Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-01-23
Gales ano Sketfbts.
F0RTUxE's'WHEEL.
BY THE AUTHOR OF ..MorLr BAws."
(Continuued from yesterday. J

on his way to Berlin as military attache,
and then he came to the conclusion that he
must marry for money if he meant to keep
up the old place rs 1t should be kept-a
matter that for many weeks had been
troubling him-and then he told himself
he was heartIess fellow, and then-he
forgot her,
Patti ia singing and dea,hly silence
reigDs, save for the grand tones that swell
and fade and rise again, filing the wide
expanse of the vast theatre with raptur-
Gus melody. Through the great hush the
music is sobbing-tbrilling- as in
spell. the hearts Of the mighty eoncourse.
Who shall say what unforgoren memories
are brought into vivid life By these charm
ing sonnds2 What sad but exquisite re-
collections make the pulse beat2 At least
they bring tears into the eyes OF one.
She is quite young girl: and in her
absorption is leaning rather more over
the cushions Of her box than she is aware.
Her whole soul is in her face, which is
extremely beautiful.
''SIt back a little. dearest; you should
think sometimes" said pretty woman,
half dozen years her senior and evident
ly her chaperon. tapping her turtiyely
with her fan. You know how people
watch your every movement and they will
not believe"-
what does il matter2 Let her be hap
py in her own way" says young man
hurriedly to the pretty woman, stopping a
second message from the fan.
Indeed the girl has been so engrossed
% 81. 81.
unheeded. Her eyes are full of passion
ate delight, tiDetured with sadness-who
il ever merry when he hears sweet
music ?''-her lips are slightly parted.
Her gown Is of costly white silk, broid-
cred with pearls, and she is Older graver
yet altogether strangely unaltered since
that time. a year ago. when she sat amidst
the fragrant clover and watched the roses
dying and listened. with far off dreamy
gaze, TO the plaintive murmuring of the
waves as they beat their ioamy breasts
against the cruel rocks for down below.
Then her false love- sat beside her;
now. Her eyes grow dim. Slowly ,as
though some inward force compels her,
she turns them from the stage aud looks
into the stalls below. Then she sees him,
"Vera ~ the voice comes to her. vague
~. indistinctly, as it were through a hazy
mist. 1t is her cousin, Lady Vynor's
voice. aud it awakes her to the necessity
of calm. She is still leaning on the
Cushions of the box. but now she draws
herself up. and leans back, until she is no
longer visible to the stalls beneath. Rails
ing her hand she passes it hurriedly across
her forehead.
''Shc is ill.," saws Lord Dinghy hastily.
He is the Young man who had taken her
part a moment since.
"Ah so she is,' SAYS Lady Vynor, in a
frightened way. Vera, dearest''--
ut is only the heat" says the girl COM
polling herself to speak by passionate
effort at Is really nothing" She leans
back again "a If exhausted.
"What Is to be done. " says Lany Vynor
helplesslv. half rising from her seat. She
is nervous woman. always on the look
out for midnight conhagrations and sud
den deaths
Nothing" says Dinghy quickly. The
opera is nearly over. Give her time to
recover herself a little. and then take her
home. The heat is intense; it is no won
der she feels it,"
Indeed, Vera is ashen gray. but has by
this time regained a certain amount of
composure and with 1t the knowledge
that the old love upon which she had set
such store is dead; buried. lost. gone
past all recall. in that one brief moment
when her ewes had rested upon Stainer's.
Dipgby, taking a scent bottle from Lady
Nynor presses it into Vera's hand with
out looking at her. The delicacv. the ten
.derness of the action falls warmly on the
girls bruised heart. How good he has
been to her how sincerely he has loved
her and obeyed her slightest behest for
two long months, without reward or any
hope of it!
Twice. Vera had refused him: and
twice he had taken her refusal very well.
but with an evident determination to
pcrsevere in his suit. Being an English
man he declined to recognize defeat And
now. indeed. in this hour. does he find his
consistency crowned with success.
10 explain to YOU about Stainer. When
his eyes had fully met hers and he is salts
fled that the radiant beauty up above is in
very truth the simple child whose love he
had played with for awhile and then flung
earelessly aside. he turns to the man next
him:
"Who il that girl in white in the box
up there ?'' he saws hoarsely.
My dear fellow Not know the reign
ing beauty of the hour, SAYS his friend.
That is Miss Wrioihesly. the most ex-
quisite creature in England. recognized as
such"
IL have beer abroad" stammers Stain
er. with poor attempt ut indifference
The scent of dying roses. the roar of a
far-off ocean in his ears
"Ah, just So" says his friend. plying
". Greatest mistake in the world to go
one foot out Of town. They say travelling
eularges ones mind 1t narrows it to my
thinking. The sweet shady side of Pail
Mall and the Row will teach YOU all that
ever you may want to know-and good
deal more
Tell me of Miss Wriothesly." inter-
rupts S;ainer. impatiently.
don: You see my theory exemplified
straight throughp If YOU had STAYED at
home ike sensible man you would not
have had TO ask the question. A year ago
she was unknown. Then fortune found
her. Some forgotten relation in Canada
died and lefl her sole heiress to his enor-
nous wealth: whereupon other relatives
suddenly discovered they had been pining
for her society Her cousin LADY TvnoT