Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1885-10-21

glanced at the stranger with dlstru5t-
full eye. The only person-excepting,
of course, the irrepressible Tommy
who appeared thoroughly at his ease
was Torrens himself. After courteous
salutation addressed to both ladies, and
the slightest possible acknowledgement
of the German S sulky inclination of the
head, he took his seat beside Miss Treve-
lyan and entered into conversation
with her in a low tone.
II suppose l ought to congratulate
you, he began, as unconcernedly as if
he were abiding to the fineness of the
weather. and looking at her full in the
face as he spoke. 1T is rather late in
the day, perhaps, but the news of your
engagement only reached me a week
ago.
''You can do as you like" she re-
piled, nervously toying with her parasol
and evidently struggling hard to main
tain her composure. Il can scarcely
expect you to take any interest now in
what concerns me.'
''You are wrong, Gertrude," said
Torrens, gravely but kindly. "a man
must always feel interested in the fu-
ture of a girl he has loved, even when, -
he added, with a slight shade of bitter
ness in his voice, ''he has been deliber-
ately thrown over. am not reproach-
ing you,' he continued, to pleasing
look from her beautiful eyes. Il per-
fectly understand that you prefer the
substance to the shadow. and acknowl-
edge my inferiority. 1t is not probable
that we shall meet again for some
time at least; hut, believe me, sim
cerely hope that the path you have
chosen may be happy one.'
With these words and a cordial grasp
of the hand, he rose from his feet, and
alleging to Mrs. Mortimer, by way of
excuse for his departure, his wish to
catch the evening train, soon after left
the gardens.
"He takes it cody enough; I must
say muttered GabbIeton to himself,
and, by Jove, he s we'll out of it. IN
less 1 am much mistaken, If this match
ever does come off, it's my private
opinion that our friend Gere stein will
find that he has got handful.
1t was the old story of love versus 1u-
ere, contest of supremacy too often
resulting, as in the present instance, in
the triumph of the latter. That Eyer
ton Torrens, younger son and brief
less barrster. with little to Recommend
him but his good looks and recog-
nized position in society, should have
fallen victimto the charms of Gertrude
Trevelyan, one of the prettiest girls Of
the season, was in the established order
of things. That their intimacy should
have ripcned into something more than
mere ballroom flirtations was equally
ineligible. But that either of them
should have imagined the impossible
ty of revlving the exploded chimera of
Glove in a COTTAGE would in the eyes
of the world have been simply prepos-
ferrous. Gertrude, an orphan and en-
tirely dependent on her aunt, was des-
tanned, according to the immutable
ideas of that ambitious and scheming
matron, to recoup her by an a1vantag-
eous marriage for the cost of her main
tenance and the anxiety inseparable
from the office of chaperon.
It was therefore Mrs. Mortimer's
boundcn duty to discourage by every
means in her power the palpable absur-
dity of a misplaced familiarity on the
part of her niece with any one so MOTOR
iously ineligible as Il detrimental.
Fortunately for her projects, matters
had not gone so far as to render her
interference Intellectual.
The lovers were still contentedly en-
joying the present without troubling
themselves overmuch about the future;
nor, indeed. would the question of
ways and means, if it had happened to
be discussed by them have presented
itself to either in a particularly reassur-
ing light. AS far as Gertrude was con-
cerned she had literally no better ex-
pectancies than the milkmaid in the
song; while the few hundreds year
that Torrens could call his own, an in
come barely sufficient for his bachelor
wants, could by no stretch Of ingenuity
be relied upon to satisfy the require
ments of Benedick. This he knew
perfectly we'll, but the temptation was
too strong for him. One glance from
the damsel's bright eyes, one clasp Of
her hand. put to flight in an instant all
prudential considerations. and left him
more hopelessly entangled in the tolls
than ever.
On her side Miss Trevelyan, although
fully approaching the exclusive privil.
eye of monopolizing the attentions of
one of the handsomest men and best
walters in London, and far from disin-
clined to indulge in a personal expert
ence of cloves young DREAM was not
altogether insensible to the effect pro-
duced by her beauty on the world at
large. She could not for the life of
her refrain from certain displays of
feminine coquetry which in reality
meant nothing but appeared to mean a
great deal.
This had the untold result of arousing
Egerton's jealousy and of satisfying
Mrs. Mortimer that she had still mate
rial work upon; more especially as
her arguments were backed by the adj
vent of powerful auxiliary in the per-
son of Hermann Gerestein, the head of
an Anglo-German house in the city,
and a protested admirer of her niece.
no one knew exactly who he was, or
how he had made his money, but as
common report credited him with the
possession of considerable fortune,
and his recent purchase of a mansion
in Park lane was an indisputable fact,
people in general were content to take
his solvency for granted. and asked no
further questions about him.
That Gertrude was flattered by his
undisguised homage her aunt saw plain
ly enough, and lost the opportunity of
protiting by it. His wealth and mani
fold advantages derivable therefrom
were continually dwelt upon by the
maneuvering lady, and the absolute
folly of throwing such a chance away
was persistently limited at. Little by
little the object of her opportunities
began involuntarily to compare the
brilliant prospect held out to her with
the undesirable position of a poor mans
wife, to whom house in Park lare
needs be myth, and modest home
in fashionable quarter of the town
an Unavoidable necessity.
Torrens was not slow either to per-
ceive the change in her manner or to
-