Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-08-02

la mnever so engaged, Alice,
that you can prove interruption.
This is my cousin, Mr. Roland, my
new siStes."
81 have heard MIR. RoIand's name
so often mentioned he hardly seems
a stranger was the frank acknowl-
edgment, as she came forward,
with a pleasant smile OF welcome.
The afternoon sun fading in the
west shed its sottened beams iall
upon the face and figure without
flaw.
To Jack Roland il was as though
heaven had opened, and his eyes
had rested on the glorles OF an
augel-she seemed so divinely fair.
A few words Of recognition we're
mechanically uttered, but his eyes
seemed spell-bouud under the
mesmerlc influence of her beauty.
1t was a strange power which,
from this hour, caused Kate to
draw herself within an Outward
shell, but under whose potency
Alice expanded as a flower beneath
the sun.
Evening after evening, Jack
would hang entranced over the
piano where she sat singing, as she
could only sing, while her snowy
hands and arms moved to and fro
in aer slow accompaniment, and
her lovely eyes bent now on the
notes, now on his face.
Kate, IN her shadowy corner,
would sit and watch them, battling
with the hot love and anger in her
heart, wondering what iU ell could
mean; whittier they we're drifting,
and what the end would be. Hap
piness, which had seemed within
her very grasp, poor child sud-
denly had eluded her; and one
night, when she had read IN Jack
Roland's face its story, her breath
failed; she telt she must escape
from sight and sound. So, steal
lng noislessly through the open
window, she went out into the gar
den. The night winds blew with
refreshing GOODNESS upon her flush
ed cheeks. The silence and solitude
we're what she most desired. She
was learning llfe's first bitter lesson,
and in coming it no hand could
lend her assistance.
81 loved him so!" she moaned
forth. "He Was my all, and she
knew it, yet she has stolen him
from me. Well'-what sudden
burst OF pride-"let him 90. l
want no truant lover.
But all unmissed was her pres
ence in the room she had just lett.
True, one pair of eyes had noted
her nolseless escape, but they be-
trayed not their secret, only turned
with deader meaning to the mans
face bending over her.
"Jack," she whispered, take
care. We are drifting on a swift,
dangerous current. | tremble
lest it lead US TO destruction"
"Why should you tremble, Alice,
since am with your l fear moth
ing; with your beauty as my guide.
Have not given up even honor to
lay 1t at your feet? To look into
Kate,s sweet face, with her silent,
reproschful eyes, maddens me, un'
til 1 again forget everything in the
witchery OF your presence"
"Kate! What is shel A child,
to whom love is a sealed book.
Hers is not a nature to suffer.
She is more like an April day,
whose clouds ouly shadowed the
horizon for moment, with tho sun
ever peeplng through and scatter
ing them. But with me 1t is love
or hte; aud, oh Jack, it was not
my fault that l learned to love
youn Aud the lids dropped over
the beautiful eyes to hide the
sparkle Of exult4tion nashlrg there.
"No fault, perhaps, OF either,
Alice. When you betrayed your
love for me; 1 thought OF nothing
save the priceless gift Of which |
was so unworthy. The temptation
was beyond my strength, and il
wrong, | am ready to abide nv
fault. Let us confess our love
Alice. No spoken words hayt
bound me to Kate. 1t seems the
only honorable course left u.s.
"Not yet. Wait yet a little
Believe me, it is for the best"
A fortnight later, and Jack Ro
land, entering Mira. Douglas draw
ing rooms, stood transfxed upoT
the threshold. The rooms wer
empty, but on tho wall opposite
hung the life size portrait OF Kat
Douglass. He had seen it man.
times before, but at this momen
1t seemed revelation, bar upoI
hls downward path. The picture'
loveliness was to Alice's beauty al
moonlight to the dazzling sun rays
and it fell opon his brain like
cool draught. 1t was as thougl
his feeling senses had been sobered
his wavering vision fixed. The ole
love, mingled with wild self-re
prOach, surged upward in his heart
The treachery of her who had be