Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-02-23

\
only to crush his hopes-to tell him they
must never meet again until it could be as
dearest friends, but no more. She might
| have written; but it never occurred to Va
| lerie to seek the coward refuge of a letter.
Face to face, she must tell her lover the
truth; and yet not all the truth. No, bet
| ter ten thousand times that he should bt
| lieye the worst of her than be able TO say,
1T is Max Beauregard who stands between
| usr'
HE will reproach me bitterly-bitterlyP'
! the girl said to herself. ''snd he will be
just, thinking as he must needs think.
Louis, my old playmate, my brother"
She broke down in passionate weeping,
but, quickly checking herself, tried to collect
her thoughts
81 cannot see him to-day" she said, "nor
tomorrow, and Wednesday is the meet"
she shuddered, and put her hands before
| her eyes. 1T must be Thursday"
She sat down and wrote:
| ''DEAR LOUIS:
'.PIease forgive hurried note I have
not moment before Thursday. am not
my own mistress Will you call on Thurs
day after five, and I can see you?
/ Yours ever, VALERIE"
''Auntie viii be out, the girl said, as she
sealed the letter, "and ! will tell her
must see Louis. She will call me sensible
to give up a lover who has no money or
position. I am young" she added, dreari-
| ly, ito begin living lier'
And Max Beauregard was at home now.
Lady Elinor had told them he was expect
ed last night, and the morning papers told
| them Of his arrival in London.
'What can he think of me?" thought the
l -J-.I r. l. IL
himself much about me. Why should he?"
The luncheon-ben rang, and she went
| downstairs. Aunt and Riece were not Of
ten without other company at luncheon;
but they were to-day Mrs Langley look
ed up from a note as the girl entered the
dining-room.
Valerie she said, Il have Just had this
from Lady Elinor. Colonel Beauregard is
coming with them tonight to Lady Ston-
ends"
The blood rushed to the girls face; but
| she was prepared to hear Of Max Beaure-
gard at any ninute-that he was going to
call, or she would meet him at this house or
that; so that, though her heart stood still
and she held her breath, she was not
startled out Of all self-control; she had not,
too, lived in vain in the beau monde, so
that she was able to answer, smiling:
"Oh, 1 am so glad! Does Lady Elinor
say any more about him?'
No, my dear; you can read the note?"
said Mrs. Langley, holding it out.
Thanks, " said the girl, taking it, and
turning away to read it, but she did not
see a word. She was exerting all the
strength OF her strong will to gain perfect
self-mastery. All the latent force of her
character had been ripened and developed
by the experience of the last few months;
more even, perhaps, than by contact with
the world, by suffering, the paramount
necessity of hiding her real self-the being
cast, in great and terrible perplexity, en-
tirely on her own resources.
When she took her place at the table
Mrs. Langley, glancing at her keenly and
coyertly, said, within herself:
"No, she has no fancy for Max Beaure-
gard. Besides. sho4ed have found it out
before; and he hope, will be too wise to
let his heart run away with his head. 9th
erysise he might persuade a romantic, hero
worshiping girl like Valerie to forget that
he is younger son. What pity he is
not the elder! He is certainly very fascin-
atingt'
Poor Mrs. Langley! II she could only
have known what was running in the
golden head opposite to her? But she was
in blissful ignorance. Eighteen-year-old
Valerie kept her secret well.
A triumph of artistic taste was the dress
of cream satin and silver plush which Va
lerie wore for the ball that night; but the
girl, as she stood before the long mirror in
her dressing-room, was only thinking, Il
am glad ! had it made all white and silver
He will like that best" And yet she was
resolved to make the man whose opinion
even OF her dress was of value to her, be-
Iieye her false, tickle and worldly.
She wore pearls and diamonds round her
neck tonight, and diamonds in her eyes;
but when her aunt, as she entered the
drawing-room, said:
Il am glad you chose the diamonds. Mr..
Lawford, by the way, is great admirer of
diamonds, she felt inclined to pull the
Jewels of and throw them on the floor.
Il didn't put them on for him, y she said,
shortly.
She had remembered hearing Beaure-
gard say that he admired flashing stones.
I thought you liked to please him, my
dear2'
~ Why should I care to please any
MANI" asked the girl with careless laugh;
they have got to please me-
Take care, Valerie. There are men
who won't take too much, even from a
beauty"
''They are quite welcome, auntte, to re-
lieve me Of their attentions; and could
beckon them back any time."
Surely no idle boast! Such women as
this can indeed make men their slaves
Mrs. Langley only said:
'fRut Aston Lawford is really fond OF
you, Valerie
''Is hep nonchalantly 81 am not fond
of him, then. Please don't talk Of him,
auntie. I shall see enough of him this
evening""
The carriage was just then announced,
and Mrs. Langley led the way down stairs,
feeling little nervous about her niece.
The girl seemed to be in a somewhat reck-
less mood, ripe for any mischief, and as
, likely as not to tease Aston Lawford by
flirting desperately with Colonel Beaure-
gard, or some even more ineligible pdrti.
Yet to warn her would be the don't run
i him under the pump policy. The lady
could only await events, rejecting, mean
while, that to have charge of a brilliant,
strong-willed girl, was a good deal like
mounting guard over fully-charged cleo
trio battery, without understanding how to
control or regulate it.
CHAPTER XXI-A FATAL DIE.
''There she is-there's Valerie Herbert!''
few from mouth to mouth, as Mrs. Lang
ley and her niece entered Lady Stonend's
already crowded salon in Park Lane; and
the well-bred throng pressed eagerly to-
ward the door,