Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-03-05

and Miss Clay, her governess, accom-
panied him They remained away from
home three years.
Then word came to Chauncey that
they were coming home. They were
tired of travel. and Mr.. Gwinne had
quite recovered his health.
Chauncey met them at the station,
He was handsome and indifferent-Iook-
ing as ever, but was truly, in his whole
appearance, king among men to Ma
bells partial eyes.
As the little party he had come to
meet drew near, he gave his grand
father a cordial shake of the hand. and
turned towards Mabel, to find himself
confronted by a tall, stately girl with
flashing dark eyes, set in face of such
loneliness that be was, for a moment,
daZzled.
Il beg your pardon, I thought it was
my cousin" he said, turning to the
other lady.
But when Miss Clay's familiar fea-
lures met his eyes, he asked:
where is Mabel? Have you left
her behind?"
Don't you know me, Cousin
Chauncey?" asked merry voice be-
side him, and the beautiful apparation
he had mistaken for stranger put out
her gloved hand in a half-playful, half
friendly way.
From that time the young students
torture commenced.
Mabel, who had left home a half
grown girl, had gained with maturity
the rounded suppleness of form as well
as the queenly dignity of a young
Diana; and with the rich color, which
had chased away the pallor of her
cheeks, had come that delicious, deli
cate complexion so rarely seen with
dark hair.
An older and more experienced Judge
of beauty would, years before, have
seen its promise in those regular fea-
lures, and straight, though at that time,
angular outlines-but to her adopted
cousin it was a surprise.
He looked upon it as upon miracle,
and every new glimpse of her bewitch-
inc face served but to deepen the i'm
preston.
But Mabel had changed in other
things besides beauty. She was in
mprehensible to him in her varied
moods.
Now grave-now gay-now majestic
as princess-now gentle and simple
as a child
Chauncey knew not what to make of
her. But he was fully conscious of
one truth that he loved the very ground
her tiny feet had pressed. He was her
shadow.
At last he grew desperate.
She should not thus hold him aioof
and play with his feelings any longer.
1t might be amusement to her, but it
was making his life torture.
SO he captured her in the library one
morning, before the rest of the family
had made their appearance, and press
ed his suit with an earnestness which
would have moved a heart OF stone.
But to all appearance it had no effect
upon Mabel She answered with
careless smile:
''In a house like this, where 'one
more or less doesn't matter, it would
be well for you to think twice before
offering yourself to me-" and she swept
from the room, leaving Chauncey lost
in a maze of bewilderment and anger.
Her debt was paid but was Mabel
happy? 1t was hard TO tell from her
appearance in society.
Chauncey made no attempt at recon
Citation; and the two young hearts
daily drifted farther apart, until ono
day it happened that the same spirit
stirred within them both--a longing
for walk in the garden.
Winter had passed, and summer had
come, and so had the flowers.
They met beside the same luxuriant-
ly-laden bushes from which Mabel had
carried the clusters to her sick mother.
Their eyes met involuntarily. In
spite of his wounded pride, Chauncey's
wild love sprang into renewed life, and
he held out his arms entreatingly.
ooh, Mabel, forgive me! I was but
careless, thoughtless boy. 1t is the
man who now appreciates you, and
loves you better than his own life. y
Another moment and Mabels queen
ly head was resting on his breast.
1T was because | loved you even
then, that your words had power to
sting me so cruelty. They ranked all
through the years that followed them.
But the pain is gone now"
So amid the flowers was told another
one of those stories as old as the first
love-tale in Eden, and yet as young as
the morning which ushers in a new