The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-03-13

! pure chance, mind-left MS together and
between lts; then he drew near 10 me and
said IL a quiet, earnest voice:
"Heritage, love yen. Win you he my
wife,"
could not answer, All could do was
10 prevent myself from breaking into hys-
terical laughter.
He tried 10 take my hand.
"Heritage, my darlingl ] think loved
you the moment ! saw you. Look up
/ and answer me; say you love me and Will
be my wife"
His wife! After hating him FOR so long
| after winning his love in way the
thought Of which made me blush! Never,
never, never
/ so steeled mysen-lrew myself up to
every inch of my height-looked him full
in the face-triumpbed, and took my re-
venge. ! hope and think ] spoke com
puse.lly, II not coldly.
"Mr Hope you honor me greatly, but II
can not be. Please never mention II
again
His face was very pale; and when an
expression Of positive pain left il, grew
stern, almost hard My manner must
have convinced him | was in earnest. No
doubt had wished TO do so, could have
made him fall at my feet and plead pas
siOnately. But then, unless one Is an ut
ter savage, vindiCtiveness must be lin
tied had done enough.
Perhaps, under such trying circum.
stances, 10 man could have behaved in
more dignitied manner than did Mr..
Hope.
Il am to understand he sand calmly,
but with look in his eyes which | dared
not mect-"I am to understand you-you
do not love mef'
] bowed.
"Pleasc let me hear you say so, he said.
81 do not Let Us say no more about il.
/ think | viii 90 back to the house
now
We walked in silence until we were
close to the gates Then he said
Unless nay presumption today makes
my presence unbearable to you, | shall
stay two days longer, as ! promised Mr..
.ighton. 1t IL not worth while 10 set PEG
pie inQuiring rs TO the reason for "a hasty
departure.'
Certainly not, | answered, "Stay as
long as you wish. or, if you prefer it,
Will leave
THAT is out Of the question: he replied,
as we crossed the threshold and parted.
Invent to my room-to eXult, of course,
in my revenge Ii was so fun, 50 com
plete, so exactly az | planned 1t. And
writers and poets say that revenge IS
sweet Oh yes, it was very, very sweet
So sweet, that dOublc-iOCked the door,
that no one might see how much enjoyed
it-so sweet that | threw myself on my
bed, anC Thought my heart must break As
| sobhcd aud wept; for the truth must be
told / loved Vincent Hope even a he said
and as hoped he loved me. Yet, for the
sake of vanity | had to-day rejected the
love Of a man, the best, the nOblcst, the
clevercst in the world, had hurled my
boarded stone, and right well II had full
filed its mission; but its rebound had
crushed me Oh yes, revenge is yer!
sweet
The morning of the third day came, and
knew that in a few hours We should
shake hands, part, ana there would be the
end Of everything Vincent Hope was
sped away along the winding carriage
drive and for the first time in her foolish
life, Heritage Rivers knews that such
things as broken hearts may be found out
side TumanCes.
Something was afoot that afternoon
walking party or skating party-for 1t
was the middle OF January and bitterly
cold Now that the necessity Of keeping
up appearances for anOthers sake was at
an end. Miss Rivers felt very much like
breaking down and dlsgracing herself
She lUnged for solitude and made some
excuse to stay at homes As every one was
bound on the expedition, she had the
house practically to herself. After be-
moaning her wickedness and folly for
some time in the sanctity of her own
chamber, a strange craving came over
her. She felt she must go down and sit in
the little room which adjOins the library
n room that had been set apart for the use
of Mr. Vincent Hope There he had made
corrections in such bundles Of manuscript
as had from time to time bean sent him
from the city. The stupidity of her desire
need not be commented upon, as her gen
orally idiotic nature must have made
itself manifest many pages back. She en-
tered the room and closed the door softly,
She sat down at the lCather-COvcred table,
and leaning her head on her hands looked
anything but prosperous, healthy, com
Portable young woman.
Presently she glanced stealthily around
her and from the bosom of her dress drew
out photograph of very handsome, dis
tiEgushed looking man. Mr.. Hope had
given il to her, at her request, some days
before. One by one the tears began TO
fail. and soon came so fast that She gave
in altogether forgot where she was, for
got all risk of interruptiun-and laying
her head on the table presented the very
picture of woe.
Suddenly the door was thrown open and
Mr. Hope stood before herl She sprang to
her feet, and in Der agitation brushed the
photograph to the ground. Even in her dire
confusion the prayer that it might have
fallen face downward framed itself, But
she dared not look TO see; she had to face
the intruder as best she could, Yet he
seemed for the moment taken even more
back than Miss Rivers. He stammered
out something about shaft broken three
miles from possibility Of catch
ing train-cOme back to write kilograms,
etc. Then he looked on the ground, and
what he saw there was enough TO make
him glance wonderingly at the shame
faced girl who stood before him with wet
lashcs and glowing cheeks.
Miss Rivers-lleritage" he said, tell