The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-02-07

"Stella has come to look at her
rival" said Mrs. Grandelaw, wne1
Nina babe her good night. ''We feared
that INV son would marry Stella some
day. She thought so herself, put l us
approve of cousins marrying"
"Did she love himP" gasped Nina;
81 dare say she loved him wei,
enough; but one survives these things.
30, how she must hate me!' crieo
Nina.
But if Cousin Stella hated or loved
she knew how to disguise her teellngs'
nobody could be gayer or SUMMER tnal
she during those days. She sparKleu
with repartee and anecdote. and shook
her listeners with gales of laughter.
Perhaps she was showing Grandelaw
what a mistake he had made to choose
this sad, shadowy woman instead OF
herself.
81 have been sitting for my por-
trait" she said one evening. Nina's
heart gave little stir; had she not sat
for her picture oncep The moon was
shining in through the long windows
of the drawing-room; there was no
other light in the room, except the tit
full blaze behind the fender. Grandelaw
had been called out of town on business
for night or two.
Indeed" said Mrs. Grandelaw.
Is it not tedious affairP''
1t would be, perhaps, if any one
but Victor Blumenthal were painting
it."
Nina started and dropped her fan
Had she come to Laurel Lodge to hear
of Victor?
&c And who is Victor BlumenthalP'
asked Stella's aunt -" another flame
of yoursP"
81 have seen no symptoms of that
kind" laughed Stella. I" l wish l
might. He would make an ideal lover"
But he is married." spoke Nina
out of the shadow, and there was the
sound of tears in her voice, if any one
had had ears to hear. "He is married,
Stella.''
"Then Grandelaw has told you about
sad"
"Didn't the marriage turn out wellp"
asked Mrs. Grandelaw, to whom ro-
nance meant nonsense.
"That depends" returned Stella.
" He married his cousin Theodora-"
81 have no patience with cousins
marrying"
"No? There was no great need of
patience in this case. BlumenthaPs
grandfather had left all the money to
Theodore and her mother. Victor was
as poor as became an artist to be. l
suppose Theodore had always loved
him, but she insisted upon being mar
ried to him on her death-bed, that he
might inherit her portion of the fortune.
She died an hour afterward."
Nina sat like one stunned by an earth
quake shock; all Grandelaw's perfdy
stood out like the handwriting on the
wall. Victor had loved her after all!
His kiss had not been treachery. She
would 90 to him. She would leave this
prison for ever and ever. How had she
ever dreamed of loving Grandelaw some
day?
" You have been very kind to me-"
Nina said, when she kissed Mrs. Gran
delaw good night. "I shall always
bless you Tor 1t; but-Stella would make
Grandelaw better wife, and you a
wiser daughter"
:" My son and I think differently" re-
piled the mother; but she remembered
afterward that Nina had fingered and
hesitated-" just as if she wished to
ask pardon for something" Mrs. Gran
delaw explained; and when Grandelaw
himself returned to Laurel Lodge there
was little three-cornered note on his
library table, in Nina's hand, which
read:
If should marry you, Mr.. Arson Gran
delaw, some day, in looking over your file of
papers, should happen upon one containing
the marriage of Victor Blumenthal to his
cousin Theodore, and the notice of her death
on the same day, and your deceit would kill
whatever love had learned to bear you.
so goodbye, and make Stella happy.
NINA"
-Harper's Bazar.