The Red Cloud chief., 1877-10-25

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".Mildred, my darling, tell me you
love mev he c,ied: tell me your heart
is miner
81 cannot tell you that, Ralph ans.
wered, fol, saw as a sister
"As a sister? Oh girl! do you love
and why W IL you mock me with that
expression? l ask for corn, you offer
me the husk! Think you, Mildred, l
will accept it?"
His face was flushed, his eyes fash
ing, the blood of his Spanish mother
leaping in his veins, and / shrank back,
pale and trembling.
"He laughed mOckingly.
"'You are pale he said, and you
shrink from me now; but 1 tell you
Mildred, you will yet be my wife. Do
you hear, Mildred-my wifeY
"And then he held me in his arms,
and kissing me passiOnately%, murmured:
"'Darling, darling!
mad with shame and horror, 1 strug-
SiCu W ACiCooO uiySOlts
"'Deane, Deanev l cried in my terror.
81 AM here, Mildred said the voice
of my lover, as Ralph lOosed his hold.
with a glad cry 1 sprang to him. and
the sight must have maddened Ralph.
$50 this is your lover, Mildred he
said; and then he raised his hand and
struck Deane across the face.
"Deane was by far the stronger of the
two men, and my heart stood still as he
put me gently aside, his face colorless,
his eyes blazing.
"'COwardv he said, facing Ralph.
".Deane, Deane! 1 cried wildly, do
not strike him, if you love me. Ralph,
| for Gods sake
Il heard Ralph say, 'Scoundre.v and
the next moment they had closed in a
deadly clasp.
"Oh, the anguish and fright of that
moment, as, pale and trembling, I sank
on my knees, a wild shrek ringing from
my lips.
Il saw Ralph dashed to the ground
and lie there motiOnless, saw Deane
bend Over him, and then l sank ense-
less on the ground as hurrying footsteps
told me my shrleks had reached the
house.
"When 1 came to my senses again
Ralph was dead. and the man I loved a
wanderer on the face of the earth.
Eyes, Ralph was dead-dead in his
pride and beauty-dead in his strong
young manhood, a red stain oozing
through his chestnut curls.
"When Deane had dashed him to the
ground his head had struck the root of
a tree, and when they raised him up he.
was almost unconscious.
HE only spoke once after they car
ried him into the house.
"'It was all my fault he said. IL
loved Mildred, and she-and she'-,
and then he had fallen back dead.
81 never looked On the face of Deane
Carlyle again, for 1 could not wed the
man who had taken the life of Ralph
ever though it was his own falkland
30 it was better we should not meet
again.
without a word of farewell he went
abroad and those who saw him before
he left could scarcely tell the Deane
Carlyle of old.
"Clare, little friend, is my heart-that |
has known VIII t it is to love and suffer
one that you would wish your brother
to VIM"
Miss Lestrange, a gentleman down
stairs" said a servant, opening the door.
Looks like you, Miss Clare" he added
1T is Willis, Mildred" 1 said; and
then we went down together. and in a
few moments l was folded in my broth.
er's arms.
After kissing me tenderly he released
me and turned to Mildred.
Miss L~estrange," he said, II am the
bearer of a message to you from adying
man. On my travels, almost a year ago,
L became acquainted with q man who,
somehow. attracted my sympathy, but
why l could not tell. We became friends,
but not cOnfidants, for he was strangely
reserved about himself, and, though we
were together for many months, we
knew little of each other-at least l
knew little of him. One night he met
with an accident, and was carried home
fatally injured, and the next morning
he was raging in brain fever, and-and,
Mildred. he raved of you. l stayed with
him and did all 1 could. but he was
doomed to die. The night Of his death
the fever left him and the light of rea-
son returned to his eyes.
"'Willis,' he said. when 1 am dead
will you seek Mildred Lestrange and
tell her-tell her Deane Carlyle is dead,
and ask her to give n tear to my mem.
DRY, for l have loved her to the last !?
Tell her l have looked on her face when
she never dreamed 1 was near. Mildred
= Mildred! he cried, holding out his
hands as if you were neal him, as if he
saw you. They were his lest words
He gave n weary sigh and sank back
dead. your name lingering IN his lips
White as death grew Mildred's face
IS memories OF the past swept over her.
She turned to me.
Glare" she said, piteously, Il may
bury my past; the last link is brokenp' !
Without another word She left the