The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-06-06

On, 2 harmless sort OF creature;
PiHR anu wiIlue preJGlnesS, n0JnIng
more. She was aplanter's daughter in
Ceylon, or somewhere; and he was stay
ing with them when the father died.
She was left quite friendless and des-
titute, and he married her out of pity.
lie was always a Quixotic goose, Harry
Fielding
The spell was off now; and Nesta,
white as death, was hurrying up the
stairs to her room. There was q little
sofa In a sheltered nook in the corridor,
and there sat Harry-the missing
Harry-and the woman he should have
married.
Nesta sped past but as she fed she
saw Harry bend his head to kiss the
beautiful hand he was holding, and she
heard his low
If had only known years tgo, things
might have been so differentp
On, on, till her own door closed be-
hind her, and she gazed wildly around,
at the pretty ornaments that strewed
her bower, as if she had never seen them
before. She flung the diamonds from
her throat and wrists as if they hurt her,
and sank into a chair beside the quaint
old ebony table, leaning her head,
with its tangle of crisp brown hair,
down on her folded arms. She did not
shed a tear, but her brain seemed on
fire.
Beside her stood the tall vase Of 1ushes
that Harry and she had gathered from
the lake only yesterday. Wasn't it a
hundred years ago..
Never another sorrow he could
guard her from?" Well, it was true,
he couldn't help this it wasn't his farlt,
he had ment to do right; he had mar
RED her "out of pity" when he loved
another woman. 1t must be her own
fault, not his; yes, because she was
pink-and-white and nothing more; and
she ought to have known pity wasn't
love, only it had seemed so mnch like
It'll
"If he had known years ago, things
might have been so differentl" Might
they not still? What if she were TO go
away that very night, and never trouble
him again? She had not a friend in the
world except her old Brighton school
mistress; she would go to her and beg
her to take her in, and let her teach the
little children. And, perhaps, she
might die soon, and Harry could be hap
ply with the woman he had always loved.
Nesta felt as if death wouldn't be long
in coming, she felt so i'll now.
She got up to fetch a timetable.
Yes, the mail train passed through Mid
dlehamton at l o'clock; it was only IL
now, and, though she couldn't very
we'll understand the puzzling figures,
she thought must stop at the little sta
ton just the other side of the park.
She drew her blotting book to her,
and began to write fast. A big tear or
two splashed down on the paper, but she
wiped them patiently away; it must be
clear that Harry mightreadit.
"They say you only married me for
pity" she wrote. II might have guessed
it, my darling, but you were so good to
me that / never, never did. l can't
make you free again, but it is better
for us never to see each other any more,
and perhaps / may die and you can go
back to the woman you have always
loved. / saw you just now, when you
kissed her hand, and said things might
have been so different if you had only
known years ago. Yes, they would have
been different for us all. God bless you,
my poor good boy you were not to
blame.n
She paused and looked up.
"What shall I sign it2' she said; IT
am not his wife any more, for only love
really makes a marriage"
Her eye fell on her wedding ring, its
brightness scarcely furnished yet. She
stopped and pressed her lips to it gent
ly, solemnly.
"Oh, Harry, my Harry she whis-
pered. eff it had only been love, not
pityl"
She rose and slipped off the golden
satin gown and put on q dark, warn
dress instead.
must v g go away from him In the
things he gave me-" she said, as she
fastened her long fur cloak with its sill
yer clasps. II haven't a single gown
that was mine before [ knew him. He
las ever dressed me out OF charity.
His pity has been more generous than
other peoples love-"
She opened the French window in
her dressing-room and stepped out on
the balcony, whence a flight of steps led
down to the terrace below. She glanced
back at the pretty room, with itsJapan-
csc cabinets, and blue-and-white china,
and the ebony table where the letter to
Harry lay with the light full upon it SO
that he could not miss it. Then she
shut the easement sharply behind her
and resolutely turned away.
The moon was bright with a fitful
brightness-now almost as bright as
day, now hidden behind hurrying clouds
and it was bitterly cold. Nesta drew
her cloak tighter around her, and tried