Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-04-16

at the bottom of the garden indicated
the return of the nutting party, and
Beatrice quivered from head to foot.
"Oh, I cannot face them all!' she ex-
claimed wildly. ''Just one word Rich
ard-how do you know this?"
ST was told of it: then met him and
he confessed it.
The girl looked into his face for one
glimmer of doubt, but there was moth
ing to be read in it, save the deepest
compassion, and bowling her head hope
lessly, she fed TO her room.
Erslkines meeting with Connie was
robbed of all sweetness by the misera-
BILE news he had to communicate, and he
suffered the more acutely because, in q
measure, he felt himself answerable for
his friend. Not only had he introduced
him to the Lathams, but his promise to
Beatrice had quickened his sense of re-
sponsibility, SO that now, when Headley
had taken the final step of treachery he
hardly dared look Mrs. Latham or Con-
ME in the face.
Headley's was q pitiable case of weak
responsibility. While the war lasted he
had not been tempted to forget Beatrice,
but when on the voyage home he was
| thrown into constant cOmpanionship
with girl who had simply made up her
mind from the first to bring him to her
| feet, his fidelity wavered and at last
broke down altogether. Erskine was
powerless, for no sooner did he show
! himself antagonistic to her schemes
| than Miss Laing SO contrlved that b
could not suspect the extent to which
she carried on her designs behind his
| back. Throughout, Headley was con-
scious and ashamed of his baseness, and
whenever opportunities occurred of
sending letters overland he wrote to
Beatrice IN terms of unchanged devo-
ton. It was SO difficult to confess his
perfdy in black and white.
s'What villain I am" he thought,
with his pen between his teeth, on the
occasion of his writing from Gibraltar,
''to sit down and humbug Beatrice
while I'm making love to another girl!'
Then he drew out Beatrice's photo
graph and her last letter, and dwelt
alternately on the sweet, sincere face
and on the loving words, till his sense of
honor was momentarily aroused. ''No
no! I am not scoundrel enough to de-
sert girl like thatl She shall never
know what I've been up to. l won't
speak to that little witch again. swear
[ won'tw In which access of virtuous
resolve he penned that last loyal letter
to Beatrice which she treasured and de-
lighted in. For the next few hours Miss
Laine found him difficult to manage,
but her tenacity was greater than his
power of resistance, and by the time
they reached England his infatuation
rendered him helpless tool in her
hands. Well aware that unless the mar
riage took place clandestinely and at once
it probably never would, she prevailed
upon him to go through the ceremony
without moments delay. 1t is need
less to say more, except perhaps that
Headley's transgression carried its pun
ishment along with it. He suffered
bitterly.
AS for the Lathams, Connie is Erskine's
wife now, and Beatrice, after long
period of suffering as keen as love was
absorbing, is at length regaining some
thing of her former self. She is not the
same-no woman who has loved and
been so cruelty betrayed can ever be
| that-but though deep in her heart one
scar of unforgotten bitterness remains.
the changing interests that enter into
every life, however quiet, have done
their kindly work and blunted the edge
of painful memory.