Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-10
.ciously his tone has grown q little stern

dull sometimes and one, wants some
one to consult-to lean on"
"And you think to find that some
n in Reginald VaneP"
Tie is sorry the next moment to have
blurted out the words, but it is too late
to recall them. She flashes a glance at
him, and he meets it steadily, expect
ing to be assailed with a torrent of
feminine wrath, but is taken aback at
meeting instead a sudden burst of tears.
"Mrs. Fairfax-what a brute 1 am
forgive me. 1 have lived somuch alone
that l have fallen into a dreadful habit
OF speaking my thoughts aloud"
But how came you to have such
thoughts?"
could I help itp Only last night t
heard your names coupled together by
the voice Of common gossip, and to-day
have I not e some confirmation of
the report? And 1 would not presume
to lind fault, thought was once not only
Jacks friend, but almost a rough elder
long ago."
"Not forgotten" murmurs a stifed
voice; only l wondered why you never
came to see me.h
ut was best not. 4. Jack loved
and trusted me-his mentor, as he used
to cal me, poor boy! But now-now,
Nina, l can not but think Of the old
days when 1 see you about to take an
irretr1evable step with one whom I can
nos,think worthy
"You are jealous! Our grave Colonel
actually condescending to such a weak
nesa! And pray, may I ask, what makes
youthink Sir Reginald Vane unworthy
cont say of little me-but of any
good thing the world can bestow?"
"Eis dishonorable conduct toward
another woman. Forgive me, Nina
Heaven knows I would sooner bite my
tongue out than say it-but he is play
ing a double part in this; making up to
you for fortune, while his heart-what
heart be has to give-belongs to Miss
Elliott. l saw him by her side last
night. 1 watched the looks and signs
that passed between them, and I speak
solemn truth when I say that I believe
he has won that poor girls affections
and that in sober earnest he cares for
her. And now that / have said my say
and brought a cloud over the face I
have always connected with Heavens
sunshine I will go my way, only asking
that as time softens your anger, YOU
will try to think . little kindly Of me.
Here is your landing-glace."
And he pulls the boat into the tiny
creek, and resting on his oars waits for
her to spring ashore and give him his
final gesture of dismissal. But Nina
does not move. Her head is bent down
and so overshadowed by her hat that he
can not read the expression of her
faintly-fushed face.
1t seems ages to him before the silence
is broken. At last: 'Did you always
think me a dreadful firt?"
He is startled and taken unawares by
the appealing tone. Fain would he an
swer a reassuring negative, but memo
ries of the old days again rise before his
mind-visions of the sweet little play
mate grown suddenly into an exacting,
vain piece of womanhood-of poor
Jacks alternate rapture and despair in
the days of his brief, il-considered
courtship-and truth, the guiding star
of Leslie Grahame's nature, compels
him to answer:
"I don't think you could help it
some women are formed to be the tor
ment of every man who comes near
them-it was your nature to be sweet
and lovable."
"And now / I'm grown older and
harder-and care only for admiration,
so that I could stoop to pick up a heart
that belongs of right to another wo-
man. Oh, Leslie! You thought this!'
"By Heaven, 1 did you Injustice"
cries the Colonel in a burst Of self
reproach. "I've been insulting you all
this time and you have borne it like an
angel-just as you used in the old days,
when I was a big unmannerly boy, and
tyranized over You like the ruffian I
was"
"And I liked you through it ALL"
This is spoken very softly.
china, Nina, do not drive me mad.
You can do it-you always could-Iwent
away years ago because 1 knew you cared
for Jack"
"You dido"
"Was l not right? You would never
have chosen me-the grave, stern
.Scotchman, fifteen years your senior, in
preference to that bright, sunny-hearted
lad? And now, don't think, dear, that
l have come back to harass YOU. l
would not have een you to-day, but
that 1 could not bear to leave you I'M
warned Of the gossip atioat. But now
that you know your woman's wit and
your own brave little heart will prove
your best defense. Good-by, Nina. Say
once that you forgive meas you used
long ago."
"Leslie!'
1t is we'll that the dropping branches
of a weeping-willow have made a little
secluded bower of the landing-place;
well, too, that the gardener looming
down to moor the boat, does not arrive
a minute sooner, or his astonished eyes
might have seen what Queenie after
ward mysteriously reports: ''My man.
mic crying and Colonel Grahame COM
folting her, as mammie does me when
I tumble down, holding her head on his
shoulder and stroking her hair"
For Leslie Grahame's long-repressed
tale Of love has been spoken at last and
the little playfellow of early days-the
prize which he gave up in bitter self
denial to his boy friend has whispered
to him the eyes which, had he been
more far-sighted, might have been
spoken long ago and have spared
him years of self-intlicted exile.-Lon-