San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-01-10


stood between Max Beauregard and the
woman he loved, yet would not make his
wife; it was the one irresistible impulse:
81 have gone mad-I love your and terri
BILE, when it came, was the shock of the
revulsion.
Valerie, who had so clearly, by act II not
by word, told him the value she set upon a
comparatively poor man-who had been
ready to sacrifice her youth and beauty for
wealth, and cast that, too, aside when the
man once despised became more desira-
BILE ''match'-it was this Valerie he was
holding to his heart with such passion Of
love, whom he was claiming as his one
great earthly treasure.
He loosed his clasp, he put the girl from
him, and flung himself into chair, cover
ing his face.
"Oh, Heaven he muttered, hOarsely
81 was mad-mad, Forgive me, Valerie,
if you can. could only remember that /
loved you; ay, and shall love you while l
have life-love you beyond the graveW
But Valerie was blind and dizzy with Joy
so great that it was almost terror. Max
Beauregard loved her! She knew it now
knew it by his own confession; his clasp
his kiss, if words had been unuttered, had
unsealed her lips, had given her the right
TO break down the barrier between their
lives; she could tell him the truth now; All!
but would he doubt her? She had moved
a step toward her lover, but at this unhap-
py thought she shrank back, sinking into
the chair from which she had risen. Her
trembling hand stole into her bosom, where
her talisman rested; if she showed him this
would he not believer
Beauregard dropped his hands, and, ris-
ing, approached Valerie. Her head droop-
ed, the burning color suffused her face.
He laid his hand on the back of the chair,
and bent down to her. speaking low and
brOkenly:
Il asked you just now" he said, ito for
give me. | have no right to ask that
have done you great wrong, 1t was mad
ness to seek you; l should have better
known my own weakness and yet-Oh,
Valeriep' he said, passionately, eff you
could love me for myself alone-if even
nOw-but no! the test is wanting. II
could strip myself of all that dazzled your
eyes-if could be once more what l was,
when you unconsciously won my heart
from me-then might know. but now 1t
when held you this minute in my arms
and my lips chung to yours; but not as
love you. Oh! my darling-my life, lower
the bright head dropped, the girls face
was hidden in her clasped hands, eff you
had been true to yourself, true to the no
bier nature you have never wholly crushed;
if you had known how loved you, Valerie,
almost from the first, almost from the day
i carried you through the rain in my armsl
Your image was always with me on the
battlefield, in the camp, by day, by night;
waking, dreaming, you were with me still.
l heard your voice; l felt the touch of
your hand; your dear eyes looked into
mine, and grew to hope that those dreams
might yet be reality Your love for Louis
Charters was but girls love for boy.
/ dared even to dream sometimes that |
had perhaps sOwed in your heart the seeds
of deep and lasting love. 1t was happi-
ness to imagine that you sometimes thought
of me, sometimes wished for my presence;
and when at last came home, OH the bit
ter-bitter awakening! You met mech!
no, cannot speak of itp' He turned aside
pressing his hand over his eyes. 1T is my
punishment that ] love you with all my
strength, ay, though know that you would
have sold yourself to Aston Lawford, and
cast him aside for my sake in the very hour
that made me owner of the broad lands of
Abbot's Leigh"
Now Valerie sprang to her feet and faced
him; her eyes met his with clear, fearless
gaze; but her lips quivered, her whole form
trembled with the passion of emotion that
possessed her.
mop she said; lyon wrong me; you have
wronged me from the beginning"
"Valerier'
at was my woman's pride that forced
me to seem all that | was not" she went
on, not needing him. But | may speak
now; may tell you the truth, for | know
that you love me; your own lips have told
mel Stay! hear me out, and then" her
head dropped, the crimson rose to her brow,
her voice faltered; ''if you can take me to
your heart again" she broke off abb
ruptly, her hand stole into her breast once
more, her voice sank lower, but she spoke
passiOnately, sit was you who taught me
what love was, Max; 1t was you who show
ed me clearly what | had only felt vaguely,
that it was only sisters love l gave to
Louis Charters. When l rejected his
flowers for yours, it was not only because
you had been kind to mel did not know
it then-but-but knew afterward, and 1
kept those flowers; have kept them ever
since, and few of them / kept apart-here
-always-day and night, on my heart"
The flush of shame was on her cheek; the
last words were scarcely whispered, for
though she knew this man loved her now,
she had not known it then.
She so loved him even then, so treasured
his gift, so wore 1t on her heart-alwaysl
Beauregard had almost obeyed the impulse
to clasp her once more in his arms, but he
mastered it, setting his teeth. She might
have loved him, and yet given heed to am
bition.
Valerie went on, not raising her eyes,
her hands pressed on her bosom now.
when you were away in Egypt, my
heart was with you; you hoped that some
times thought of you. thought Of you
always; you liked to imagine that wished
for your presence; | lOnged TO see you
again, as a woman can only long n see tha