Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-10-23

conviction that he loved her with a
mad, unreasoning devotion. Her very
contempt had set his soul ablaze The
more he thought of her, the more in
tense became his infatuation. In his
heated imagination her beauty was
maGniied a hundred fold, till it as
sumed as exquisite vision of lowell
ness as the son of Islam dreams shall
meet his gaze when he enters paradise.
Yet, strange to say, beneath this wild
rhapsody was an under current of vim
dictiveness-a desire to ''get even'' with
her for the humiliation she had inflicted
on him.
Like an angry storm spending itself
in its own fury, his passion at last wore
itself out, and he fell into the more dan
gerous mood of planning future retalia-
ton.
Pshaw! What fool he had been to get
into such rage. He would win in the
end. There were two ways of catching
this bird of beautiful plumage, and, if
one failed he could try the other. If
the sillxen net of honied words was use
less, he knew how to cast the strong
bonds of obligation around her.
The Dolmans' owed him money-they
must help him; Robson, her employer,
was in the same fix, he must do his bid
ding; and Mrs Evesham would surely
not be blind to the glitter of his world
ly prospects. AS for that blind fellow
but no, girl like Wanda could never
give her love to him-well, if he stood
in his way, it would be all the worse for
him.
And Wanda! She was feverishly toss
ing on the bed, the victim of thousand
doubts and fears-the past with it's
phantoms of uncertainty, the present
with it's disappointments, the future so
clouded with hopelessness that she
dreaded even to think of it. With a
heart overlooking with the tenderest
gratitude, she pondered over Mrs. Eve
sham's long years of motherly solicitude
for her, of the sacrifice she knew that
noble woman must have made for her
sake. True, the burden was pressing
less heavily on that dear friend now.
Kate was at work, the store was pros
porous, Alice was no longer dependent
on her and she, Wanda, was in posi-
ton to add her mite to the family funds.
But, if she should fail-pshaw! she must
not fail; she must endure any discom-
fort, any degradation rather than GO
back to Glastonbury to be again a
charge on the widows bounty
AS for Damiens, with his rustic insol-
ence, she was foolish to waste a second
thought upon him and half regretted
that she had condescended to rebuke
his impertinence. But, then there was
poor blind George Arundel-that was
different trouble. 1t was very we'll for
him to talk about being her adopted
brother, but she knew that his love for
her was of very different nature, and
she was sure that she could never re-
turn his affection in the way he wanted
it.
Then-ah, then-hoated before her
imagination face of typical beauty.
Big, earnest, brown eyes seemed to be
looking tenderly into hers, so vivid
was the picture that she could in fancy
have raised her hand to push away the
short, clustering, brown curls which
extended over the clear white forehead.
She saw the pleasant smile on the we'll
curved lips-nay, she could almost be-
lieve that they moved and whispered
her name in a tone of exquisite tender
ness. Wanda" never sounded half SO
sweetly as when he uttered it. But she
must not think Of him-no, it would be
crime of ingratitude to fetter him
| with her dowerless love. She would be
brave, she would dismiss him forever
from her thoughts; and, saying this
she concentrated her whole soul on the
beautiful vision, till-the wearied eye
lids closed, and sleep drew the curtain
of oblivion over her wandering fancies.
And the brown-eyed hero of Wanda's
dreams was none other than Harry
Evesham, who, as A'phonsc Damiens
had truly said, was gone to New York
to make his fortune"