Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1876-04-06


or more fleeing, her manner subdued and
sad-so Etheredge thought.
Annie and Leigh Richardson had met un-
der somewhat romantic circumstances He
had saved her from drowning at Cape May,
| when she had veDtured beyond her depth,
and after her removed to Greymead he had
followed her there and located himself in the
practice of his profession-the law. He had
| been a constant visitor for two years. Peo-
ple began to speak of them as belonging to
| each other, and Mrs Etderedgc had, with a
woman's peculiar delight, begun to anticipate
the wedding supper and the bridal trosseau.
| ttheredge looked on with dull pain al his
heart. for which he felt half angry with him
| self. Surely he ought to rejoice that Annie
would be happy, for Richardson was every
way estimable, and was rising rapidly III his
profession.
Suddenly, however, about two years before
the opening Of our story, his visits to ANNE
ceased and he began violent Irritation with
Nellie Seymour, the belle OF the village An
ME did not die on account OF lt-she uld not
even NOPE. as girls generally DO when cross
| ed in love- Her manner was little more
subdued her laugh came less frequently, but
she was not heart-broken. She put aside the
! sympathy Mrs. Etheredge would have offered
! her, quietly, and gave her confidence TO no
| one Sometimes she met Richardson, but
| they exchanged no words-nol even the ordi-
| nary ceremonious greetings OF mere acqualn-
tances; they were as completely separated AS
| if an ocean rolled between them.
This night, as Etheredge sat watching An
ME, thinking of all this, he noticed, with a
thrill OF pain that she was a little paler, a
little more quiet than usual. He remember
| ed that she had met Richardson at the pic
ture gallery that day,
Some magnetic influence in the gaze OF
Etheredge made Annie look up. she flushed
under the serene luster of those dark grey
eyes. and her fingers forgot their cunning,
and dropped the ball of zepher she was un-
winding. 1t rolled towards the file-there
was genuine old fashioned wood fire upon
the hearth in STOPPING to recover it her
RIGHT sleeve dipped into the blaze. The
flames lcaped up-NIilton sprang forward,
caught her in his arms, and crushed out the
| fire.
She was frightened, weak and dizzy with
remem berng what she had escaped, and fOl
q moment she stood circled in his arm, hel
! head on his shoulder, her soft hair resting
against his ceeek The touch thrilled him
with startling power. He was hardly him
| self. All the love he had SO long kept under
foot rose up like an unbound tyrant. He
pressed his lips passionatey to hers-he would
have told her then how dear she was to him,
but something seemed to hold him back
He would wait little until the excitement
Of her recent peril would be over-would
wait and think it over calmly. All that night
he sat up, thinking Of his course lie loved
her with all his soul; he should never care
| for another woman. But he was not sure Of
| the condition OF her heart. What ii she had
still lingering tenderness Tor Richardson:
| He feared she might have. He had seen her
kiss picture which he felt morally sure was
his. Would he like his wife to kiss Leigh
Richardson's picture? Would he like to
think she had ever kissed it? Then he re-
membered how she had blushed sometimes
when he had looked at her, and took courage.
1t might be that the old dream could be for
gotten in the new. AT any rate he would
know before he slept, he said, with sudden
resolution, and after breakfast he went down
town for a walk. He knew few Of the fel-
lows belonging to the Franklin club, and for
the want of something better to do, he
sauntered into their room.
There were only.two or three present, smok-
ing their cigars and idling over the papers.
Their business hours had not commenced yet.
| AS he entered he caught the name Of Annie
| Huntley. Fred Orme, a reckless young dare
devil, was telling a story. Etheredge redden-
ed on hearing her name from Orme's lips,
and was about striding forward and calling
him to account for it, when Ormes next
words arrested him, and forced him to
listen.
''You see Leigh Richardson was dead in
love with her Never saw fellow take it
any harder Well, she is a charming girl
dressed exquisitely. Never saw better
fitting glove or boot than she gets on. Leigh
is smart, but never liked him since he W on
that silver cup at the boat race meant to
have had that myself. Too corfounded bad
didn't get it!''
$50 it was" brawled Ed Harrison; chow
you sweat, didn't you Fred?'
! is nc of the cold-blooded ones said that
meant to get even with him, and have kept
my word. Don't mind telling you the story,
fellows, since it is such an old affair Pass
that lemonade, Etheredge-youll be interest
ed in it, because I've heard it said that you
were rather sweet in that quarter. Matters
were going on swimmingly two years ago,
| between Leigh and Annie They'd have
been married before now if nobody had in
terfered. But Dennis and I-you know
Dennis?-tiptop fellow!-got up little plan
between us, and it worked splendidly. Didn t
We raise the duce! gained possession ofsome
of Leigh's handwriting and practiced writ
ing like it. am an expert at that business,
! hatter myself; and in few days l could
| fairly beat Richardson with his own weapons.
So wrote a letter to an imaginary chum of
his, giving a description of Miss Annie. call
ing her soft little thing, telling him how
she adored the subscriber, and how the SUBJ
scriber cared nothing at all for her, but was
enjoying glorious filtration. OF course the
subscriber was Leigh Richardson. This note
which was a most insulting thing 10 any
woman-we contrived to have dropped where