Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1889-12-21

the womans wonderful destinations
her beauty of face and figure. the set of
her head upon her neck. the round white
ness OF her arms and their exquisite
texture, for once by an accident his hand
had touched her arm, and he had never
forgotten the sensation he experienced
1t was as though he had touched dam
ask rose Just picked from some cool gar
den spot.
He thought Of all her little ways; of
her true womanliness, with its strange
combination of childlikeness; of her posi-.
ton In the world; of the men who, if
there was anything in gossip, were mad
iy in love with her; of West Hastings in
particular and his probable relations to
her. Could it be possible that she really
loved this cold, selfish man Of the world.
whose only attractions were his wealth
and certain polish that long contact
with society had given him? She was
", Thy of better man. And then ho
wondered at his own conceit. Wherein
was he more worthy than West Hast
ings? He might not be quite as selfish,
neither the polish nor the wealth Of his
rival 1.-THE polish be hanged!" he said
to himself; "but the wealth I'll have or
perish in the winning. Perhaps not so
much: but if can't earn enough money
to keep my wife in the manner she has
been accustomed to and take her off the
stage, I'll try some other business"
Then he would weigh his chances in
case the field was clear, and in the morn
ings. when he felt bright and the world
looked easy to conquer, he would feel
greatly encouraged Other days he
would feel so blue and respondent that
IL he had not been young and healthy he
would have ended his doubts and misery
by jumping off the dock. But for some
reason or other these dark days we're few
and as rule he looked upon his success
with Helen Knowlton as merely matter
Of time. He had heard Aunt Rebecca
say that Helen was in no hurry to marry,
and that she would not entertain the sub
ject seriously until after she had ''made
her career" Just what Aunt Rebecca
meant by this phrase he did not know.
but it seemed to make his chances better,
and he thought of it every time one of
his respondent moods came on. Still,
his chances did seem to be pretty poor
compared with those Of West Hastings,
and when he thought Of Helen's ap
preaching trip to Europe with Hastings
as a passenger on the same ship, his hear,
sank within him.
Archie Tillinghast, too, was In despair
over the affairs Of his heart. Bessie
Archer seemed to get farther away from
him every day. Her interests were not
his interests, and she was becoming more
and more intimate with O'Hara and Mira
Pryor-a pair for whom Archie had the
most violent contempt. What could pos
sess clever. refined girl like Bessie, thai
she should associate so intimately with
these two? He put it down to disease
a disease Of the brain, induced by misdi
rected mental activity. She craved in
tellectual excitement, and, as there was
little to be got in the ordinary course Of
her life, she sought it in unnatural chan
nels. Bessie Archer was girl Of strong
character, but her strength had never
been properly developed. As Archie said
"she had a morbid hankering after the
great Whyy and the lesser why Not?
and between the two she fell to the floor.
Helen was too much absorbed in hel
profession to give any time to occult
PHILOSOPHERS, 80 she and Bessie had no,
been much together Of late. Helen had
not only something else to think about
but her mind was too well balanced tt
have any leaning towards these follies Of
idle brains. She tried to take an interest
in them for Bessie's sake, but the more
she saw the less she cared for them
Didn't it ever occur to you, Bessie.
she said to her friend, "that If there
was as much in these 'isms' as you think
there is, different class Of people would
be interested in them? that scientists
rather than scatterbrains would be theil
in vestigators?" But Bessie replied that
some of the most intellectual people she
had ever met were believers in the un.
seen. Helen saw that argument would
be useless; all she could do was to wait
until Bessie's mind should take new
turn.
Owing to his love for Bessie, Archie
could not possess his soul in patience.
He wanted to strangie OHara, throw
Mrs. Pryor out of the window, and fight
duel with Rush. On this last point he
had some doubts, for he couldn't ex'
actly make out q case against his friend.
lie had an idea that Bessie was more
than partial to him, yet he had to &c
knowledge that he had never seen Rush
playing the role of lover. With these
thoughts ranking in his breast he rang
his uncle Archer's t.'il one morning, dc
termined to shave it out with Bessie,
ms he expressed it, and learn whether il
was because she cared for some one else
that she didn't care for him. James, the
Archer factotum, answered the bell, ant
told him that Miss Bessie was out; but
seeing an expression Of disappointment
PASS over Archies face, he added, 81
don't know. though, Int you might fine
her, sir; heard her order William t.