Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-06-24

tlOn! de pointed TO The WndOW as he said
it. Look at the sea. If / was drowning
out yonder | might as well ask the sea 10 for
give me"
He produced no effect or her. She ienor.
ed the divorce; her passionate remorse as
serted itself as obstinately as ever. Mrs,
Linley is a good woman" she insisted. Mrs
Linley is Christian woman
Il have lost all claim on her-even the
claim to remember her virtues he answer.
ed, sternly. No more Of it, SydneyI am
sorry have disappointed You; am sorry if
you are weary of me-
Her manner changed completely in a mo.
ment. Wound me as cruelty as you please, D
she said, humbly; Il will try to bear it.
& wouldn't wound you for the world
Why do you persist in distressing me? Whv
do you feel suspicion OF me which | have not
deserved?' He stopped and held out his
hand. Don't let us quarrel, Sydney. Which
will you do-keep your bad opinion Of me or
give me a fair trial?''
She loved him so dearly; she was so young,
and the young are so ready to hope Still
she struggled against herself Herbert, is
it your pity for me that is speaking now?''
He left her in despair Its useless p he
said, sadly Nothing will conquer Your in
yeterate diStruSt"
She followed him. With a faint cry Of en-
treaty she made him turn to her. and held
him i'll trembling embrace and rested her
head on his bosom. Forgive me-be pa
tient with me-love me-" That was all she
could say.
He attempted to calm her agitation by
speaking lightly. ''At last Sydney, we are
friends again!' he said.
hi. J-SJ II i
from that insufficient word. Are we
LOVERS" she whispered.
'Yes!'
With that one word her anxious heart was
content. She smiled; she looked out at the
sea with new appreciation of the view.
''The air of this place will do me good now"
she said. Are my eyes red, Herbert? Let
me go and battle them and make myself tit
to be SEEM
She rang the bell. The chambermaid an
SWered it, ready to show the other rooms.
She turned round at the door.
Let's try to make our sitting-room look
like home" she suggested. How dismal,
how dreadfUlly like thing that doesn't be-
long to us that empty table looks! Put some
OF your books and my keepSalleS on it while
am away. I'll bring my work with me
when l come back"
He had left his travellers bag Oh a chair
when he first came in. Now that he was
alone, and under no restraint, he sighed as
he unlocked the bag. Homer he repeated !;
1--WE have no home. Poor girl! poor unhap-
Ply girl! Let me help her to deceive her
self"
He opened the bag. The little fragile pres
ents which she called her ''keepsakeS' had
part Of the bag, SO that the books should not
weigh on them, and had been carefully pro-
tected by Wrappings of cotton wool. Taking
them out, one by one, Herbert found a deli
cate china candleStick (intended to hold a
WaX-tapeD broken into two pieces in spite
of the care that had been taken to preserve
it. OF not great value III itself, old aSSOCia-
tons made the candleStick precious to Sgd
ney. 1t had been broken at the stem and
could be easily mended SO as to keep the ac-
cident concealed. Consulting the waiter,
Herbert discovered that the fracture could be
repaired at the nearest town, and that the
place would be within reach when he went
out for walk. III fear OF another disaster
if he put it back in the bag he opened
drawer in the table and laid the two frag-
mentS carefully inside at the further end. In
doing this his hand touched something that
had been already placed in the drawer. He
drew it out and found that it was book
the same book that Mrs. Presty (surely the
evil genius OF the family AGAIN. had hidden
from RandaPs notice and had been forgotten
when she left the hotel.
Herbert instantly recognized the gliding
on the cover, initiated from a design invent
ed by himself. He remembered the inscrip-
ton, and yet he read it again:
To dear Catherine from Herbert, on the
of our marriage"
The book dropped from his hand on the
table as if it had been a new pain.
His wife Che persisted in thinking Of her
as his Wife must have occupied the room
might perhaps have been the person whom
he had succeeded as a guest at the hotel
Did she still value his present to her in re-
membrance of old times? No! She valued
it so little that she had evidently forgotten
it. Perhaps her maM might have included
it among the small articles Of luggage Per
hapS dear little Kitty might have put it into
one of her mothers trunks. In any ease,
there it was, abandoned in the drawer OF a
table at an hotel.
''Oh,'' he thought bitterly, Elf / could only
feel as cOldIy towards Catherine as she feels
towards mep' His resolution had resisted
much; but this final trial of his Self-control
was more than he could sustain. He drop
ped into a chair-hiS pride of manhood re-
coiIed from the contemplate weakness of
crying--he tried to remember that size had
divorced him and taken his child from him.
In vain! In vain He burst into tears.
(To BE CONTINUED.