The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-07-22

Mary, I used to think he WAS tho one
man In the world. Why do you AK Pr
|, Don't you hearf This Is his card.
Win you sec himp You are 20 absorbed
In that Daudet-'
That the servants rap didn't pene-
trate the atmosphere was living In.
Unhealthy stuff I musn' T read any more
OF them. See himp Well, no, think
not. The horses will be at the door in
half an hour, and I would like to finish
this Chapter
BE did not stay to hear any more. He
turned away; his haggard face, his tor
tured heart, were nothing to this wom-
an of the world. Yet he meant to see
her; he meant to force the past upon
her, to stir the ashes, to wake spark
from the ashes; but the next morning
the party had gone.
His step-mother wrote him month
further on: s'Such fine doings as there
are at the old manor-house here! Kate
Rivers has returned with a gay company
to bid it good-by, and she has been Civ
ing the children such festas! All, Vim
cent, why didn't you follow up your
fancy that SUMMER Anything more
exquisite than she in beauty and in man
ner l have failed to see. She has the
air of a princess just before her corona
ton. And so she is. For they have
found coal on the old manor place, and
operations are to be begun at once.
They say the income will be enormous.
She will not need it, with all the rest she
has; still, it will do her no harm in
France to have revenues of her own.
She is little sad, though, to let the old
place 90 for all. But the Chateau Beau
repaire is infinitely more beautiful, she
says; hundreds of years old, and histor-
ic; on an island in a lake, with wooded
hills inclosing it beyond the gardens and
deep glades and forests"
He did not understand the letter.
Why was his mother writing to him
about the Chateau Beaurepaire? That
was the scattering way in which she
always ran on. And what did he care
for the revenues of coal landsP It was
not money he had wanted; no one could
say that. All that he gathered from the
letter was that Kate was going to France
again. If she did, he would follow her.
And he cursed the broken ankle that
was now keeping him prisoner where he
was. He had written to her, twice, and
thrice, but he had not sent the letters;
those that had come back unopened once
seemed to bar the way. And then he
felt as if his presence, his eyes, his voice,
his words, were more effective agencies
than any silent writings. He did not
answer his step-mother's note, and her
correspondence was always at long in
tervals.
Some business, however, sent him to
Washington in the very early winter,
although before he felt quite able to be
out. And as most doors opened before
him, he found himself one night at
reception at the British Minister'S. Such
things were old stories to him; he cared
nothing for them; and he did not know
why he had come; because others did,
he supposed-because Godfrey wanted
to be taken; and he was leaning list
lessly against pedestal under bronze
bust of Nemesis, when party lifted the
curtain, coming in from an adjoining
room, and he started, for it was Kate
Rivers.
If she had stepped out of the gates of
sunrise she might have looked the same
the same dimpling bushes, the same
intense happiness in the royal smile, the
same starry eyes; she would have worn
that same palest of peach.bloom bro
cade, frosted with lace and with dia-
monds, the same great sapphires and
diamonds in the nut brown hair.
As it happened, she paused just before
him, and before he knew it he had ex-
tended his hand. ssKate!" he had cried,
half under his breath, pale as sheeted
ghost.
She turned and looked at him for q
ment with that radiant but calm COM
posture. "Ah, indeed!" she said then,
in her low, clear tones. SIT is an old
FRIEND" and she extended her hand.
''Mr. Maurice, let me present to you my
husband, Count Beaurepaire." There
were a couple of glances, couple of
bows, a couple of brief sentences, and
the party moved on and left him. ssYou
are changed" he had murmured, be-
tween his stiff and freezing lips.
"Oh, no." she had answered, lightly.
81 have only become woman Of the
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