The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-01-29


for what he did was this: asked Leon
eta Meredith to marry him, and cursed
himself an hour later for his folly.
But the die was cast. In honor he
could not retreat, and one quiet day he
made Leonetta his wife-made her his
wife on the very day that Helene Carle-
ton knelt below the low window-sill of
her room, trying to decide would she
believe her lover true or false.
Il will trust him. she said softly;
what is love without faith?'
And so she trusted him; and al the
same moment his arms encircled anoth-
er whose head lay on his bosom. and
who bore to him the most sacred of IL
tles-his wife.
Yes, Leonetta was his wife. She had
reached the crowning-point of her am
bition, and-was she satisfied?
No-most certainly.
A mad passionate love filed her
breast-a love that refused her rest or
peace. i fiery flame that seemed to
consume her very being.
She realised the truth with clear dis
cerning eyes. She was an unloved
wife, neither more nor less, and the
thought was maddeuing.
She had dreamed that wealth, and
position, aud gratified ambition would
til her heart, but once obtained they
turned TO ashes in her bOsom-a Dead
Sea fruit that held but bitterness to the
core.
Love. love; give me his lover' her
soul cried night and day, ''to obtain
that. | would barter soul and body"
Once she came on pictured face
among her husbands treasures. a fair
young face. cain and serene. the low
whit. brow shaded by silken curls, the
sweet sensitive mouth slightly apart
with a smile
And then this woman, who for years
had believed love but second or third
accessory OF life, if even that, indeed,
had found it the one thing most to be
desired on earth.
Day y day her passionate love for
her huSba d increased, kept burning to
& feyerish fame by the knowledge o.
how far she was from reigning in his
heart.
Not that willingly, by word or deed,
did Glendon Withers give sign of the
terrible truth of the knowledge of his
awakening from the passion of temper
that had conquered his reason for a
while.
Under the spell of her dark eyes, un-
der the subtle wooing of her manner,
and half maddened by Helene's cold dis
missal, he had yielded to passions i'm
pulse, and wed woman he felt by in
tuition was far from worthy to fill the
place Helene had once promised to
hold
The past was past, however. The
words spoken could never be recalled.
For good or i'll, for better or worse,
Leonetta was his wife.
One evening Leonetta strayed down
by glade that lay below the hotel to
which her husband had taken her
Her beautiful face was unusually pale,
and she sat thoughtfully down on low
grassy mound.
''It is strange" she murmured half
aloud, 'that this evening, in particular,
his memory haunts me so persistently!"
Not strange, had she known the
truth, for coming events cast their
shadows before.
Even then, down in the shrubbery
below where she sat, a pair of dark fierce
eyes were watching her with an express
sion not good to see.
Il will await my time, ''the man MUIR
INJURED; ''in the height of her triumph l
will humble her in the dust"
A brilliant ballroom, the mirth at its
height, dancing and music, mirth and
laughter, the order of the night.
The grounds around the mansion
ablaze as well, and nothing that money
could procure left lacking to add beau
ty TO the scene.
And one of the fairest madens there
was blue-eycd Helene Carleton, robed
in ivory-coIored satin, her soft gold
curls clustering around her dainty head,
her soft white throat clasped with
creamy pearls, while a few priceless
ones clustered above her brow.
And below in the lower corridor, two
men faced each other, pale-faced and
stern. while the bride of one of them
impatiently awaited her husbands com
ing in the ante-room.
The men were Glcndon Withers and
Halbert Astor, and with pale set face
the former listened, while Eelene's
guardian told him-what?
Simply this: That Helene knew moth
ing of the letter sent him. that she had
loved nay, did love and trust him still,
and knew nothing OF his marriage with
LeOnctta.
You must break the news yourself" :"
Halbert said. u dare not. 1t will kill
hcr >
What answer Glendon would have
made was never hnown. for this instant,
flushed and pearl-crowned, a smile on
her lips, Helene came up the corridor
leaning on her escort arm.
The next moment, forgetting all else.
Glendon was holding her han in MS.
Only FOR 4 noment-the next he re-
mem bered all. He must tell his sensi-
tive biue-eyed girl, whom he loved with
ali his heart, that in moment of pas
sion he had made another woman his
wife.
He led her into the grounds, and then
Halbert sought Leonetta.
~ our husband commissioned me, -
he said, and Leonetta laid her hand on
MS arm.
He led her to the grounds as well,
and near rustic seat, half screened
from careless eyes by magnificent shrub
berry, and them
''Look!"h he said slowly; "do you know
who they are?''
With naughty paling face Leonetta
followed the direction of his eyes.
''One is my husband" she said quiet
ly; 1.-THE other"
The woman he still loves-Helene
Carleton, his betrothed wife. who by
some fatal miatake was parted from
him"
1t seemed at that very instant as il
the fury of Hades was loosenedin Leon
etta's bosom.
The next instant she had drawn 4
dagger and leaped toward Helene.
A wild cry rang out on the night air,
startling ali the bright assembly.
Leonetta had grasped Helene's arm,
her poniard uplifted, and then Glendon
had leaped between them.
1t was mans cry of agony that rang
out, for the glittering weapon was bur,
led to the hilt in Glendon Wither' s