Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-11-14

ana vine. OAlO SI0 Hau Hearu SUCH
rumors, but would not believe them.
| Would he promise that the gossip should
be without foundation He would prom
Use anything. He would reform!
Re-entering the parlor, she remarked
! to Maxwell: "My college boys are so
much to me like brothers, can reprove
and admonish them in truly orthodox
! style without their resenting it. They
| need some one to scold them little
sometimes"
Maxwell said, in his abrupt, argu-
mentative way: " Fred Devine does not
consider himself merely q boy friend :;
! he thinks himself man and comes o
wooing."
The color .crept into Drusilla's pale
face: "Hush, Maxwell St. Ives, will
not believe it. My own regard for this
lad is so different. want him to re-
gard me as a friend want him to look
| up to me, and come to me for counsel
and sympathy; 1 want his esteem;
in short, L want earnest, respectful,
beautiful friendship, instead Of tickle,
passionate, fatal love y
| She was much excited. All the con-
| troll she had shown when Lu tainted
her was swept away. She had suffered
so much through love that she could
| bear no mention OF what had darkened
her whole life.
whenever and wherever ] try to es-
tablish friendship, it is shortly trans
| formed into reckless and despairing
love-"
All that she said was received in utter
1,n ~
marble All this was such deep grief to
her, and he did not care. Any other man
would have expressed some sympathy :;
| not so this impressive Northerner, who,
cynical and bitter, thought it fine bit
of acting. He had been drawn toward
| her at first, but an anonymous letter had
| told him to "beware of Drusilla Ster-
ling" that she was an actress by birth,
| and by education, and utterly without
| heart. From that time he had been on
! his guard.
"Pardon my emotion" she said, after
a moments pause ''Pardon me also if
1 go on to say more of myself.
g l want you to know if there is any
sufficient reason in the past why my
present should be SO full of passion and
pain You have before now accused me
OF being coquette Upon my honor I
| do not mean to be. What do 7 cannot
help. 1t is deep and sad fatality. Let
me tell you the story of my birth that
you may judge for yourself how came
to inherit my birthright of sorrow.
"My father was an English artist and
marriee woman who made her living
by singing and dancing at the tbeaters.
She was as deceitful as she was beauti-
full. Ny old nurse Jeanette has often
told me how mother would say to her ::
The Englishman is an ogre. But to
him she would say: You are grand
like the gods. She won him, not be-
cause she loved him, but because he
was supposed to be wealthy. He loved
her with his imagination rather than
with his heart. He was very suscepti-
BILE to beauty and gracefulness, and both
were hers to remarkable degree. The
fact that she was married did not pre-
vent men loving her. She died when I
was but three days old, and father and
Jeanette brought me to England.
"From my tenth year I have been con-
sclous OF possessing my mothers fatal
| fault of fascination. There is nothing
so much deplore, for I have my fathers
honest English heart, and would win love
only where could return it. Until the
last few months I have never known
what that word meant. You are still 81
lent. I have lost your esteem by con-
Tossing my mothers profession Oh,
| Maxwell st. Ives, trusted you! Are
you not still my friend?"
In her earnestness sho laid both her
little caressing hands over both of
his. All his reserve and skeptlcism
were swept away. He pressed her hands
like rose leaves In his own, and an
swered:
"For Me-for death r.
Before they parted they were betrothed
lovers. Drusilla had some misgivings,
and said:
"Can you go to your proud mother
and tell her that you have espoused the
daughter of dancer?"
"Drusilla Sterling, I can say anv-
thing to anybody. IF only you are true
to me there is no obstacle to our union
that I will not easily overcome. I have
given myself to you, body and soul, and
God help him who comes between us p
DIG 1ClG AOl uoNlb kIOW COlu I'D uo
spoke. Was this love also to prove un-
happy? o, it was too sad that in this
first glad hour of betrothal there should
be shadow of impending evil. She
loved him so 1t was cruel that she
could not be free from forebodings. At
tho moment of farewell she sobbed as if
her heart were breaking, and he had
I scarcely reached his home when note
followed him, saying:
"MAxwELL ST.. IvHs As I love you
I must never SEQ you again. I would
only bring you unhappiness. 1t is my
sad fate. Forget me and farewell.
"Yours, with love and regret,
I "DRUsILLA STERLING"
It was hardly the kind of letter to send
a man the worlds width from his hearts
desire No possible combination Of
words could have been moro certain to
bring him to her side. No pleading, no
tenderness, could have been more potent
than this deeply despondent dismissal.
What would he not venture for her at
lection! Other men might love her
they must love her if they but entered
her presence-but as for Drusilla her
self, she should be SO sheltered by his
devotion, so hedged about by his atten-
fiopc and fandernass that che cCr,15 lo,,o