Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-23

said Lord barley. Jack has had his
chance, and has made . hash Of it. 1t
may have been my fault, bat that was q
pure accident. According to the original
agreement it is my turn now"
Lord Darley!" exclaimed Mis- Van
stone, completely taken aback.
81 told Jack 1 should try my luck now
he has failed, and of course, he could
raise no objection" said his lordship.
Without further preface, Lord barley
proceeded to make . formal offer Of
marriage, laying considerable stress
upon lis social position and prospects,
and speaking with the air Of a man who
felt assured Of success. Miss Vanstone
sat speechless with mingled indignation
and amazement. Her natural Impulse
was to decline to listen to him, and to
express her scorn and contempt at his
behavior in scathing terms. But she
could not find adequate words in which
to convey her sentiments, and while, in
her agitation, she was vainly seeking
them, Lord barley contrived to achieve
his proposal without interruption.
Finding that he was calmly waiting for
her answer, Miss Vanstone was seized
with a sudden missgiving that anything
she might say at this juncturs would
sound tame and spiritless. She realized
now that it was too late, that she ought
to have stopped him at the OUTSET by a
peremptory word or gesture. Asa mat
ter of fact, her furious Indignation had
deprived her of her presence Of. mind,
and though her spirit was raging within
her she dared not trust herself to speak.
Lord barley replaced his glass, which
he had dropped from his{ eve in the.
fervor of his declaration, and glanced at
her pale face with evident perplexity.
Another moment and she would have
been forced, from sheer embarrassment,
to break silence, but, to her heartfelt re-
lief, their ~tete-a-tete was interrupted by
the gentleman to whom she had PRONE
Used the next dance. Miss Vanstone
rose Immediately and left the conserva-
tory, without deigning to bestow a word
or a look at Lord barley, who. however,
contrivcd to whisper as she passed him:
"Unless [ hear from you in the mean
time. I will call on Monday for your re-
ply"
No doubt Lord barley had awoke to
the fact that the young lady was not
prepared to accept him off-hand. It
may be that her silence had led him to
anticipate a refusal, for he did not at
tempt to approach her again during the
evening eve l9g;,,d Probably Saaa }, he preferred ire that
lest, being pressed, she should give an
unfavorable response. At all events,
when Miss Vanstone was leaving the
house an hour later she heard the link
men bawling for Lord. Darley's car
riage, and caught sight of him IS he
vanished down. the steps.
Miss Vanstone was no less furious
with herself than with Lord barley.
Her project of enmercifully snubbing
him had ignominiously failed through
her own weakness. She was more than
ever convinced of his and
treachery toward Jack, and yet she had
suffered him to make a proposal of mar
rage unchecked. The worst of the
matter was, his offer was still undis-
posed of, and she had no alternative but
to write to him. She instinctively
guessed that a refusal contained in .
letter, however severely worded, would
afford no vent for her outraged feelings.
On the other hand, after her past expe-
rience, she doubted whether she could
do justice to her indignant sentiments
at an interview. If he had not ex-
pressed his intention of calling upon her
on Monday, she would probably have
decided to treat his offer with silent
contempt. But she felt that this plan
was out of the question under the cir
cumstances, and besides, if Lord barley
were persistent, she would be forced to
give him an answer soonersor later.
The truth was that Miss Vanstone
was consumed by an intense desire to be
revenged upon Lord barley. She
wished, if possible, to humiliate him,
and to make him feel how she despised
him for his conduct. She was so car
ried away by this uncharitable impulse
that she eve rested until she had de-
vised q e of effecting her purpose.
The idea with which her indignation in.
spired her was so bold and startling that
it almosttook her breath away. BY de-
grees, however, she. became completely
reconciled to her scheme, which she
finally resolved to put into execution.
The initial step was simplicity itself, for
it consisted Of nothing more than an ur-
gent note to Jack Benson requesting
him to call upon her Immediately.
Jack came, of course, with his heart
in his mouth, scarcely daring to antici-
pate the good fortune which awaited
him. But he was overwhelmed by the
joyful surprise with which he learned
the conditions imposed by Miss Van
stone. She stipulated for . private
wedding to take place within three days
namely, on the following Monday.
Miss Vanstone gave a very plausible
reason for this unorthodox arrangement,
saying that after what had passed she
thought the best way of silencing the
gossips would be to get married with
out more ado. Jack was hardly sur
prised that Miss Vanstone should prefer
to avoid the awkwardness of q re-
engagement, and for the rest he was not
inclined to be hypocritical. The weak
minded old uncle, it is true, raised feeble
objections, which were easily overcome,
but there was practically no n to be
consulted on either SIDE. The conse-
quence was that, a special license hav-
ing been obtained, Jack and Ethel were
quietly married without fuss or cere-
mony, while their friends were still