Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1890-02-01
What Decided It.

"Outwardly she is so, but under al
that pink-and-white loneliness have
you found anything but selfshness anc
vanity ever? Ray, don't spoil your life
by mistake like that; don't let YOU
fancy for pretty face blind you tC
the worth and beauty of a life-likt
Elaine Arnold'sP'
Raymond Powell looked at hi:
mother with slight pucker between
his handsome brows.
He was tall young fellow of four
and-twenty, the darling and only child
of his widowed mother.
The girl he had called Every lovely
was cousin of Elaine Arnold, who
was spending all the summer in
Elaine's house as her guest.
AS the Powels and Arnolds were
very close neighbors, and Elaine had
since she, a tiny mite of three, had es-
capped from her nurse and toddled
merrily over Mrs. Powels threshold
been dear as a daughter to that gentle
lady, and much like sister to Ray,
Miss Leila Cranston had soon made
herself quite at home in the rambling
old building which was Mrs. Powel's
pride.
Why it chafed her to see the well
come that shone in Rays eyes for that
dainty, pretty, polished stranger. Mrs.
Powell could best have told; and also
why she grew so tender towards Elaine
as the hot days dragged along and
Miss Cranston showed no signs of de-
parture.
Perhaps she saw how that rare, deli
cate loneliness of Lela's made the sal
lowness of Elaine's cheek show more
plainly.
Perhaps she understood why the
carroling voice that had grown so ne
cessary to her, grew so soft and lost its
merriment; why the great grey eyes of
the girl she loved had caught an unac-
customed shadow; whatever the rea-
son, she saw, with mingled fear and
pain, Rays growing interest in Leila
Cranston, and she could not help saying
what was in her heart, as, through the
hush of dying day in late summer,
she saw the two girls walking up the
path.
Mother" he said, at last, very gen
thy, 81 know that Elaine is as sweet as
flower, as true as the angels, and she
is dear to me as though she were my
sister; but when love comes to man,
mother, it makes the object of it some
thing so rare, so precious, that--''
"My son, has such love come to you
for this stranger ?"
eyes"
She made no reply; a choking sensa-
ton in her throat prevented her, and a
mist gathered over her gentle eyes.
"Poor Elaine !" she thought, rising
and moving forward to meet the two
girls.
"Whatl Not one word of kindness,
not good wish for me, mother?" he
said, reproachfully.
She bent and kissed his cheek, but
said nothing.
A keen pain had darted through her
temples more than once during the day.
Now dull, heavy pain was settling
there, and a strange WEAKNESS was
stealing over all her limbs, but she
greeted her guests cheerfully, and drew
Elaine close to her as she resumed her
seat.
81 am not very we'll, DEAR" she said
to the girl.
And when Ray and Leila presently
left them and wandered away to the
orchard, she put out her hands, drew
the girls face down to her and kissed
it.
81 would have thanked God for such
a daughter" she said, sadly, noting
with plying eyes the searching color
that swept Elaine's dark face at the
words
When Raymond led Leila from his
mothers presence, he fully meant to
try his fate and ask her to be his wife.
But he did not. Why, he could not
have told ; but when he led her back,
with the light of the setting sun on her
pretty, porcelain-tinted face, and gilt
tering in her shining hair, he had not
spoken, and the red lips, smiling good
bye, had given him no pledge.
After that, Mrs. Powell was ill for a
week, and Elaine spent most of the
time with her.
Ray saw, with grateful heart, the
girls tender care of his mother, and
his anxiety was such that he rarely
sought Leila.
AT the end of week his mother was
convalescent, and one evening in the
cleaning, she bade him take message
from her to the girl he loved.
Tell her that, my son loving her
she must be dear to me-" faltered the
invalid. "Bid her come to me, Ray
fear that / have not been Just to her
because-because l SO wanted you tc
wed Elaine"
''To wed Elaine !"
The words rang in his ears as he
went out to the falling night. Somehow
they brought him vision of Elaine's