The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-02-04
"Then you shall hear one to night.
Ioldi sTrovat0rp' ia on the bill for

Hold! Trovatore' is on the bill fol
this blessed night. What coinci
dencem And so, when the city lamps
were trying to outdo the stars, Victor
drew Nina's trembling hand within his
arm, and they became a part OF the gay
and fashionable world inside the thea.
ter. And what world it was, with ali
the glitter of lights and beautiful faces
J the simmer of silks and jewels, the
odor of musk and sandal-wood, and the
kind, handsome face of Victor Blumen-
thai shining upon her! How the tenor
sang out, sweet as syllables OF love
how the soprano scared! what depths
the bass explored! what pathos, what
sorrow, what delight swelled and ehbed
and suffer and despair and triumph like
this? Had she lived through it all her.
self, somewhere. somehow, that it
seemed an echo of her own experience
or was it but shadow of things to
come? When the curtain fell, Victor
discovered tears in her eyes. Other peo-
pie were laughing around her; one tall
gentleman almost stopped to look under
her hat as he passed, bowed to her COM
panion, and would have Joined them
had Blum enthal been less frigid. 80
have seen that gentleman BEFORE" said
Nina; she came with lady who was in
hurry for some flowers had prom
ised. He called her Stella"
ut was his cousin, Stella Grande-
law" said Victor.
One day Victor, who could no longer
lind pretext to continue the sittings,
put his picture on exhibition. All the
town was talking of it before night.
"Such flesh-tints! such expression! such
beautyw
Yet it does not equal the original" "
said Grandelaw.
NO" returned Victor; pigment is
poor make-shift for fire and spirit"
At about this time he received news
London. He was obliged to drop ''is
pencil and fly to her without so much rs
bidding Nina goodbye; but be mould
write and explain, he P-5s9ised himself.
In the meantime Grndeiaw found occa-
sion to make friends with Nina. She
had happened into:i shop to purchase
material for her work; she had laid her
pocketbook down for an instant, and not
till she had nearly reached the door did
she discover that she had taken up, not
her own. but -another,'s plethoric purse.
At the same moment strange hand de-
tanned her, and she was accused of theft.
This lady is q, friend of mine." said
Grandelaw, stepping forward to her res
cue, having followed her into the shop
-"she is friend of mine;" and the ac-
cuser begged thousand pardons, and
obsequiously bowed himself out of
sight.
After this, what could Nina do but to
accept him at his own valuations? How
could she avoid meeting him in her
walks and allowing him to accompany
her? how refuse admittapce to one who
befriended her? And he knocked often
and watched her at her pretty toll, and
the intimacy progressed. Sometimes
sheopened her door, and showed beam
ing face, but the smile would fade soon.
At other times he observed that she
started when footstep paused ortside; !;
she expected some one, answered absent
ly, listened to his batteries with far
away look in her soft eyes. One day
Grandelaw deter mined to probe the
wound.
did you not sit to Victor Blumen-
thai for his Undine?" he asked. "It
was picture worth painting; he must
have. had thousand sittings."
mot nearly so many" sighed Nina.
Il should have been Jealous, if I had
been Mrs. Blumenthal."
jealous! repeated Nina" Mrs.
Blumenthal! His mothar?"
His wife-Victor's wife,"
"His wife!-Victor Blumenthal's s
wife"
"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
20 blame. Victor BlumenthaI was mar
ried more than two years ago to his
cousin Theodora. 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 it to you, or me?"
Nothing. nothing" she answered.
81 do not doubt it. But she had grown
very white, and her eyes shone like
wandering stars, and the needle trem-
! bled 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."
What had Victor BIumenthal meant,
she asked herself, "by those words q
thought too tender,' by glances 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
! Theodora? And then she hid her face
, in her pillow, remembering how her
! heart had gone out to 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
divined her heart, and conscience had
made 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 tor month
already, and had gone to visit his
mother in neighboring town till the
wedding should take place, without
T! leaving any trace behind her. Grande-
law had, in fact. prosecuted her into
consent. A thousand thing had con-
spired in his favor. She had fallen i'll
and into debt, and work had failed, and
Grandelaw had sent his own physician
to her, with fruits and flowers, had
taken her out in his carriage when air
was prescribed, and had ended by pro-
posing to take care of her all her life, by
winning reluctant consent to 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 every kind at Laurel
Lodge; everything was fine enough to
win a mercenary heart, if Nina had
owned one. Nobody limited that
+ Grandelaw was making an unequal
marriage. One day when Nina re-
turned from gallop across the hills with
Grandelaw, there was tall, gracious
woman waiting for them on the veranda.
who allowed Grandelaw to kiss her
hand. and made Nina stately bow.
"Have the skies fallen, that we catch
} larks," asked Nina's lover.
IL see that your have already caught
one," laughed his cousin Stella.
"Stella has come to look ut her rival, J
said Mrs. Grandelaw, when Nina bade