Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-01-10
THE WIFE'S SECRET.

strange booking little witch, with her queer
name after her French mother. For witch.
of course, Sic must be- 30 have fascinated
our fastidiouS brother 10 the extent Of mar
rying her.
Gerald was our only brother. - years 81
ege, tall and handsome. and the idol OF hi
sisters-twu of Us-Ouc Wild we'd ard tn.
other, myself, an old maid
Few sister, are perfectly satIsiie 1, as a
rule. when their brother has found some pIIg
dearer to him than tlos, who have loved him
and administered u his comfort all
their lives Yet 1 really think we should
have been moderately con;en: if his choice
had : cen 10 our own taste
Why il had not bcca 80 va. Just a nys
terry. Edith FaiconeT, wilo.H "a. hl set our
hearts on seeing Mr. Gerald Fan. va. "a
daughter Of the gois-tai. aud dIviT.iy FAIR
and it puzzled us 10 know how his heart ~
his fancy rnuid have TavcleI toward a
daughter of a French Canadian, when our
letters Mere constantly fun ~ F. lfh's beauty
ard Eiitis goodness, ani when he had mad"
point of dilating on her attractions from
morning till eve whenever he was NJ bone.
Edith was with when III, letter came
bidding u, welcome his wife lcshly written
in her beautiful blue eye
Not that Filth was really in love aira
him, but she had always felt an enormpa,
interest in the brother of her dearest friends
an iutcreS. which We had tally thought
wouli riIen Into lovc
Il snail bring her 20 you, Tiy poor little
Stephanie. Sh. would lc quite alone in ia"
wide world now if it was not for ne, ""
were married beside tue death-hei 81 her
father, and she was scarcely Wit" before
she was wholly an orphan. with never a rel
nj. Y H.. Il.
love from You both that -he viii not 7
know. feel the los, "f mother aud >s,er,
who were drowned "n their way ont to
America-while | shall fill the p!nca OF all
others-father, brother. huslar l.
As We reed this we feit convinced how il
was that Gerald had married her u was
from sheer pity. We fully decided TIL,
point, and it did not max. III feel more plea,
antly on the subject f0r were sur. that
poor Gerald ha Il been yictIinizni. rIr.
We went about our preparations however
for their coIhng. furnished the ROOMS newly
and PRETTY, and did or bas; tG insure com
fort T. the bride, but it must IL confessed our
kearts were not in cur work
On the evening they were expected W. had
no one at the nous. thinking Stal.hanie
would prefer If 50.
That is, we had only Edith Falconrr. hut
then she was Just one OF ourselves
Gerald looked handsomer than ever a,
he sprang out of tho carriage and rushed M
the steps. and with radiant face l.i,-r1 lis
both.
Then lie ran down again and lifted ort a
tiny figure, which he bore in his arms a if
il had been child. agi. ll7cin- il before
US, said:
Here's my daring. the sySee'E,r iir1lr ias-
ling that ever trod the earth.
He went then 10 attend 90 the luggage ;ni
she made a sort of movement n # {" rush
after him, but stopped abruptly
Tnen, with quivcring lips She .iftad her
glance toward us, with helpless wis;fui
look; but PRESENTLY softer light crept ;,to
her great, dark. wild-lo"kin. eyes. AMI ,he
clasped our hands and bent md kissei them
After this We tod her into IN" drawing
room and introduced her g. J. i,ti. md -av
her queer, dark lt;l" FAC" brighten up
strangely As Edith greetc her a:rrctionatcIy.
"P.eas' call me Ste, and not hr>. Fame,
she whispered il a low, frightened voice;
@my heart yoarDS Ia Ice called l,y that name.
Papa loved H." and turning her face away
she sobbad once or twice. Gerald .aine in
just then and. shaking hand oi'l Filth.
went over 10 his wife at once.
Come. M bird. YOU hal is,-t"i let NY
trim your feathers little. hesa;d. lovingly
stroking back TIE soft, fluffy d1ri- hrir
gently from her brow,
Ny sister carried her of a. One. auI al
course. Gerald followed H. did MT -""'n
to take his eyes Off her for n moment.
What queer little fright sh" iS-she
looks like an elf He mus only have mar
ried her from pits. supposeT ! rnu,t Mt
help saying.
Not fright. surely Edit answered
quickly, we see her IN an uufav".ahle mo
men;. Her gre. has tod GA De, ta.. hn;
she has glorious eyes. and can e-o what
took Gerald. Il !, nor winria r,rnaar. at .
like a petted chiid'S
glanced al Filth adnirinsly. thinking
what angel of forgiveness she is. and 4
when the bride came down again tppk
malicious pleasure in "amparir- H.I with T.
Edith
Edith, 50 fair aud 50 lovely. with hair like
spun gold and wild roe bloom on her
cheeks, and with n graceful, vilowv figure
And Ste--;o call her by the cnious abbIe- .
yiltiuu she vishei-So small and luskv, T.
with colorless skin, and nothing to recon-
mend her but two immens, Hack ryes.
which certainly were as lgs'rnu~ ~ r.vin .
stars and As soft as velvet
Later in the evening. when dinner Xas
over, and Edith had drawn her WAY 80 look .
at Gerald's drawings. H. came az ani ~ .
down by me
-Ellen, you mus; no. form an opinion u .
Ste's TRACTORS now. hc whispered earn .
estly shes not herself; naturally She Is
bright and happy bind, and altogether .
charming. You must help 10 chasc away
her trouble and bring back her SlniIeS And 1
then. YOU don't know how pretty my little I
one Is when she smiles. be went nn ..pthu
siastically.
And wondering how sbr coald ever L.
pretty, | forgot t" answer. .Sn. after a mo
mentary pause. he said
Edith is more beautiful than ever. I SCI.
"Ah," | thought, ~he could no; help COM
pairing the,e two-thc girl me had ncediessly
thrown aside and the girl he had linkoi him
self 10 for .ifc."
IL was not long before Ste was more like
herself, a. Gerald said Her sorrow had
been SO Wild and 50 paSsionately that natur-
ally it soon wore itself out The co!or soon
came lack 10 her dark cheeks, an additional
luster 10 her eyes, ana could often hear her
caroling snatches Of songs
They were mostly French one -~ame
with wonderful iathoS ringing through
them; and her pronunciation If her
ternal tongue was the lretticst thing imIs
inable. Yes, She was growing. merry
enough.
Geralds love was 80 perfect. and ho filed
the place Of father, brother aud husband -
entirely. rs he had said that he left nothing
70 wish for.
Nv sister was growing very ioBd 90. her
and declared her 10 be 'cma-kably pretty,
bu. could soe no beauty in her, my dcvo
ton to Edith utterly Irecludel it.
She grew to be popular with Gerali's men
friends too They thought her charming,
and his especial friend. a young fellow, wh1
was doctor rapidly rising in his profession,
and who had been IN admirer If Filth,
came more frequently than the rest.
Before GeTald'S marriage DIR. ferctSal had
made small progress IN his Nooin., but since
Edith had seemed m re favorahly inclined
toward him
He was passionately fond 81 singing and
had n superb voice Edith could not sing
a note. but SITES and Mark Fercival's voice.
blended splendidly together. Thus hours
were speIt-every hour, l thought. shat
he could spare from hi practice-in
these duet
Aud Gerald. VINO also passionately
fond of music, never seemed To- tire Of li>'en-
ing TO the two
Twas very wicked. kuow. | really he
lieveG Ste TO I've artful and designing: her
chililike, hlithe manner far,iei Was -
sumed | saw how happy he WAS IN the
L s,.so- ian Mari Ea-riysl'S society. and