Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-07-18

held, she was leaning back listening 10 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 para
sol shaded her face, and that she was
dressed in different style from that which
she wore when | last saw her. The 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 dark
ness itself to what it was now, when | had
found her again. All thought OF the MIL
lionaire passed clean ont of my mind. II
| had come upon thousand Mauleverers
at that moment, / should not have seen
one of them.
And vet | did not obey the first wild
prompting of my heart and rush forward
| to claim acquaintance with her. An mac
countable shyness came over me-. dared
not make myself known to her again. How
could tell that she wished to see me once
moro? In her mind ! must be associated
with painful and humiliating incident 1t
might we'll be that she would wish never
! to meet me again.
But even as this dark thought crossed my
mind, sending sudden chill through my
veins, like that caused by passing OF
thunder cloud across the summer sky,
remembered her look when she babe me
farewell, and hope and joy again gained
the ascendency. felt that there was he
tween us link of sympathy, the nature
of which I might not perhaps understand,
but the reality of which ] could not ques-
! ton
What Joy it was to stand there, unseen
by her. and watch the beautiful face.
ONLY now began to understand how deeply
loved her The world might laugh at
me as it pleased-a month ago | should
have been ready to laugh at myself; but
for me this was the one woman OF all wo-
men-my love, my life, my fate. knew
il now, if | had not realized it during the
long DAYS of restless torture which had
passed since last saw her.
Her face was paler than it had been then,
I saw, and her whole expression was more
subducd, more pensive than 1t was when
we conversed in the railway carriage. There
was something in her eyes which | could
not underestimate tar-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 noticed
this
How dear she was TO me! That was what
| whispered tn my heart, 1t seemed as
though had known her and loved her all
the days of my life; and when once, with
gesture which | had observed when / sat
Opposite to her in the railway carriage, she
adjusted one of the dark brown treSses OF
her hair, the sweet familiarity Of the move
ment made my eyes moist with sudden
emotion.
Her companion was 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
manner in which he used his glasses that
| he was sh0rt-sighted. could trace no re-
srmblance tn her in his features Once or
twice she spoke to him and | saw that
when she did so he always turned toward
her with a quick movement of attention,
and that his wither;d old face lighted up
witha smile Of love,
stood half hidden by pillar, feaSting
my eyes upon the sight that was so dear to
me. and absorbed in it to the complete eX-
cluSOn of everything else
Somebody touched my arm. | turned
and saw Harding standing beside me with
cOnical smile upon his face.
| This is worse than expected, he said
| in bantcring tones; ~ never thought that
YOU of all men would have sucCumbed so
quickly: but 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 innocence! What
| blisscul ignorance! As if there could he
anybody here this morning worth looking
at save the man of gold! Your instinct did
not deceive you, You are quite right in
surprising that shabby old gentleman sit
ting beside the pretty girl in navy blue to
be Mauleverer, the millionaire.
"You mont mean to tell me" / began
in dismay.
That the specialized gentleman in the
gray coat and the venerable felt hat is
Mauleverer? Yes, / do. But surely you
have looked at nobody else since joined
you and you were so completely absorbed
in studying him that you never saw me
till touched your arm"
From the height Of Joy felt myself sud
denly plunged into the icy-cold depths of
despair. The man beside whom the girl
loved was sitting was none other than the
millionaire himself II seemed as though
a great gulf had been instantaneously
opened up between us. could still see
every feature Of her dear face, but she her
self had been removed to a distance from
which she was inaccessible to me.
Harding eyed me closely.
You do not look so well as You did
when you came into the grounds" he said
presently. Are unwell? Let us 90 back
to the seat where you met me. We shall
see them pass when they 60 to the hotel"
He put his arm in mine, and led me
away. | made no resistance; and yet
felt as though were leaving the best part
of my life behind ne By an effort neryed
myself and said:
''Do you know anything of the lady who
was with him?''
II know that she is wonderfully good
looking-quite the prettiest girl on the
ground-and that he seems devoted te her.
But we shall soon know all about their
relationship, if there is one and whether
she is or is not likely to carry off the grand
prize. Trust the matrons of Scarborough
to find out everything on that subject"
sat silent and perturbed. The thought
that was uppermost in my mind was that
had only found her again In order TO lose
her altogether.
And even az was chewing the cud OF
this bitter reflection, Harding lightly touch
ed my arm and whispered in my ear some
thing which / could not catch. looked
up quickly, and there, approaching US at
distance of not more than dozen feet,
were Mauleyerer and the girl whom / loved.
The pallor which had noticed on her face
disappeared, and rich blush dyed her
cheeks; for a moment her eyes met mine,
and she bowed, with smile that made the
sunshine itself seem dark beside il, and she
was gone.
r. ...~. 4 -. II.