsdowne came eagerly for.
ward. He stopped at sight of that
worn face, that dropping, trembling
form, and covering his face with his
hands burst into tears.
Maud's lips quivered. Her voice,
changed ike the rest, shook, as she
said:
Il thought it would be too much for
you. Robert. knew you would not be
able to bear the sight. Go. nov, dear.
/ deserved this also'
He was at her side in an instant, and
had his arms round her.
1t was you wept for be said. Z
come TO stay, not to go. You will not
drive me away, Maud 2
You would only stay from compass
sion. You cannot love this miserable
she'll
1T was not the shell / loved, beauti-
full as it was
You could not have loved that de-
ceitful thing which the shell held
But you Said you were sorry, and
can't help it. Maud, / love you in spite
of all. We viii 60 away from here
We viii travel, and you shall get well
and strong as ever again, my darling
Il shall never be handsome again
Robert. How can YOU love me You
would not have known me If you had
met me on the street.
Your eyes are not changed, Maud,
and this Is your own bright spirit look
ing out of them at me-