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

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what delight swelled and ebbed witt
the chords! Did people really love an,
suffer and despair and triumph lik
thisP Had she lived through it all her
self, somewhere, somehow, that i
seemed an echo of her own experience
or was it but shadow of things t,
come? When the curtain fell, Victo
discovered tears in her eyes. Othe
people were laughing around her; on
tall gentleman almost stopped to lool
under her hat as he passed, bowed tx
her companion, and would have joine(
them had BlumenthaI been less frigid
g have seen that gentleman before,
said Nina; "he came with lady who
was in hurry for some flowers | haC
promised. He called her Stella"
1t was his cousin, Stella Grande
law" said Victor.
One day Victor. who could no longer
find 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
beauty!'
"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
that his only sister was seriously i'll in
London. He was obliged to drop his
pencil and fly to her without so much
as bidding Nina good-bye; but he would
write and explain, he promised him.
self. In the meantime Grandelaw found
occasion to make friends with Nina
She had happened into shop to pur-
chase materials for her work; she had
laid her pocket-book down for an in
slant, and not till she had nearly
reached the door did she discover that
she had taken up, not her own, but an
others plethoric purse. At the same
moment a strange hand detained her,
and she was accused of theft. "This
lady is a friend of mine," said Grande-
law, stepping forward to her rescue,
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.
Alter this what could Nina do but
accept him at his own valuation? How
could she avoid meeting him in her
walks, and allowing him to accompany
herp how refuse admittance to one who
had befriended herp And he knocked
often, and watched her at her pretty
toll, and the intimacy progressed.
Sometimes she opened her door, and
showed a beaming face, but the smile
would fade soon. At other times he
observed that she started when foot
step paused outside; she expected some
one, answered absently, listened to his
batteries with PARKWAY look in her
soft eyes. One day Grandelaw deter
mined to probe the wound.
"Did you not sit to Victor Blumen-
thai for his UndineP'' he asked. cit
was picture worth painting; he must
have had thousand sittings."
"Not nearly so many" sighed Nina.
81 should have been Jealous, if I had
been Mrs. Blumenthal.'
"Jealousr' repeated Nina" Mrs.
Blumenthal! His motherP''
ellis wife-Victor's wife,
"His wife!-Victor Blumenthal s
wifer'
80, then, perhaps you did not know
he was marriedP'
"He never spoke of it,
because everybody knew it. Come,
Miss Nina. don't look at me as if l was
to blame. Victor Blumenthal was mar
ried more than two years ago to his
cousin Theodore. If you doubt it,
will find you the notice of his marriage
among my file of papers. But of course
you have no interest in it. What is it
to you, or meP"
"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
trembled in her hand. "Of course he
is married. she added, in lighter
tone, "only the idea never occurred to
me before-it took me unawares."
What had Victor Blumenthal meant,
she asked herself, .by those words a
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-tipsp Why
had he sought her out, only to break
her hearth Did he not love his cousin
Theodorap 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 di-
vined 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 for month
already, and had gone to visit his moth
er in neighboring town till the we'd
ding should take place. without leaving
any trace behindher. 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 physician
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