Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-08-14

6uoiIelou CoILleTS OIL Cue open space, Qer lace
half hidden by the parasol which she held,
she was leaning back listening to the music
and taking little notice Of the crowd around
her. knew her in an instant; knew her in
spite of the fact that the parasol shaded her
face, and that she was dressed in a different
style from that which she wore when l last
saw her. Tho heavens seemed suddenly to
have opened themselves above me. The
scene had been brilliant enough before, in
that glorious morning sunshine; but it
seemed to have been darkness itself to what
it was now, when I had found her again.
All thought of the millionaire passed clean
out of my mind. II / had come upon q thou
sand Mauleverers at that moment / should
not a seen one of them.
And yet l did not obey the first wild
prompting Of my heart and rush forward to
claim acquaintance with her. An unac-
countable shyness came over me. I dared
not make myself known to her again. How
could l tell that she wished to see me once
more? In her mind l must be associated
with a painful and h~umiliating incident. It
might we'll be that she would wish never to
meet ME again.
But even as this dark thought crossed nv
mind, sending a sudden chill through my
veins, like that caused by the passing of q
thunder cloud across the summer sky, I re-
membered her look when she babe me fare
we'll, and hope and joy again gained the
a~scendancy. l felt that there was between
us q link of sympathy, the nature Of which I
might not perhaps understand, but the reality
of which Icould not question.
What joy it was to stand there, unseen by
her, and watch the beautiful face! I only
now hesan TO understand how deeply l loved
her. !he world might laugh at me as it
pieaseu-a IN ago l snouiu have been
ready to laugh at myself; but for me this
was the one woman of all women-my love,
my life. my fate. I knew it now, if 1 had
not realized it during the long days Of rest.
less torture which had passed since I last
saw her.
Her face was paler than it had been then,
1 saw, and her whole expression was more
subdued, more pensive than it was when we
conversed in the railway carriage. There
was something in her eyes which 1 could not
understands far-away, dreamy look, as
though the mind were engaged upon quite
other scenes than those which were Impressed
upon the retina. A pang of jealousy shot
through my breast as I noticed this.
How dear she was to me! That was what
l whispered to my heart. It seemed as
though l had known her and loved her all the
days of my life; and when once, with a
gesture which l had observed when I sat op.
posite to her in the railway carriage, she ad-
Justed one of the dark brown tresses of her
hair, the sweet familiarity of the movement
made my eyes moist with sudden emotion.
Her companion was a little man, plainly,
almost shabbily, dressed. whose gray hair
and bent frame indicated that he was adj
vanced in life, and who showed by the man.
ner in which he used his glasses that he was
shortslghted. could trace no resemblance
to her i'll his features. Once or twice she
spoke to him, and l saw that when she did
SO he always turned toward her with Il quick
movement Of attention, and that his withered
old face lighted up with a smile Of love.
1stood half hidden by a pillar, ~feasting my
eyes upon the sight that was SO dear to me,
and absorbed in it to tho complete exclusion
of everything else.
Somebody touched my arm. turned and
saw Harding standing beside me with a
cynical smile upon his face.
"This is worse than l expected" he said in
bantering tones; II never thought that you
OF oil men would have succumbed so quickly;
but l have been watching you for the last
ten minutes, and I'll swear you have never
taken your eyes off him for the whole Of that
time"
"Him: About whom are you speaking" ]
asked, impatient at the interruption.
He laughed. "What i%nnocence! VIVA,
bissful. ignorance! AS if there could b.
anybody hero this morning worth looking a,
save the man of gold! Your instinct did moi
deceive you. You are quite right in suppos
ing chat shabby old gentleman sitting beside
the pretty girl in navy blue to be Mauleverer
the millionaire"
@You don't mean to tell me-" l began in
dismay.
"That the specialized gentleman in tho graz
coat and the venerable felt hat is Mauleyer
err Yes, do. But surely you knew it be
%forehand; for you have looked at nobody
else since l joined you, and you were so com
pletely absorbed in studying him that 70,
never saw me till / touched your arm"
From the height of joy I felt myself sud
denly plunged into the icy-cold depths O
despair. The man beside whom the girl
loved was sitting was none other than tn
millionaire himself. It seemed as though
great gulf had been instantaneously opened
up between us. I could still see every featur,
of the dear face, but she herself had beef
removed to a distance from which she wa
inaccessible to me-.
Harding eyed me closely.
"You do not look 10 we'll as you did whe,
you came into the grounds, he said presently
"Are you unweua Let US go back to th
seat where you met me. We shall see then
pass when they go to the hotel"
He put his arm in mine, and led me away
I made no resistance; and yet / felt as though
I were leaving the best part Of my life behint
me: By an effort I nerved myself and said
SDo you know anything Of the lady VIII