New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1883-08-08
PEARL WILEY.
BY GUss1E E. WORD.

twitter of a timid bird; but as the chords
tremble and vibrate under the touch of
the nimble white fingers, Pearl WILEY,
the young governess, forgets her little
charges standing motionless by her side,
and sitting with her dreamy blue eyes
fixed on the glimmcr and glisten of the
waves out on the beach below, she plays
as one entranced with the wild, witch
ing symphonies of her own creation,
chat seems to rise and fall sympathetic
cally with the wild throbbings out on
the yellow sands of Aylmer's Rest.
/ AS she sits there in the blaze of the
sunset, her face is all agl0w with beau
tiful thoughts born of the music, and
blended with the grand colorings on sea
and sky. A shaft from the sunset strikes
through the lace curtains, and circles
the queenly head with coronal of
gold.
Listen, Alice; who ever heard any
thing so beautiful, and yet so weird?
Who in this place can play like that?'
Have you been here two days and
have not seen her yet. It is Eve and Eff
fie's governess; and just think, Paul,
she is only IS, whole year younger
than am, and has to teach fora living!
And yet | almost envy her, for she has
the loveliest face in Aylmer's Rest
"Come in and introduce me; you
have aroused a great curiosity to see
this paragon of loneliness.
"Oh, Paul, I dare not!' and there is
genuine dismay in her tones. ..Mamma
would indeed be very angry
He only laughs, and slipping her arm
through his, fairly draws her into the
room.
"Miss Wyley, my brother, Paul Ever
son.
Pearl looks up from her suddenly
aroused day dreams to encounter pair
of the blacklist eyes she has ever seen;
but her confusion is only momentary,
and rising with half naughty grace she
bows ever SO slightly, entirely ignoring
the outstretched hand.
Only few commonplace remarks
pass between them, when Pearl finds
some trivial excuse for taking herself
and her yCv.y.g charges from the room.
Paul's eyes follow her with strange
light in their dark depths.
1.-The poorchild? So young, SO lovely,
and so lonely!''
The tone is cxquisitely tender, and
strikes Alice as something more than
pitiful.
ooh, Paul, don't tlirt with her!' she
says, half pleadingly. Mamma
would dismiss her instantly from the
house.
'.Flirt?'' There is an angry flash in
the eyes now. s.Who talks Of flirting
with hers
Some hours later Pearl Wyley goes to
her room. her heart still beating strange.
", and on her way she passes the libra
~. The door is ajar, and reveals full
length portrait Of Paul Everson.
How often she has stood before that
gilded frame, gazing on the dark hand
some face and the flashing eyes, that
seemed restless even on canvas, till
every line and feature was as familiar
as the face of her dead mother. And
now her ideal has come in flesh and
blood, infinitely handsomer than the
picture; what wonder that her young
heart beats fast, and paints its blossom
ing roses on her pure white cheeks?
There is to be small social gathering
that evening, and Pearl is to play a
long, weary round of waltzes and quad
rifles. As she goes up to dress she finds
a bouquet of exquisite white rosebuds,
their creamy petals half unfolded.
''How kind of Alice!'
Three of the smallest find nesting
place in the waves of her golden hair,
and after donning dress of some soft
/ gray material, she places another clus-
Il tor in tho 11oo of hQr throat
The delicate pink tinge is still in her
cheeks, the sparkle in her eyes, as she
enters the parlor by side door and
takes her seat by the piano, which faces
the conservatory, and is half hidden
from the dancers by tall vases filled with
ferns.
Paul soon wearies of the dance. There
is only one face there he cares to see,
and it has been before his vision all the
evening, though the tall vases have been
SO artfully arranged to conceal it. At
ter awhile he slips away from the dan
GERS and enters the conservatory, and
standing behind a branching azalea
tree, watches the face that shows above
the top of the grand piano. The flush
and sparkle is gone, and PEARLS face
is as white as the rosebuds at her
throat.
How tired she must ber' he MUIR
murs with yearning tenderness; and he
stretches out his strong arms, as though
the impulse is strong to clasp her in them
for all time.
Is his gaze magnetic? just then the
weary player looks up and catches sight
Of the dark face framed in the branches
Of hesazalea tree, and catches, too, all
the eyes express. There is acrash upon
the piano keys, and Pearl slips down
upon the floor, upsetting rare vase in
her fall.