Middletown transcript., 1883-11-02

| was. her Otl6r lovers ndu DeeI
weighed i'll the balance and found want
ing how would it be with him2 Was
he true enough to love her whether hel
circumstances were splendid or mean
But he was scarcely ashore before ht
sought her out when she had a spare
hour he claimed and filled it. Hel
room now was never without the flowers
she loved best sunshine seemed to have
entered into the shady places Of hel
life all at once. Heaven, after all hel
misgivings, had reserved this happiness
for Constant loved her. /" What
a thing love is, world without end ~
When she walked in the Park fol
recreation, strangers turned and looked
after her, and people whispered, 6 Pretty
Miss Broadlands poverty agrees with
her wonderfully" There was an air of
romance about her which stimulated
the imagination at this time, as if she
were keeping some delicious secret in
reserve. Constant Stanley had been
painting her as Guinevere, in his picture
intended for the approaching exhibit
tiOn.
{" will make that smile immortal, y
he said, at one of the sittings; the
light of those eyes shall shine for ages
on my canvas that perfect bloom shall
bless the earth when you and l, dear,
aredisembodied. Comen-changing his
key" when will you have done with
this hateful task of yours -? 1 am jeal-
GUS of your patients. | shall go mad
myself presently, in order to receive
your ministrations. -
"Hush ~ she said, smiling "you
talk like a mailman already"
Bewitched by your charms, L shall
need but two more sittings-only two.
I wish it were million 1 wish we
might sit here together for eons, you
and II painting, you posing. l have
half a mind to rub the whole thing out
and begin again, just for the love of
painting it over, of keeping you here
before me. Do you know that you are
more beautiful than ever ?' And he
drew his brush across the canvas as he
spoke, obliterating the immortal smile,
the light in the wide-open eyes, the
bloom upon the oval cheek.
" "Foolish boy p she said, "you will
turn my head. If l am beautiful, re-
member that it can not last. Look at
old Mrs. Bangs-she was beauty in
her day 7; look at her parchment skin,
at her dim, cavernous eyes, at her
shrunken tissues and muscles. Beauty
is only a morning mist-it disappears. =
"ShaII change my allegiance for rancor
Because fortune changes her side2
Or shall l, like vessel at anchor,
Veer with the veering tide?'
he sang. you will be always beauti-
ful to me-"
Miss Broadlands remembered that
when, some weeks later, after an in
sane patient had thrown vial of cor
rosive stuff into her face, she had cour-
age to tie her veil across her bonnet
and walk out into the Park again.
Strangers no longer turned to look after
her. "Poor Miss Broadlands, = others
as she passed never Pretty
Miss Broadlands. There was no
longer such a person as pretty Miss
Broadlands. She sat down on a rustic
seat in a secluded part of the Park,
and reflected upon the fact. Nurses
with children in tow passed and re-
passed, the swans swan lazily about
the pond, the swallows dipped low for
insects, the sunset burned brightly in
the west now and then pair of lovers
sauntered by, and she shivered. Was
it not her own fault, after all, that she
was no longer pretty Miss Broadlands !?
Had she not taken her fortunes in her
own hands? Had she any right to
play the part she had chosen, even in a
good cause i? and was this the punish
ment ? Had she lost everything but
what she had pretended to lose F.? Every
thing that she cared to possess =? just
then shadow fell across her path, and
Constant Stanley asked,
May sit here with you for little
while p
:" Yes, 4 she answered, and she lifted
the heavy folds of her veil and con-
fronted him. You will not care to
sit long. You will never make my
smile, my glance, my bloom, immortal
on your canvas. You would not care
to paint me through the eons now.
Do you remember the night you told
me was more beautiful than ever ?"
81 remember y he cried. ''Shall I
change my allegiance because fortune
changes her side ?''
"You can't help it. I don't blame
you. You love beauty"
q love you," and he kissed the
SCARED cheek.
Miss Broadlands has found her true
lover at last-a lover who valued neither
wealth nor beauty, and whom she had
tested more heroically than she had
meant to do. Had fate taken the affair
out of her handsP
"A thousand congratulations, my
dear Stanley,' said Mr.. Stanhope one
day, meeting the artist. "Ah, you are
doing fine thing for yourself, my boy.
Hist not word-I'll tell you a secret.
You fancy you are marrying beggar,
eh Nothing of the kind. On your
wedding day l shall transfer Miss
Broadlands's fortune into your hands
intact It is all a ruse, this poverty of
hers. Has she ever said she was poor ?
No. You've all taken it for granted,