The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-03-21
WHAT DECIDED 1T.

that; don't Let your fancy for a pretty face
blind you to the worth and beauty Of a
life like Elaine A~rnold'si''
Raymond Powell looked at his mother
with a slight pucker between his hand
some brows.
He was a tall young fellow of four-and
twenty, the darling and only child of his
widowed mother.
The girl he had called Every lovely"
was a cousin of Elaine Arnold, who was
spending all the summer in Elaine's house
as her guest.
As the Powells and Arnold were very
close neighbors, and Elaine had, since she,
a tiny mite of three had escaped from her
nurse and toddled merrily over Mrs. Pow
ellis threshold, been dear as a daughter to
that gentle lady, and much like a sister to
Ray, Miss Leila Cranston had soon made
herself quite at home in the rambling old
building which was Mrs. Powell's pride.
Why it chafed her to see the welcome
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 departure.
Perhaps she saw nov that rare, delicate
lovliness of Lela's made the salIowness of
Elaine's cheek shox more plainly.
Perhaps she understood why the carol
ing voice that had grown so necessary to
her, grew so soft and lost its merriment,
why the great grey eyes ofthe girl she low
ed had caught an unaecustomed shadow;
whatever the reason, she saw, with min
gled fear and pain, Rays growing inter
est in Leila Cranston, and she could not
help saying what was in her heart, as,
through the hush of a dying day in late
summer, she saw the two girls walking up
the path.
Mother he said, at last, very gently,
81 know that Elaine is as sweet as a flow
er, as true as the angels, and she is dear to
me as though she were my sister; but when
love comes to a man, m other. it makes the
object of it something so rare, SO precious,
that
My son, has such love CONF to you for
this stranger
YES"
She made no reply; a choking sensation
in her throat prevented her, and a mist
gathered over her gentle eyes,
s'Poor Elalne!" she thought, rising and
moving forward to meet the two girls.
"Whatl Not one word of kindness, not a
good wish for me, mother" be said, re-
proachfully.
She bent and kissed his cheek, but said
nothing.
A keen pain had darted through her
temples more than once during the day.
Now a dull, heavy pain was settling there
and a strange WEAKNESS was stealing over
all her limbs, but she greeted all her
guests cheerfully, and drew Elaine close to
her as she resumed her seat.
II am not very well, dear" she said to
the girl.
And when Ray and Leila presently left
them and wandered away to the orchard,
she put up her hands, drew the girls face
down to her and kissed it.
II would have thanked God for such a
daughter she said, sadly, noting with
plying eyes the scorching color thatswept
Elaine's lark face at the words.
When Raymond led Leila from his moth
er's presence, he fully meant to try his fate
| and ask her to be his wife.
But he did not. Why, he could not
nave told; but when he led her back, with
the light of setting sun on her pretty, por-
celain-tinted face, and glittering in her
shining hair, he had not spoken, and the
red lips. smiling goodbye, had given him
no pledge.
After that, Mrs. Powell was i'll for e
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 a week his mother was
convalescent, and one evening in the
cleaning, she babe him take a message
from her to the girl he loved.
Tell her that, my sou loving her, she
must be dear to me-" faltered the invalid.
sBid her come to me, Ray; | fear that l
have not Deen just TO her, becanse-be-
cause | SO wanted you to Elaine.
''To wed Elaine!'
The words rang in his ears as be went
out to the falling night. Somehow they
brought him a vision of Elaine's tender
face as it bent above his mother. They
brought him memories of the sweetness of
the girlish life which had grown 90 near
his own, and yet he was going to offer his
hand and heart to one whose face he had
not seen four months before.
He entered the Arnold grounds, and a
low, musical laugh struck on his ear.
Lifting his eyes he saw two girlish fig
ures directly ahead, and fastened his steps
that he might come up with them.
Leila was talking. and her voice, clear
and musical, hoated back to him:
s'Better, is shes ! thought she was go
ing to die. She is a hateful old woman
and for one shonlj not manrn her