The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-05-05
THE PAINTED FAN.


'fYou won't forget me, little one ?"
said Earl Lysle, in his softest accents,
looking down with earnest eyes into the
sweet hower-faee, 30 trustfully uplifted
mo. I viii neverforget you, answered
the girl a y7f
And the blue eyes grew moist, andtl 9
red lips trembled. The promise broke
down the last remnant of her strength;
the next moment she had burst into
passionate, bitter weeping.
1t seemed as though the branches in
the tree above them bent pityingly down
upon them; as though the sun fingered
a moment in its tenderest sympathy, ere
breathing his good night to the world
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 for many o long year.
He had won the love Of many women
won It often for the mere pleasure of
winning; sometimes he had won and
worn it until it wearied him, but always
believing that had the condition been re-
versed, the woman would have done ever
as he did In this case he knew differ
emily. When he first met LenasMan-
ming she had been q child. It had been
his hand which had guided her wayering
steps across the boundary line from
childhood to womanhood; he who had
wakened her child-heart from its slum-
ben. For what? For dis! 1t had been
in his life a summer-idyl, a passing folly;
in hers, the one spot from which an
things henceforth must date. He was o
man of the world; she a child Of nature,
whose world henceforth was bounded by
the horizon of his presence.
"Hush, Lena-hushi" be entreated,c
passing his arm about her waist. do
you really care for melike this 2"a
A passing pride stirred at his ques-
ton.
'Do you care for me so little that you
can not understand it 2" abe answered.
'sNayl 1 love you very 6early-so
dearly, Lena, that, might I carve out my
own desires, and forget my duties, 1
would never go back to the great city,
and the life which has grown wearisome.
As it is, / must go; but, Lena, If I may,
dear-f I can SO shape my destiny
some day I will leave il all behind me.
and come again, this time to pluck and
wear my sweet woodland rose next to my
heart forever"
Pretty words were very natural to
Earl Lysle; yet even as he spoke these
words, he knew that ere smother year
had run its course, he was destined to
lead to the altar bis heiress-cousin-a
tall, naughty brunetteEwhose letter OF
recall now lay In the b~reast-pocket Of his
coat.
"But-butif things should 90 amiss
NOT as you fancy?s
There was absolute terror in the girls
tones-terror so great that, to the mar,
it seemed cruelty not to quiet It; and,
besides, his heart was stirring within
him to noblef, better purposes.
Perchnace he might avow to his be-
trothed the truth, that, instead of q mar
riage of convenience, he sought a mar
riage 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 to Its golden crown.
Mave no fear, my little one. l win
come back with the first snow."
'FYou promise, Earl?"
81 promised"
Lena had always loved the summer
rather than winter. Theleafy trees, the
birds, the flowers, the blue sky-an had
been to her as welcome friends, to be
greeted rapturously, 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
looked ont one bright morning upon the
first frost. She laughed when, people
said that itgould 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 recovered consciousness.
It was her first real grief. She had
lost her mother when. an infant. II
seemed to her that she could not have
had strength to live through it, but that,
as they lowered the coffin into the grave,
n few flakes of snow came whirling down
from the gray sky, and she welcomed
them as heaven-sent messengers Of hope.
When she came back to the quiet
house, through whose rooms the dear,
CHEEKY voice would never more echo,
she almost expected 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 q
heavy mortgage lay on the farm, and
that when all things were cleared up,
there would be left to her but q few hun.
bred dollars.
"He will not care" she murmured,
SIT will prove his love for me the more.
The week after the funeral, set in the
first heavy snow-storm. and the paper
told how it had spread from one end o
the country to the other.
Lena was almost barricaded in he,
lonely home, but she sat all day, will
folded hands, looking upon the soft
feathery flakes Watching the drift
grow higher and higher-and knew tina,
1T was all bringing summer to her heart
The neighbors came to take her il
their sleighs, when the sun peeped on
again and all the earth was wrapped il
its white mantle. They said that he
-''SOho WOAO PaAO ol10 hC1 Adl1u 1cNof
ish, and that she must have more of thi
clear, bracing air.
But she shook her head and refuses
to go. Could she leave the house, wheI
at any moment he m~ightcome? Besides
she had sent to him a paper with the
announcement of her fathers death, and
this must surely hasten him.
But day succeeded day, until weel
followed week, and still he neither cam,
nor sent her word The snow-cloud
had formed and fallen many times, ant
each time her heart grew sick with long
ing.
She loved him SO wholly, she trusted
him so completely that she thought onl,
sickness or death could have kept hin
from her.
The hours dragged very slowly. He
little studio was neglected. She sat al
day, and every day, beside the window
until one morning she wakened to know