St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-14

ministered few dainty touches to the
geraniums in the epergne and the Or
naments OH the table. picked up book
to while away the time.
But it dropped from her fingers as if
it had sting to it. for on the title page
Ernstein. During this week of excite
ment she had sedulOusly banished him
from her thoughts. Why could she
not do so now?
Against her will she found herself
comparing the two men who loved her,
and trembled as she did so. How little
she knew of Albert Montmorency! How
many instances she could recall of
DOlph Ernstein'S integrity and nobility
of character!
Such an adventure as this would
never have happened to him. Was it
because he had no tendency to romance,
or because he would never induce
young girl whom he loved and respect
| ed, to transgress the rules society lays
| down for her guidance, and deceive her
mother?
That dear mother? what would she
say when she learned that her child had
been meeting stranger, not once only,
but Gay after day, ard permitting him
by his looks, his gestures, his bursts of
poetical quotations, to tell her he loved
me?
Eta wrung her hands.
''lt has beer wrong; all wrong. /
feel degraded in my own eyes; what
shall | be in those of mamma and her
relationS?"
But she was spared the ordeal she
now dreaded intensely, for La Comtesse
de Trouville never came.
At first Eta made excuses for her.
She might have been detained in Paris,
or she might have felt too fatigued with
her journey to be equal to another.
Yet whatever might be the cause of
her non-appearance, why did net her
nephew come OF write? NJ. Montmoren-
cy did neither, and Eta, ashamed and
miserable, ceased at last to expect it.
AT times she assured herself that some
dreadful accident must have befallen
him, or his relatives. finding she was
neither wealthy nor we'll born, had in
terfered, and then she pitied herself and
acted the part of Mariana in the ''Moat-
ed Grange" growing paler and more
hollOw-eyed with her fasting and mop
ing, till DOlph ErnStein, alarmed for her
health, aroused Mrs. Grayley to sense
of the danger of letting this continue.
The now anxious mother carried her.
much against her will, to London, and
to physician who prescribed cheerful
society and a simple tonic.
Ashamed of the nneaSiness she had
caused her mother, Eta endeavOred to
atone for it, She could not bring her.
self to confess the cause; it was her
secret, she would pensively murmur-
the one sweet yet sorrowful romance of
her youth, and no one must ever know
that IN her soul she would cherish for
aye the memory of Albert MOntm0r-
ency'S alteration.
Her favorite songs were still ''Some
Day." and HE Will Return, Know
He WHIP and she sang them with
pathos very pulling to Dolph Ernstein,
who had made her indisposition an eX-
cuse for renewing his visits, and whose
eyes often told her that she was still
dear to him.
Partly to avoid him. Eta started one
morning to do some errandS for her
mother. There was the physicians
prescription to be made up at chem
lists not far off, and thither she bent her
way. The shopman banded her chair,
and she was coming the list of pur-
chases she had to make while he was
cOncoctiug the draught, when a door
opened, and, against her will, she be-
came the auditreSS of whispered
conversation.
''Oh, here you are at last. What a
time it has taken you to go as far as
l.
Bert, you stopped to tlirt with my
lady's maid"
'Pshal Eve better game III view than
red-halred coquette," was the reply.
$50 you said when you thought that
Mme. Trouville, who was old enough to
be your mother, might be persuaded to
marry you: and so you thought when
you borrowed my best suit of clothes to
go counting Viscount Grayley's pretty
relative-and what came of it?''
didn't tell you that | was duped in
that affair: and didn't | give it up as
soon as found the poor dear child was
penniless? Hegho! How she idolized
me, to be sure!"
''Sir! there's some one in the shop
waiting for this draught; give it to her,
will you?'
And the next moment the delicately
white hands of Albert Montmorency
were rendering to Eta the neat little
parcel.
''Can we do anything else for you,
madame? Allow me to show you some
of our perfumes. We pride ourself Oh
| the excellence and variety of our per-
| fumery."
But here he stopped, for Eta flew out
| of the shop. leaving her tonic behind
| her, thankful that the thick veil she
wore had prevented recognition.
| Inc 1lrSt tnlng Sne dld on reaching
home was to burn half dozen withered
flowers and portrait from memory of
the adOred one. Oh, that she could
have effaced at the same time all recol-
lection of the credulity that now M ade
her Jingle with shame and long to hide
| herself from every eye.
Mrs. Grayley has never learned what
has brought about such a pleasant
change in her daughter, making her as
sensible and unaffected as of old, but
into the ears of Dolph Ernstein, when
he once more asked Eta to be his wife,
confession was poured he will always
| hold sacred.
He knows that she has at last learned
to value bis patient devotion and sur
rendered her heart to his keeping; that
she will be the best of wives, and he
can afford to forgive and help her to
forget the girliSh folly that has cure d
| hor of cpDtimpnt apd romapop fornv ar