Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-02-02

you IL Hot NC angry with me II say
something to you-something that was
in my heart as | sat waiting for you by
that window an hour ago.
"Angry with you, Rose he answered
"Oh, no."
And he passed his arm about her
waist, and drew her closely to him.
Il thought, she went on, Il thought.
Harry. while l sat there. OF our cid
lovers walks, and of the Winter even
| ings we spent together, when neither
for a moment were weary Of each
other: and then-for | was lonely and
little tired-I though you did not
care to be with me as YOU did then,
and that you had grown tired of me,
and I made up my mind to ask YOU if
| it was so, and if it were, why? Oh,
Harry if there are any faults or fail
ings in me that turn your heart from
me, tell me Of them, that / may mend
them, and win it back again If UNI
consciously do aught TO anger YOU, let
me know it, and ! will be all you
wish from that very moment; only.
Harry, do not let me feel YOUR heart
estranged. Now, when I need yoUs
love SO much, love me Harry, love me
as you did when l was a girl
And the tears would be restrained
no longer, but poured themselves out
upon his bosom, for he held her closely
there. and spoke in a passionate, re-
mOrsefHl way that almost frightened
her. Part of what he said was so cold
that she could not comprehend it. But
while she lived she always remembered
these words.
You are only too good and pure
and innocent for me. If [ do not
seem to feel it as | should, it is nv own
sin and not your fault Blame me, if
you like, but never-neyer reproach
yourself. Oh, my white rOsel Nv
spotless blossom! Why am | not
worthier of you?'
Then he kissed her-kissed her on
her eyes, and lips and forehead. And
at that very moment there reposed at
the bottom of Harry Powell's pocket a
note written in a woman's hand, con
tanning these words: Il can meet Won
at your office at u O'Clock tonight"
and signed Amanda"
Harry Powell was a hot-headed, in
pulsive fellow. and had been from
boy, an ardent admirer of dashing,
brilliant women. When he found him
self in love with the mild, fair, gentle
Rose Forest, he wondered how any
thing so quiet could have won it. Still
he was in love and deeply. Being what
he was, he would have married
her if all the world had opposed their
union. AS it was, there were no
obstacles in his way, for her heart
was truly his; and the rivals who
frowned upon him, and the maiden
aunts who shook their heads, and
called him a very wild young man,
we're disregarded, and so he took her
from the old homestead where she
had been so tenderly cared for, to his
own home, to be its lifelong mistress
At first he had only been little
thoughtless at times, and had dried
For though champagne and cigars,
and Tom. Dick and Harry had their
old charms for him, he valued her
above them all, and she knew it well.
Only year before, the spell which
had of late kept him from her side, had
begun to distil its deadly poison, and
claim him, body and soul. He was
the confidential clerk of wealthy es-
adjustment, and, US such, had at
times heavy responsibilities upon his
shoulders. Important papers and
great sums of money were often in his
care, and he was trusted as few men
are by their employers. They were
right in reposing their confidence in
him thus implicitly; for, wild though
he was, there was not one atom of the
sWindler in his composition. The KEYS
Of the great safes were always within
his reach; and sometimes he was left
alone to receive large payments, and
to lock them up. There had been
a time when rumors of meditated
robbery had reached the firm, and he
had carried loaded pistols in his bosom
night and day.
1t was at that time, twelve months
ago, that he had first met with the
woman who had written the note
which now lay within his pocket. a
beautiful woman he thought her; and
strange it seemed to him at first that
she should follow him with her ewes
and seem to watch for him in the most
unfrequented places. At last per-
fumed note came, and he read that she
had invited him. 1t was a daring
declaration-all the more astonishing
because the writer protested herself to
be a wealthy woman and Il wife. 1t
would have Disguised many men, but
Harry Powell liked queer adven-
lures, and had a penchant for daring
women. So he met her, and in little
while Rose was only second in his
heart, while this mysterious woman
haunted his dreams by day and night
Thus far he had been unfaithful to his
wife only IN thought. But the siren
who had bewitched him was to meet
him in his Office at midnight!
There had been Il moment when
Rose wept upon his bosom, and he
thought of all her purity and truth, in
which Harry Powell had resolved to
break his appointment and forget his
unholy love forever. But the mood
passed; and, with the return of his old
self, came remembrance of those
| black eyes and red lips, those tender
glaEces and bold professions of af-
lection. Good, beautiful Rose grew
tame in comparison, and, when the
time-piece told the hour of II, he
started to his feet.
go to bed, Rose, he said, 81 have
a business appointment tonight that |
had nearly forgotten. l will be back
as soon as | can"
IA business appointment at this
hour! thought Rose in surprise.
But he had gone before she could
put her thoughts into words: and, still
full of her new-found happiness, she
went upstairs to her own white-cur-
tanned chamber. Harry had been up
before her. and had changed his
dress, leaving his every day garments
lying untidily about. As she picked