Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-12-08

Pauline" no said, and his voice
trcmbled little.
"Hush, Hugh" she whispered softly.
Then he kissed her hand.
Nj. Valrey came in with his spectacles
and newspaper.
ut is very dark here" he said. He
turned on the gas, and when the light
flooded the room he did not seem to no.
tice the two flushed, excited faces that
| il revealed, but seated himself deliber-
ately by the table and unfolded his
paper.
Hugh's breath came thick and hard.
His eyes sought Pauline's and she lifted
hers with smile that answered him.
Love needs no words; love can beg and
yield in silence.
The ''step aside" is Pauline's, when,
after the death of her father, she is left
to struggle on as governess and COM
panion at the house of poor Hugh's en-
ployer, who has even then learned to
love her. Brought in contact with
wealth, her future with Hugh seems
very small, and lacking in all these es-
sential things a sensitive woman loves
and Graves. The story of her tempta-
ton. this thoroughly natural struggle
which goes on unknown to her young
| lover, is keenly analysed and well
worked out There are few, il any, m
cidents in this course of true love, kut
many clever bits of character, and evil
dences of human nature, and that grad
ual lowering Of moral tone, until Hugh,
at last, yields to the necessity of provid-
ing home for Pauline, and takes
money which does not belong to him,
with which he speculates and loses. In
his desperation he confesses to Prosper,
the man who employs him, and who is
only too glad to have him err, that he
has embezzled. Prosper glances at his
watch, hardly seeing the hands. He
was thinking of Pauline Valrey, not of
| his lawyer, with whom he had an en-
gagement that afternoon. What would
she do, now that her lover was dis
gracedP He pitied the man before
him, and he could not bear to look
again at Hugh's white face.
II am sorry, Langmuir," he said,
"but there is nothing to be done. To
punish you would not bring back the
money, even if you had taken twenty
times thousand dollars. These things
are best hushed up. OF course the men
in the office will know, or suspect at
any rate, but it can be kept quiet. Per-
haps you had better 60"
'If you want me-" said Hugh, "you
can find mo: Anyway, have told you. !"
He drew deep sigh. 'Td like to pay
the money back," he added. IL was
crazy when / took it." He laid his
hand on the door knob, and then turned
and looked Prosper full in the face.
"Goodby," he said.
His tone startled Prosper. Don't
loose your head, Langmuir," he ex-
claimed "Don't"-
He was speaking to the empty air.
for Hugh had passed out of the Office.
He took his hat and coat and went into
the street, making his way homo
mechanically, and let himself into the
house with his latchkey. No one saw
or heard him, and he stole softly up to
his room. He felt such great relief that
the worst was over, that he was con-
scious of sensation akin to happiness.
He sat down by the table and wrote a
letter to Pauline, telling her the whole
story in as few words as he could, and
then he stopped to think. At last, he
simply signed his name to the confess
sion, addressed the letter, and carried it
out to the letter-box on the corner. He
saw the postman coming up the street,
saw him unlock the box and slip his
letter along with rest into the bag. She
would get it that evening. He smiled.
He believed that she would cling to him
in spite of every thing. Slowly he
walked TO the house, past it, on toward
the East river, strolling about aimlessly
ioh rH h i'm,
come in, and she met him in the hall.
Hugh" she said, .'do you know this
is Pauline's birthday"
"Whv, / had forgotten it, but she is
coming here, isn't she? Mr.. Kane told
me. D, it was secret, was to be sur
prised. Well, no matter, I'll make be-
lieve be surprised"
Mrs. Terry thrust a note into his
hand, "Read it," she said, and he read
it. "You see what she says" cried Mrs.
Terry in anger, "and she promised she'd
be here, and / went and made cake
and got candies to stick around it, the
more fool me! L mighthave known she
didn't care any thing about us. She's
deceiving you and me and every body.
"She promised to be herep" he said.
Eyes, and she was so pleased, and
you wasn't to know; and there Mr.. Kane
has gone and got some flowers for her.
D, could shake her, Hugh"
No, Pauline is with Miss Rerryan apd
Prosper at the Academy, Delmonico's,
anywhere but in the grimy boarding
house celebrating her birthday. And
Hugh goes to seek her, to look once
more at her flower-like face before doing
WHAT Fate, however, ordains it
otherwise, for Hugh meets with an acct
dent as he leaves the opera-house, and
is taken almost lifeless to Mrs. Terry's,
where Pauline is summoned as she fin
ishes reading Hugh's despairing letter.
The awakening, the repentance, the re-
viving love which has never really died,
bring Pauline swiftly to her senses, and
it is at Hugh's bedside that the truth Of
it all dawns on them both.
Eyes" he said, 1--WE must keep to-
gether, come what may"
They looked at each other as they
stood there. 1t was here that they had
first come face to face; here that they
had first exchanged glance and a
smile. 1t seemed so long ago; they had
grown so old and careworn since. Then,
the future had held forth promises, and
now those promises had changed to re-
grets. They went into the house, up
the stairs, and in the dusky hall where
they had SO often paused for u fond
goodnight. Hugh took her hand in
both of his.
"Shall it be tomorrow" he said.
She put her arms around his neck and
laid her face upon his breast.
Eyes, but it might have been SO diff
ferent but for me. Boston Sunday