Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-01-05
" IL erie
HALF A TR j TIL.
BY 1.-THE DUCHESS. I"


matter to fight" -TENNYsoN
CHAPTER I.-''MAIDENHooD AND CHILDHOOD
FLEET"
Eyes, will marry you," said Valerie,
dreamily; but somehow the words seemed
to her unreal, and there was only sort Of
f1utter about her heart-not the passionate
gladness there ought to have been if the
novels she had read were any guides in
such matters; and when Louis Charters
took her in his arms and kissed her, she
did not experience any specially new sensa-
ton, save one of bewilderment Certainly
she did not imagine herself in paradise, as
the heroines in the novels did when their
iovers embraced them. Perhaps, after all,
people knew nothing Of such ecstacies in
real life, and the sober kind Of happiness
she felt was simply natural under the cir
cumstances. All the same, it was a disap-
pointment to find the reality Of life so
much less romantic than the fiction.
81 have loved you all my lfe!' murmur-
ed Louis, fondly; "thatis, ever since knew
you-you were in pinafores then, Valerie,
and a tall school-boy."
eyes," assented Valerie again, in the
game dreamy manner. cit isn't so very
long ago. is it,"
''Barely nine years, dear. Why, you are
only just seventeen-very young to be en-
gagedW said Louis who was not much
more than boy himself, and had only left
college last term.
Engaged Oh, Louisl'' Valerie looked
scared "Oh!'' she added, with a catch in
her breath, ct seems SO stranger
''You viii get used to it." said the young
lover, tenderly. "You are hardly more
than a child, Valerie"
eyes, that is itr' she said, with 1lGiUete;
but she felt vaguely that her words only
expressed part of the truth, for she was an
swering her companions first sentence,
not his last.
She was very, very fond of Louis. She
had never had brother, and he had been
Just like brother Maybe that was why
this ending to their long companionship
seemed so matter-of-course, seeing that he
was not a brother; and also why there was
no great excitement or novelty about it.
They stood together by astile separating
the long garden of the Limes-where Va
gerie Herbert lived with her uncle-from a
stretch of forest land beyond. Trees and
flowers were in full leaf and bloom, for it
was June-a glorious noontide-and Va
lerie, under the Pickering shadows of way
ing lime-boughs-
Half light, half shade, she stood,
s a sight to make an old man young.
= A tall, slender STRIPPING, grace itself in
her easy pose, with pure, pale, creamy skin,
and wondrous eyes of deep, dark gray-not
the eyes that are brown in the shade, or
the gray-blue of the Irish; but true slate
gray, with long black lashes and straight
black brows-and over the beautifully
poised head curled masses of rich brown
Ialr, almost black in the shadow, glitter
ing like gold in the sunlight, tumbling in
loose profusiOn onto the girls shoulders.
There were possibilities in that girls face
of which she, IN her child-innOcence, never
dreamed. Hers was not q nature to rest
content with such love as she gave Louis
Charteris-a tall, fair, handsome young
fellow, to whom the passions that SUM
bered in Valerie's heart could never be
known, for she had
Strength enough
20 rock the Ianguid blood into the brains
of twenty smaller natures.
But as yet the woman slept; she was q
child, wild, sweet, willful, loving the birds,
the trees, and all things bright and beauti-
full; knowing no life but the life of the
woods and the hills, scarcely any cOmpan-
ions but her uncle and young Louis Char
teris, connection of her mothers; uncon-
scioUs of her own dazzling beauty, Of the
needs of her nature; with no care for riches,
though she was poor; and only vague
yearnings for & greater, mightier world;
reading with throbbing pulse the pas
sionate aspirations in "Locksley Hall, :"
but still happy in her limited world
Il wonder what your uncle viii say?"
said louis presently, taking Valerie's little
white hand in his own.
''He won't like it." she said, following
with her eyes the flight of blue-tit. HE
will say we are too young-and we are,
Louis"
TOO youngp' he answered eagerly. 81
a am twenty-five"
''And too poor" concluded Valerie,
bringing her eyes back, not TO her lovers
face, but to the messy carpet at her feet.
Charters paused, and bit his lip.
Certainly am not rich" he said in an
altered tone; "but in few months [ shall
have Il berth in the Foreign Office, and
that, with what my mother left me, will
make up my income to two hundred and
fifty pounds year"
Could one live on that in London?"
asked Valerie, whose ideas of town exist
ence were extremely vague.
81 should think So-better than one can
in the country!" exclaimed Charters, dar-
ingly. And of course that is only to
Il
was delicious vagueness about that few
i shall be earning four hundred pounds a
year at the office. Then we should be quite
rich"
yes, quite rich," said Valerie; ''but still
we are too young to marry now, Louis. l
am, at any rate"
She had consented to marry her old play
mate; but she was in no particular hurry
to carry out her promise.
But when l have gotmy appointments"
urged Louis.
1T depends upon uncle WILL" said the
girl "And-and-you see, Louis, l am
not fit to marry yet; am no more than a
child; and one has to be different-more
staid and grave"
''Oh, Valerie; what nonsensei Who put
such a notion into your head?"
at is so in books" replied she; land you
know how proper Milly Bertram got when
she married She wouldn't play any more
larks, and was quite shocked when 1 ran
across farmer Cramps turEip field instead
of going by the road"
''Milly Bertram is only one example
Lots of married women are just as lively
as single ones"
Married womenp' Valerie burst into
peal OF merry laughter. Il am not wo
MANI
''What are you, them"
"a girl and tonl-boy, and want to re
main so for a long, long time"
"Then you don't love mel" exclaimed
Louis, catching her hand as she was abou
to dance away.
Yes, do. What funny boy you are
Let me go, please. There is uncle VII