Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1881-04-20
THE PAINTED FAN.


face, SO trustfully uplifted to his own
No, will never forget you," answer ed
the girl.
And the blue eyes grew moist and the red
lips trembled The. promise broke down
the last remnant of her streng tn, the next
moment she had burst into passionate, Bit
ter weeping.
1t seemed as though the branches in the
tree above them bent pityingly down upon
them, as though the sun fingered moment
in the tenderest sympathy, ere breathing
his good might to the world; as though the
robin checked his notes to listen to the sobs
which echoed through the silence Of the
wood and stirred Earl Lysle's heart, as it
had not been stirred before in many long
year.
He had won the love of many women
won it often for the mere pleasure Of win
ming; sometimes had won and worn it un-,
til it wearried him, but always believing that
had the condition been reversed the wo-
man would have done even as he did. In
this case he knew differently. When he
first met Lena Manning she had been q
child. It had been his hand that had guild
ed her wavering steps across the boundary
line from childhood to womanhood; he who
had wakened her child heart from it's slum-
Der. For what? For this? It had been
in his life summer idyl, a passing folly;
in hers, the one spot from which henceforth
all things must date. He was man of the
world; she child of nature, whose world
henceforth was bounded by the horizon of
his presence.
''Hush Lena,-hush," he enk:eated, pass
ing his arms about her slender waist. do
you really care for me like this?'
A passing pride stirred at this question.
do you care for me so little that you
cannot understand it?" she answered.
Nay! love you very dearly-so dearly,
Lena, that, might carve out my own de-
sires, and forget my. duties, would never 60
back to the great city and the life which
has grown wearisome. As it is, must go;
but, Lena, if may, dear-if I can 80 shape
my destiny-some day will leave it all be-
hind me and come again, this time to pluck
heart forever.
Pretty words were very natural to Earl
Lysle, yet even as he spoke these he knew
that ere another year had run its course he
was destined to lead to the alter his heiress-
cousin-a tall, naughty brunette-whose
letter of recall now lay in the breast pocket
of his coat.
"But-but if things should 90 amiss-not
as you fancy?"
There was absolute terror in the girls
tones-terror SO great that to the man it
seemed cruelty not to quiet it, and, besides
bis heart was stirring within him to nobler,
better purpose.
Perchance he might avow to his betroth-
ed the truth that, instead of marriage of
convenience, he sought marriage Of love,
and ask her to free him from chains which
already began to gall ere they were
fully forged.
So he only drew closer to him the girls
slender figure, until the blonde head lay on
his shoulder, as he stopped and pressed his
lips toits golden crown.
Have no fear, little one. ! I will come
back with the first snow"
"You promise, Earl?"
II promise"
Lena adalways loved the summer rather
than winter. The leafy trees, the birds,
the flowers, the blue sky-all had been to
her as welcome friends, to be greeted rap
turously, to be parted with almost tearfully;
but this year she could scarcely wait for
the turning Of the foliage or the southern
fight Of the BIRDS
She smiled from her window as she look
ed out one bright morning upon the first
frost. She laughed when people said it
would be an early winter.
All her painting-for she possessed great
talent with her brush-depicted winter
scenes-snow and ice.
But just at the Thanksgiving season her
father, sturdy farmer, was borne senseless
one day to his home, and died before he re-
covered consciousness.
It was her first real grief. She had lost
her mother when an infant. 1t seemed to
her that she could not have strength enough
to live through it, but that as they lowered
the coffin into the grave few fakes of snow
came whirling down from the gray sky, and
she welcomed them as heaven-sent mes
sengers of hope.
When she came back to the quiet house,
through whose rooms the dear, CHEEKY voice
would never more echo, she almost expect
ed to find some one waiting for her; but all
was still and desolate.
They were dreary weeks that followed
the more dreary that she found heavy
mortgage lay on the farm, and that when
all things were cleared up there would be
left to her but few hundreds dollars.
He will not care, she murmured. 1T
will prove his love for me the more"
The week after the funeral setin the first
heavy snow storm, and the papers told how
it mad spread from one end of the country
to the other.
Lena was almost bar.icaded in her lonely
home, but she sat all day with folded hands,
looking upon the soft, feathery fakes
watching the drifts grow higher-and knew
that all was bringing summer to her heart
The neighbcrs came to take her in their
sleighs, when the sun peeped out again and
all the earth was wrapped in its white man
tie. They said that her cheeks were pale
and her hands feverish and that she must
have more of the clear, bracing air.
But she shook her head and refused to
60. Could she leave the house, when at
ao1af ho l,o