The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-02-05

ner! now refuse aOmlttance TO one Wh(
had befriended her? And he knocked
often, and watched her at her pretty
toll, and the intimacy progressed
Sometimes she opened her door, ant
showed beaming face, but the smile
would fade soon. At other times hi
observed that she started when foot
step paused outside: she expected some
one, answered absently, listened to hi.
flateries with PARKWAY look in her sof
eyes. One day Grandelaw determined
to probe the wound.
did you not sit to Victor Blumen
thai for his Undine?" he asked. ct
was picture worth painting: he mus
have had a thousand sittings.'
Mot nearly so many" sighed Nina
II should have been jealous, if had
been Mrs. Blumenthal."
"Jealousr' repeated Nina-"Mrs
Blumenthal! His mother?"
Ellis wife-Victor's wife,"
ellis wife - Victor Blumenthar s
wifer'
"Oh, then, perhaps you did not know
he was married?''
"He never spoke of it."
because everybody knew it. Come,
Miss Nina, don't look at me as if was
to blame. Victor Blumenthal was mar.
ried more than two years ago to his
cousin Theodore. If you doubt it I will
find you the notice of his marriage
among my file of the Tribune. But Of
course you have no interest in it. What
is 1t to you or me?'
"Nothing, nothing" she answered.
II do not doubt it, But she had
grown very white, and her eyes shone
like wandering stars, and the needle
trembled in her hand. "Of course he
is married." she added, in a lighter
tone, "only the idea never occurred to
me before-it took me unawares."
u. What had Victor Blumenthal meant,
she asked herself, "by those words a
thought too TENDER" by chances that
made love palmer than speech? Why
had he held her hand till she blushed,
and kissed the pink finger-tips? Why
had he sought her out, only to break
her heart? Did he not love his cousin
Theodore? And then she hid her face
in her pillow, remembering how her
heart had gone out to a married man.
Another woman's lover, and she had
mistaken him for her own! Doubtless
this was why she had neither seen nor
heard from him for so long: he had d.
vined her heart, and conscience had
made q coward of him. But it should
never be said of her that she wore her
heart on her sleeve. And when Victor
returned with the sister whom he had
just succeeded in snatching from the
valley of shadows, having written to
Nina, but in his anxiety mailed the let
ter without an address. she had been
engaged to Mr.. Grandelaw for month
already, and had gone to visit his
mother in neighboring town till the
wedding should take place, without
leaving any trace behind her.
Grandelaw had, in fact, prosecuted her
into consent. A thousand things had
conspired in his favor. She had fallen
ill and into debt, and work had failed
and Grandelaw had sent his own physi.
clan to her, with fruits and flowers and
wines, had taken her out in his carriage
when air was prescribed, and had ended
by proposing to take care of her all he1
life, by winning a reluctant consent te
endow her with all his worldly goods
Victor had deceived her, or rather she
had taken too much for granted, and
had deceived herself, and what better
could she do than reward the devotion
of Grandelaw, who assured her that he
had love enough for them both?
Everybody was very kind at LaureI
Lodge; everything was fine enough te
win mercenary heart, if Nina had
owned one. Nobody limited that Grande
law was making an unequal marriage
One day when Nina returned from {
gallop across the hills with Grandelaw
there was tall, gracious woman wait
ing for them on the veranda, who al
lowed Grandelaw to kiss her hand, anl
made Nina stately bow.
Have the skies fallen, that we catcl
larks?" asked Nina's lover.
II see that you have already caugh
one," laughed his cousin Stella.
"Stella has come to look at her rival, ,
said Mrs. Grandelaw, when Nina bad,
her goodnight. 1--WE feared that m,
son would marry Stella some day. Sh'
thought so herself. but I disapprove o
cousins marrying"
Ibid she love him?" gasped Nina.
81 dare say she loved him vel
things"
"Oh, how she must hate metz criet
Nina.
But if Cousin Stella hated or loved
she knew how to disguise her feelings
nobody could be gayer or SUMMER thai
she during those days. She sparklet
with repartee and anecdote, and shoot
her listeners with gales of laughter
Perhaps she was showing Grandelav
what q mistake he had made to choos,
this sad, shadowy woman instead o
herself.
/ ~ have been sitting for nv DOR
trait" she said one evening. Nina
heart gave little stir: had She not sa
for her picture oncep The moon wa
shining in through the long windows o
The drawing-room; there was no othe
light in the room, except the fitfu
blaze behind the fender. Grandelay
had been called out of town on bushes
for night or two.
Indeed" said Mrs. Grandelaw
els it not a tedious AFFAIR.""
eft would be, perhaps, if any on
but Victor Blumenthal were paintin,
it."
Nina started and dropped her fan
Had she come to Laurel Lodge to hea
of VictorP
"And who is Victor BlumenthalP
asked Stella's aunt" another fame O
yoursp"
:" have seen no symptoms of tina
kind" laughed Stella. 81 wish :
might. He would make an idea
lover"
"But he Is married." smoke Nina nm