Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-30

,l- INV AllWllIllp fNrrI IIop. l
y nnio IT. suddenly palcd and di%sappeared:
helr I 1i,as snadder ran over her frame, and
s ,u, ups parted to give utterance to the
s'aS1e word: "Opal!"
why! Margerie. dear! what !. 40
10 you not like opals? Itook csncciai
hauls TO get this very setting, bccansn T
thought it showed to good ADVANTAGE
the lovely tints l have so often heaT5
you praise. Do not you remember
aear, that evening on Forge Hil whom
ene sly above was all one glory of soft
esc masses of purple and crimson
clouds, and then you talked Of tho
lovely opal tints, and in nv heart 7
vowed that were it ever NV GOOD
fortune to claim this dear hand rs
my would deck it with the rarcst
Opal that could be found on this side
OF the water. Speak to me. Do Won
not like it' Twill exchanged for INV
1hlng that will please you better"
ut is lovely, Harry, and 1 do like it
"What is it. dear? Be frank. be like
love:o" "n'''
Margaret marked the tone of disan.
polntment that lurkcd beneath her
lovers fond words, and was conscious
o a strong disinclination to change
this his first gift for anything that
could be bought to replace it.; she was
not a little ashamed to confess the fool
lsh superstition that has rendered this.
one of Natures loveliest productions, a
tabooed offering; therefore, with a lit
tic. feminine diplomacy, she strove to
change the current of his thoughts, by
fiattering his vanity.
"Nay, Harry, how can I be other
wise than sad, when I know that to-
morrow at this hour we shall be far
apart, perhaps never to meet again?
You are going to encounter danger,
perhaps death; and even though life
and health may be spared, you may,
perhaps. forget ME in other scenes and
among fairer faces, and"
'Margcry! Margery dear! If the n
tire devotion Of all my past life has not
convinced you that you are to me the
one woman in the world, you are in
deed a little sceptic, and deserve to be
punished so-and so. .'But. Mar
gerry" he resumed, after the gentle pen
ance had been inflicted and endured,
"why did you look so doubtfully at nv
poor ring, and why did you shivSer as if
a ghost had suddenly passed before you?
Have you any unpleasant association
with a ring of this kind that would make
1t an %unkindness on my part to ask you
to wear it? Do you know, dear, that
this stone was Il gift to my mother, the
very last from my father before he went
away on that voyage from which he
never returned. She valued it more
than all her other jewels, and in almost
her last moments charged me to have it
reset for my wife when I should have
found her. l think she guessed right
well who that wife would be before 1
told her all my hopes, and she assured
me you were the one above all others
she would have chosen to console me for
her loss, and now Why! Margery,
love; you brighten me! Inevcr saw you
sou
For the girl, in a very passion of
weeping, lay sobbing upon his breast.
But Margaret would not then for worlds
have confessed the simple truth, that
superstition had gifted the opal with the
power to bring into the life of its
possessor all the train of evils that are
tabled to have been turned loose upon
the world by the morbid curiosity of
Pandora; and ashamed of her weakness
she soon wiped away her tears and
smiled p%athetically into her lovers face,
and they talked on and on into the night
about the happy home that they would
share when he should come back to claim
her and transplant his flower into the
new soil of distant land.
And so they parted. Harry Holmes
departed the next day on his long jour
ney by sea to the then untried and
golden shores of the new Ell Dorado.
Margarct's home was one of wealth and
luxury; herself the unspoiled favorite
of fortune. An only child, surrounded
by everything that could charm the eye
or please and satisfy the refined taste,
she yet retained the sweet simplicity of
habit and thought that marks the truly
noble soul. One only weakness married
the otherwise almost perfectly well-bal-
anced mind, superstition-a dread of
baleful influences, a vague fear ofsome
unknown power which should work
harm to herself and those she loved,
cloudcd her otherwise just perceptions,
and dimmed her reason, as the moist
breath dims the luster of the diamond.
For months after Harry's departure
Margaret wore her ring, despite the first
tremors that had shaken her serenity,
until her fears were quoted and her
f]orebodings laid to rest. Frequent let
tiers told her OF her lovers safe arrival,
of his flattering prospects, his success in
all mis- undertakings, his fond remem-
brance of the loved ones far away, her
self the dearest of all, and breathed a
spirit Of hope that cheered every toll
the hope of returning at no distant day
to claim his life's companion. And
Margaret was, as ever, the light of her
home, the pet and pride of her parents,
whose lives were bound up in her.
Suddenly. as out of q clear summer