The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1881-07-21
A CRUSHED HEART.

Ho had seen her coming when sh
was a long distance down the road
and had noted admiringly what enviabl
youth, and vitality there was in he
springy step and cafriage.
And then. as she came near him, ant
looked up. he realized that he was fac
to face with the most glorious eyes tina
ever had been lifted to his-and he wa
thirty-five, and felt foriy-five, and ha.
tipvsfiedrAalf over the srprld, and 1beel
presented toscharplirgwo ,withou
number, ,SSund had broken more Heart
tbRrf lse edtlld ren,embdr. xFEFs
= Hsna4ncs disfslgke wealthy, aris
tocratic, disguised With life weariet
with the safety of good things. that ha,
all his life been laid at his feet for hi
taking; he had rushed away from towr
and had shut himself up at Saxenhan
Towers, his ancestral home, with hi
books, his horses, his thoughts, deaf ant
dumb to the score of letters every pos
brought him beseeching his return
even cruelty negligent of Maud Brere
ton's cG,xhgS notes who, certainly O.
all womeB had tthe best right to com
mahd him. seeihgs that he had been hel
most devofed, Worshipper for the pas
three n,onths. Z -
But now, as he passed Violet Harland.
her dark hair peeping out in half-curl-
ing rings on her low, white forehead,
her cheeks flushed, her lips warmly,
lusciously red. and her eyes!-
Sir Aubrey felt as though an electric
shock had been administered as they
met in ssbrisf, casual glance. and act
ing updnshis iHpnlse-a thing he was
in the habit Of doing, as all your hand
some. setlleh mem are -he refined his
horse sharply m. bringing it back upon
its launches in quivering subsection 10
his low, authoritative word, his strong
wrist.
= And then he. turned round, more in
terest ~ his face than anyone had seen
therein tile last five years.
ss just ns Violet turned dround-- d--impelled
BY that mysterious psychological infiu-
ence we all have felt; and met his
glance, and-slipped on treacherous
stone, and-did not get up
Sir Aubrey was out of the saddle and
at her side in a second.
care you hurt? Let me assist you to
rise. Miss
A deathly whiteness was on her face
that made her more startlingly lovely
than before. sat
was SO stupid of me to fall.''
What a voice-even through its vi
brations of ill-concealed suffering.
81 hope not-surely such little fall
would
But while he spoke Violet tainted at
his feet.
in the name of common humanity, Sir
g. -.
scious girl up, as gently as a woman
might, have done, as only strong man
could have done, and carried his insen-
sible burden through the gate he had
only just quilted, leaving his horse
where it stood in the road. .le.esI
And when; ten minutes later, Violet
woke to find herself on the lounge in
the magnificent library, and DIR. Bran
don, hen own physician, and Mrs Hum
pbreys, the housekeeper at Saxenham
Towers, in attendance. while Sir Au-
brey,, anxious, handsome, interested,
stood hwatcAihg the proceedings. she
knew her life romance had begun.
And week from the time he and
DIR. fBrandbn hnll driven her home from
the Towers 10 her own more modest
home, Sir Aubrey Trevelyan was ready
.Ishr1 YSt any ~ ifils = Wf'feiF' Wf'feiF' 'le was oon
Not day but he called at the little,
gray cottage where she, and her silent,
sister lived. Books, hot
house flowers, hot-house fruits--noth-
ing was too good, too expensive for
her, and to see her eyes light up at
sight of him, to watch her resolute ef-
forts to hide from him the love for him
that was growing every, day, was the
keenest pleaaure that had come to him
for many year.
For she loved him. How could it
have been otherwise? His gentle mas
his caressing imperiousness,
swayed her as a strong wind does the
lily on its stem, and she was SO essen
TALLY woman that she thoroughly en-
joyed being governed.
So much was crowded into that little
ten days. time, and although Sir Aubrey
had by some unaccountable power,
quite astonishingly strange to himself,
from a direct avowal of ,,is
passion for her. yet they both under
stood it as well Us though the most ex-
plicit words had been used.
Violet was perfectly happy. Those
days when she was prisoner on her
than she had ever imagined life could
.snls -,
Proud, honorable, unsuspicious, she
never had a Thought that Sir Aubrey's
love for her was not as loyal AS hers
for him; and SO when he came one day
and told her that be was called to Lon
don on some business for day or SO,
but would come back at the very earli-
est moment, she never, for second,
doubled him.
: Nor did Sir Aubrey doubt himself
that he would return. Miss Brercton
had telegfaphed him that he must come,
or one of her entertainments would fall
fiat., And-just q little ashamed of
having buried himself in the country 50
long, and half wondering what lie would
say, and--mOre than little fearful
that some one would fathom the attrac-
ton. he decided to obey his fair friends
belest.
And then--come back.
He fully meant it-give hin all the
credit he deserves. But, when he came
back among his associates, when he
was at home again among the fashion
able leaders of society, and saw the
difference between them and the girl
he had SD madly dreamed of placing at
the head of his own table
1t was terrible struggle-pcrhaps
the first that Sir Aubrey Trevelyan had
ever had with himself. All his life the
way had been made smooth to him,
and he had only to go whichever way
suited him best.
But now he realized that a decisive
choice must be made between the little
girl in the country, who suit
ed his heart as no other ever had, or
ever would, and the fashionable woman
who would do such royal honor to his
name, his taste, who would queen it in
society rs his wife would be expected to
10.
But which?
Amid all the rapturous welcomes that
greeted him., that question, stern, un-
stared him perpetually
IN the face. One hour he had nearly
decided to 60 back to Saxenham. take
Giolet. and eschew fashionable lite