Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-12-18

rc.ns expenses ana proposes 70 maEs nor
teacher. Two years glide along, three, am
omce moro Bella Huntley Is her Aunt May
ruest In all these three years she has neve1
hem TO the old house; but Bertha u marT1ee
and In another part Of the world, n he1
amt Is lonely. So Bella comes for q LON
visit: In fact. this will be her home until wed
ding bells ring for her, too. For Uncle Franz
Il dead. and Bella need never teach, being
heiress to the large fortune the bachelor
uncle has made in twenty years OF trade II
China
The wears Of absence had changed the i'm
nulsive child into q woman Of rare beauty, Of
q quiet dignity tina suited well the tall, well
| developed figure and statuesque regularity o.
| feature. The clustering nut-brown curls nae
lost none Of their waving luxuriance, though
| the tresses that, unbound, fell far belo"
! Bella's waist were gathered away from tn
| low, broad brow, and made rich masses Of
| curls at the back Of the pretty head.
When Paul Rosslyn accepted Mrs Mays
! invitation to a social gathering to welcome
her niece he was wholly u~nprepared for the
change in the girl he had totally forgotten
until the note recalled her NAME. He was not
q man given to demonstration of feeling, but
he could not repress the admiration in his
eyes when he bowed in acknowledgment OF
Bella's greeting. Memory brought him Il
fleeting vision of a thin, gawky girl, with
great brown eyes and a frank, bright face,
clad in the simplest Of muslin dresses.
Reality brought him a tall, beautiful
woman, with snowy round arms and shoul-
ders, upon which sparkled costly jewels-a
tall, graceful figure, clad in a ~shimmering
lace covered silk, with masses of curls caught
by a diamond-starred comb, and tiny hands
with glittering rings.
The frank face, the clear. ringing voice
were gone, too, and yet the low, exquisitely
modulated tones could leave no regret for
any memory of different ones.
Before he realized the fascination that held
him, Paul Rosslyn was conversing as he
rarely convorsed to man or woman. The
quiet immobility of the lovely face reused
him to efforts to stir it to animation that
quite destroyed all his habitual languor, and
he dropped the faint drawl to try to interest
his listener in himself and subjects.
When she smiled a strange thrill Of pleas
ure stirred his heart, and when she seemed
distracted he experienced a throb of disap-
pointment that was q new sensation in his
petted life.
For, with the n exception of Bertha's re-
ft1sal, Pau had met no rebuffs in his many
Nrtations at home o. abroad. With the
facility that can only attend the utterly self
absorbed man, he had won silly hearts and
thrown them aside till he believed his hand
some face and tender eyes irresistible. He
was not surprised when, after the first quiet
greeting, Bella gave tokens of pleasure at his
approach, entered readily into conversation
with him and chose him often in crowded
assemblages for her escort. It was a CAV
season, and the heiress was invited to all the
meetings for young people, in doors or out,
and Paul met her constantly.
He had held his heart bound by ito own sell
f1shness so long that he did not realize how it
was slipping away from him till it was gone
past recall. With a shock he Weakened to the
fact that he loved Bella Huntley with all the
force of boyish impulse, all the fervor of
mature years; loved her utterly, without
thought OF her wealth or position, but for the
radiant beauty of her face, the rare intellect
and winning sweetness of her perfect woman
hood.
And with the love there came little fear.
He was wealthy, master of one of the finest
estates in New York, handsome and of good
birth. More than all, in those past summer
days, he had won Bella's love. He was sure
Of that now, though it had troubled him little
the time. Vanity whispered that she had
to win him now.
80 he was not a despairing lover, who on
tho same balcony where he had crushed her
young heart three years before now pleaded
Tor its love. Pleaded, too, as a man pleads
Tor life. Not in the measured words with
which he had asked Bertha to be his wife.
but in burning, fiery eloquence taught by the
first sincere love of his life.
AND Bella listened, turning upon her finger
circlet of diamonds that flashed fire in the
;old moonlight. When he ceased to speak,
words as odd as drops of hail on glass an
'wered him:
"Three years ago the love you ask for was
III your own, won by your false words,
our lying eyes. b child whose heart was
Questioned your sincerity, and put the
reasure of her love into your careless keen
ng, never thinking of treachery. It was
Ter first experience of pain when she tore
love away and held it off with her DOOR
nlidlsh might till it dropped, faded and
led.
"There was contempt and scorn to wither
}, and only a few tears to keep it green. so
died utterly. 1t can never revive again.
came to test that. I came to see if a new
I'VE in my heart would pale, if brought {
'1th1n the influence of old associations, and I !
ave proved it stronger, truer, happier, by l
1T with what you Offer" Il
Then you have played with mel" he
ried, fiercely. :
Il amused myself. Three years ago YOU /
mused yourself" =
With an oath Paul Rosslyn strobe away +
the moonlight, and a hot tear dropped c
pom Bella's diamonds. Z
ut is a poor revenge, after ALL" she said. =
fly. Leon, I will forget him now in your
ve-your love, given before I was an heir '
love, that has conquered aud q
all the heart pangs I suffered on =
is balcony when I was only a eirl,"-Nev =
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