Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-03-30

to be her Wedding-She felt that she
could never forgive the man who thus
plainly showed his love of freedom, and
determination to enjoy it, regardless OF
her, until the last moment permitted by
her fathers will
AS they were to travel after the cere-
mony, she had resolved, some months
before, to perfect herself in the study of
French and German, and in compliance
with her request, her guardian had Sc
cured her an instructor, under whose
tuition she had progressed amazingly.
Norman Guy was student devoted to
his chosen calling-a scholar whose
erudition filled her with awed admira-
ton.
| There seemed to be some mystery
about his early life-he was singularly
reticent for so young man in regard to
all that concerned himself; but Blanche,
having no day-dreams of her own, chose
to indulge In many on account of her
young tutor, and in them all he seemed
to her to have borne some disappoint-
ment, some ambition blighted by harsh
fortune, some noble aim baked by 3
perverse destiny.
Oh, how she longed to be able to re-
move from his path whatever difficulties
! beset its upward, onward counsel! How
gladly she would have met poverty, if
only he could have the wealth that SEEM
ed useless in her idle hands!
1t was while in his society the happy
| hours passed that made all time beside
| seem blank and worthless; and even
Zoe, who was always present during
their lessons, seemed to enjoy the days
set apart for them, and long for their
|
that she was! Never did waiting maid
ever so adore the young mistress she
served as pretty Zoe did.
Perhaps it was this devotion, appar-
ent in every glance of her soft, yet in
| diligently bright, eyes. that made the
mute maid so great a favorite with Mr..
Guy, the tutor, who, for the sake of be-
ing able to converse with her-er per-
haps, in his turn, to be instructed by his
fair pupil-learned the mute language,
and so became one of the trio of silent
takers: for, owing to her native refine
ment and grace Zoe was more of a COM
panion than a servant.
Time went by-tOo swiftly for Blanche
since it brought day nearer and nearer
that she had learned to dread, and yet
her betrothed neither came nor sent It'd
ings of his coming.
They had met only as children; he was
five years her senior, and had gone
abroad to continue his studies she was
too young to think or care much about
him.
Latterly he had written to her at long
intervals, and with cold ceremony; but
as no answer appeared necessary, they
had never progressed to correspOn-
dence.
"But now it is absolutely due to me,
as lady, that he should write,'' she
thought, as the time was close at hand.
ssTe plight my faith forever to a man
whom do not even know by letter is
shocking. 1t is outrageous to every
thought and feeling, and [ will appeal
from my dead father to my living guar
dian against such an ordeal"
Yet the days wore on, and she could
not find courage to speak.
If he would only come, or write
anything to rouse me to desperation"
she said. ssIt is impossible to protest
against so cruel, so careless, wooer.
Wooer!" She repeated the word with
a flush of pain. "No, no! there is no
wooing necessary. Donald Irving
comes to receive me as if 1 were an in
sensible stock or stone. l am part of
an inheritance to him-nothing more"
Then her mind reverted to Norman
Guy, the poor tutor, and frenzied de-
sire to yield up all her wealth, to the last
farthing, if she could only be permitted
to follow the hard and toilsOme fortune
of the humble scholar, took possession
of her.
But only for a moment; the recollec-
ton of the tutors silence recalled her
to herself. Her cheeks flushed pain
fully as the undeniable consciousness of
having bestowed her heart unsought,
unasked, on a comparative stranger,
forced itself on her.
What lot was hers! To the world
it seemed most enviable, but to her it
was full of untold bitterness.
One of the brilliant features of her
great fortune was the possession of fam
ily diamonds of immense value and rare
magnificence. They had been we'd
din9-gift to her great-grandmother,
noble French lady, and though lost dur
ing the horrible Revolution, when their
second owner, her maternal grandmoth-
err, lost her head, with all else, for her
iealty to her royal mistress, Marie An
toinette, they had been restored after
the return of the Bourbons, and so came
peaceably down to Blanche's day.
On her twenty-frst birthday they
would be given formally into her pos
session; and Mrs. Percy Waltham was
very eager to see these famous gems
all the more charming from their an
tique setting, the rage for the old style.
being then at its height.
81 am coming to see your diamonds
tomorrow, my dear Blanche an
nounced the reigning oracle of the world
of fashion, sand predict quite levee
for you and them. You know how
eagerly subject is seized on in society,
and I assure you that your diamonds
their being hidden by your ancestress in
the floor of her dressing-room, dlscov-
cred by her false valet to servant of
the Commune, confiscated, lost to sight,
heard of in Holland, years afterward,
i'm the hands of Jewish dealer, sought
for, found, and finally repurchased into
the family of the original owners-oh, 1
Al Al AID