The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-06-29
TWO WOMEN'S LOVE.
They had been lovers.

faces, and she said coldly;
Il trust we may still be friends.
Even though you marry Natalie,
! will always be your well-wisher"
81 will not marry Natalie" he said
passiQnately. II shall never sec her
deceitful face again"
ooh, yes, you WILL" said Alice
calmly. 'Natalie is not one to allow
an admiref to escape her. The mo-
! ment she hears / have freed you from
any tisto me, she will send for you,
and you Will 60"
He tried to deny her charge, but
the words choked him.
Believe me as bad as you like"
it will make no difference now
"You mean that the thought of
your unworthiness may help me to
to conquer my affections for you. do
you not?" she asked, while a con-
temptuous smile cured her proud
lips. "Do not concern yourselfabout
me mon ami, the wound is not very
deep. think we have both been tri-
fling little, and it will not make
either of us very unhappy to part.
You will find all Of my letters there"
she added abruptly, pointing toward
a pile OF loosely bound papers on the
| table. -.
"Yours are here" he said, taking
five heavy envelopes from his pocket
and laying them by the Others.
A long silence followed his act.
She felt as if every pulse in her
body throbbed in time to the beat
ing of her heart. The golden sun.
beam strayed in through the open
window. Its brightness seemed to
| mock her. With a sense Of bitterness
she stared out at the sparkling
ocean.
1.-THE day is just as fair, the world
is as bright as it was yesterday, and
yet for me happiness is dead fnrever,'
she thought, dreamily.
Looking back over all she had
suffered since the previous night, it
seemed impossible to her that it
was only a few short hours since she
had been Ernest Maston's happy
fiance. 1t seemed impossible that
only yesterday afternoon they had
gone for a long drive together. He
had been unusually kind to her.
She told herself now that he had
doubtless pitied her, knowing he
loved another woman.
Her heart grew faint with excite
ment when she went down the path
to the beach some three hours after
her return from that drive and saw
her lover standing beside Natalie
Brown, who was looking i'll his face,
with all a coquette's witchery, while
her iull lips murmured:
How | wish we had met before
you were engaged to Alice
Alice paused when she heard the
words. Her heart seemed to stand
still while she waited for her
betrothed's answer to that speech.
He looked down into the doll-like
pretty face of this girl who had been
trying to fiirt with him for week.
A careless impulse made him say: 81
wish we had
Neither of them saw Alice start
back over the path down which she
had come. neither of them dreamed
she had hemd-or witnessed-their
moonlight tete-a-tete, until the next
morning.
Ernest and Natalie were told that
she had retired with IL sick headache
when they returned to th, house. II
any one had seen her pacing up and
down her room, and moaning, he
would have seen thatit was her heart
and not her head that ached. She
told no one. Not even to her moth
err could she reveal the fact that the
man she loved wasunworthy.
All night she paced the floor, and
when morning broke she wrote En-
nest note asking him to her house
and bring her letters.
He had greeted her with loving
words. He would have caressed her,
but she sternsy checked him by say
ing:
"Everything is over between us. l
heard YOU tell Natalie last night that
you wishe;i you had met her before
you were engaged to me. You shall
have your freedom. There is your
ring. Give it to Natalie ifyou wish"
He had expostulated with her in
VAN. He attempted to tell her he
cared for no one else, but she refused
TO listen
"Let us part friends" she said.
Between friends there should be no
deceit. / know you love Natalie.
You shall be free to marry her."
He had been annoyed to find her so
firm and cold; she who had hitherto
been so gentle and yielding. Hetold
himself she could not haveloved him,
or she would not SO eagerly seize an
excuse to be free from her engage
ment.
He became hard and proud, too,
and would not tell her that he had
told Natalie the night before he could
never love any one so much as he did
the girl to whom he was betrothed.
"She does not love me, he thought,
staring at Alice's cold averted face.
IL will free her from the VOWS which
are evidently distasteful, and if
Natalie,does care for me | will make
her my wife,"
Alice broke the long pause by say
ing: "Natalie's visit to me ends to-
morrw | will ask you not to meet
her again while she is under ourroof,
as confess it would be painful for
me tosee you together. Good-by."
"Good-bv," he answered, IN a tone
as cold as her own. She lifted hand
toward him, but he pre- tended not to
see it. A moment latter she heard
the door close behind. She was alone
She bowed her head in her hands, and
wept bitterly. Presently she heard
coma ono rominU She pSc0ned into