River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-06-16

| ing the hours until the Tune should ar
rive.
She hardly remembered how she drag
ged through the day, almost sick with
anxiety, lest Dudley's love had waned
Mark Fenton, usually their guest al
supper, did not appear that evening
and her father was gloomy and silent
so that Hetty crept away to bed as soon
as she was able.
The morrow dawned, bright, fair and
sunny, as the previous day had been;
and at the appointed time and place
Hetty, looking wonderfully pretty in
her fresh Sunday attire, with the daint-
lest of straw hats, trimmed with sprays
of pink heather, stood awaiting the ar
rival of Dudley Carleton.
For more than an hour she waited
| burrowing tiny holes in the earth with
the end of the fringed parasOl that had
once been her mothers, and walking
up and down until she seemed familiar
with every blade of grass and weary
Of the sound of her own footsteps.
| Dudley Carleton came not.
| Suddenly she bethought herself OF
| her fathers tea, and not until then did
she seem to be aware that her lover
had broken his word She had little
time to question herself, however-she
must hurry home, get her finery laid
away, and the table spread in readiness
| for his return from work
She was hot and flushed from the
haste she had made, when the old fish
erman entered, and looked a little
guilty too; but she talked cheerfully to
him throughout the meal, and made a
| desperate effort to appear as though
nothing had happened out of the ordin-
airy way.
More than week passed Mark had
taken her at her word and kept out OF
her way, and so had Dudley Carleton.
| for the matter of that, for she had seen
and heard nothing of him either.
| In vain she waited for him on the
beach, trusting that ere each morning
was out he would be down there with
his boat; but he never came, and she
| began to fear that he had left the little
fishing village, and that her "castle
building" was gradually crumbling to
pieces.
She never suspected how narrowly
in those days Mark Fenton watched the
girl he loved; he could almost read her
thoughts by every change of her face
so closely had he studied it late.
One evening, vending his way home
ward to his solitary lodging (for by the
| death of his mother, some years back,
Mark Fenton had been left alone in
| the world) his heart and mind Cypress
ed with anxious thoughts eff Hetty, a
figure came out of the cleaning and
| advanced toward him.
| A second glance was all that was re-
quired to enable hini to recognize Dud-
| lev Carleton, and when once the rccOg-
milton had been made, Mark slackened
his pace and waited for the young man
to approach him.
They were alone on the cliffs, those
two -patrician and plebeian--and
as the light of the moon fell upon the
face of the former, the latter saw that
it was slightly paler than usual
Dudley Carleton knew him to be Hetty
Golding's lover; for the girl had more
than one occasion pointed him him out
as the man her father wished her tC
marry.
He stopped because Mark stopped
although his glance somewhat quailed
| beneath that of the stalwart fisherman
''Mr. Cartoons that you? We
thought you had left the village, said
Mark, somewhat sternly: "and so does
some one else, whom you have basely
deceived"
'I-what do you mean?' exclaimed
Dudley, angrily, the hot blood rising IL
his smooth cheek. "How dare you &C
cost me thus? | have no feelings IL
common with you; don't even recol
lect your name-that is to say if evel
knew it"
Never mind what my name is re
torted Mark, fiercely. Il know whC
YOU are. You are one of those meI
who 60 about the world and call them
selves conference.-the steal a simple
lassie's heart with their lies, and, whel
they have grown tired of it chucl
it away, like children play with tn
single"
II am not going to handy words will
a fellow like you" cried Dudley, hvl'
now with stitied passion. Il suppose
can converse with a pretty girl if like
without being brought to account by
low-born fisherman"
"Low-born you call me, do you
repeated Mark Fenton, in tones c
whitening scorn. "If | am low-borr
am honest, which is more than som
folks are; and | would rather have t
beg for my bread than call myself n
truer gentleman than you J"
An angry oath, FL owed by a sti
angrier blow, was all the answer vouct
t safed to Mark Fenton's unpalatabl
: speech, and the two men closed Il
gether in fierce and desperate strus
: gle
They neared the edge of the cliff, bu
in their mad anger they were utterl
t forcetful of their perilous position.
A moment more and they had bot
reeled over together the grea
: rugged cliffs of old red sandstone---o
to the beech below that made one dlzz
! to look down upon.
) In the morning their bodies wer
found by some Fishermen who ha
, | missed Mark Fenton's presence fror
/, among them, and had Immediately b,
I, gun to make anxious inquiries. Mari
5 though senseless, was alive. His ia
i had been broken by a piece of prolec
o ing earth, and he was carried HON
r with a broken arm and wounde
t head.
The graceful, youthful figure of Du'
:. ley Carleton lay crushed and dead VI
: on the beach, and one of the tishe
), men-who had known him bes
through having panied him an
+ his friends on their boating excursion
0 went and communicated the so
l. tidings to his relatives.
O Meanwhile Mark was born away
D the cottage where he lodged; and Il
n worthy housewife, who had becon
u terribly alarmed at his absence, pr
II ceeded to dress his wounds with all
mothers tenderness.
!" Her only son had been drowned
Y few moaths previous to Mark Fen'or
y coming to make his home among theI
Is and she had learned to look upon Il
7 young fellow in the light of that son 81
had lost
5? One hour later and the news hi