Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-06-20
FATE AND RICHARD DA YTON


"On what ? Are wives supported on saved
cigar money and tailors bills Can l keep
house on an oyerdrawn bank account? No.
no, Give; l have eaten my cake and enjoyed
it. Now must be content with the necessa-
ries of life-a wife is luxury"
YES such wife as Emma Loring would
make. But there are varieties of wives and
Dick, depend upon it, you will find it as easy
to love a rich girl as poor one"
Marry girl for her money! Give, am
ashamed of you. l may be poor, but Rich
ard Dayton could never, never, be poor
enough for that meanness Nothing in heav-
en- or earth could induce me to marry an heir
ess-nothng." And the young man set his
lips and looked defiance into the future.
The two friends were strolling leisurely
through pretty green wood, Give lazily
blowing the smoke of his Havana in graceful
eddies and Dick half angrily and half
thoughtlessly striking down the tall golden
rods that fringed the narrow path. After
Dicks little outburst both remained silent
few moments, and before Give could either
renew or change the subject some one
touched Dick on the shoulder and said, rs
the gentleman angry? Is the gentleman in
love or in trouble Let me read the gentle
mans fortune"
The two young men turned together and
met the gaze of a young Romany girl. She
was SO beautiful that her request would have
been hard to deny and she seemed so much
in earnest that the laughing, bantering mood
which both assumed was speedily dropped
for one of genuine interest. Give held out
his plump white hand first, and the girl bare
ly glanced at it.
'You can eat and drink and sleep, my pret-
ty Sir; others will work for you, and there
are fools in plenty that will always make an
almighty of Give Raynor. But there is no
wife in your fortune and the girl you'll love
will laugh at you"
"Can not your skill show me how to pre-
vent the ladys scorn 2" asked Give with ill
concealed annoyance.
"What is stronger than fate? You will
love above and beneath you, and you are not
great enough either to stoop or to rise. That
is all :" and she gave him look which turned
all his carefully controlled emotions into n
perfect tumult of passion and delight.
Then she turned toward Dick. He was
watching her with a curious pleasure, though
he had casped his hands behind his back
The attitude struck the girl at once, and she
shrugged her shoulders scornfully.
II have no need of your hand good gen
tleman your fate is written ON your brow
Do not leave here to-day your fortune has
just arrived-stay and welcome it. fair
fortune, my good gentleman; and if you had
a piece of gold, you might cross my hand for
reading it."
II have not"
81 know it but your friend can do it for
you - and she held out her slim little yellow
hand to Give. The action was accompanied
by glance so bewitching that Give for once
gave gold away with a positive pleasure, and
would indeed. have prolonged the interview
if his friend had shown the least inclination
to do so. But Dick had already wandered
onward, and the girl was i'll tho act of parting
the thick underground which led to the tent
behind it. So, though her beauty had stir
red his heart as nothing in life had ever done
before, he was too conventional to risk the
danger of some other strollers from the hotel
finding him tete-d-tete with a gypsy girl.
Dick smiled as his friend joined him.
'Iucky fellow"
"Unlucky, you mean. What is life with
out wife z" and Give jingled his money in
his pockets, and looked sentimentally back
ward "will you wait and shake hands with
your fortune z"
NO shall leave by the six-o clock train.
l Lave just time to catch it comfortably"
But when six o'clock arrived, the train did
not appear and by-and-by came telegram
sas ing that there was a wreck down the road,
and that the passenger train would be delayed
for an indefinite number of hours.
So you can't go tonight, Dick, after all. "
The girl knew of the accident of course.
Come, let us return to the hotel, or we shall
miss our supper as well as the train"
Half way up the long flight of steps lead
ing TO the main entrance they met Carol
Ashton He was fresh from his third daily
toilet and looked quite conscious of all his
strong personal points. Moreover, there was
an unusual little furry of excitement about
his munner so much so that Give involun-
A., Nlf,., Gurrpl ~
81 should think there is. Jane Ten Eyk Is
lust arrived. Such a turnout Such trunks
and servants Why, old NARROW, his clerks,
and all his cOrps dipt0mdtiQue have been
running after her and bowling down TO her.
What a snob NARROW is! He hasn't seemed
10 know me at all yet, though l have been
paving him money for six weeks now"
Never mind NARROW, Carol. Who is
Jane Ten EykY"
"Who is Jane Ten Eyk? What an igno-
arnus, Clive Jane Ten Eyk is the great
Western heiress owns a whole silver mine
in Culorado-pans out n thousand dollars a
day-and no end of railway stock, Pacific, l
think, besides being absolutely her own mis-
tress."
"Wrll?"
"Wrll, don't you see what a chance she is
for "A poor handsome fellow like Carol Ash
tony She viii be at the hop tonight and
shall be there also and of course II shall
fall in love with her"
Dick had already passed on to the dining
room, and Give, after few silly words of
encouragement followed him. Dick was
busy with beef steak. Give called for glass
of iced tea. ~,
'Shall you go to the hop tonight, Dick p
Certainly not. Shall your
eyes, think so. new face is always IN
teresting" =,
perhaps Miss Ten Eyk will not be there. "
"Oh YES. she will. Carrolls sister in some
feminine way found that out. l wonder if
she is prettyl"
"You would not think So"
..NIu,ot bava vou seen her Dick Z"