The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-03-14

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As boys Gerald Ravelow and Louis
Bond used to play together. They
would perhaps never have sought one
another'scompany had not circumstances
caused them to spend many boyish
summers on their parents neighboring
estates. not far from the picturesque
shores of New Rochelle, for Gerald was
. robust, merry, pink checked lad, and
Louis, with his sallow face and great,
mystic black eyes, differed from him as
an ivy leaf differs from the dandelion.
Having once met and become friends,
however, u genuine fondness grew and
throve between their two widely oppo-
site natures. Gerald Ravelow's mother
was a meek faced widow, who adored
her only child, and lived in a perpetual
state of weak chested and neuralgia re-
greet that his late father had not left him
Q millionaire. But Gerald's cheerful
mind could see nothing really calamitous
In the snug little fortune that had sur
vived his fathers commercial collapse.
They spent four or five months in New
York each year, and their Westchester
home was pleasant if not p"alatial
AFTER all" said Gerald one day, u
begin to think, mamma, that money
can't always buy us happiness" He
looked so jocundly ignorant of his own
platitude that hi mother forgot how
threadbare a one it was. "There are the
Bonds" he went on; "Louis is a nice lit.
tie chap when you know him. but then
he gets fits of the blues, as he calls 'em,
and he doesn't begin to have half as good
. time of it as ! do. And just look at
their great, big house, and their stables,
and their servants, and everything like
that! And then, Louis father! ] al
ways think of a when ] see Mr..
Bond; he's 8 awfully dark and glum."
HE recovered from his wife's
loss," said Mrs. Ravelow, a little reprov-
ingly. "a never saw her; they bought
Shadyshore after her death. But I've
heard that little Brenda looks a good
deal like her dead mother, and if that is
the case Mrs. Bond must have been very
beautiful"
"Do you think Brenda Bond prettyY
asked Gerald. The Idea of her being so
had never occurred to him before.
"She's like a little angelr' declared his
mother. such hair as hers will always
stay golden: it isn't the kind that changes
to nut brown. as that Of so many chill
dren do. And then her pure little wild
rose Of aface. Oh, Gerald, l should think
you'd be ever so fond of her already"
That ALREADY" piqued Gerald 10y its
ambiguity. He did not know exactly
whether it referred to his own youth or
that of Brenda, who was two good years
younger than himself. But pride kept
him from inquiries as to his mothers
actual meaning, while at the same time
he reflected that he was privately very
fond indeed of little Brenda, and that in
more than II gallant way he had con-
trived to tell her 30.
The thought of her son marrying
Brenda Bond at some future day filed
MIRA Ravelow with ambitious thrills.
The Bond fortune was we'll known to be
$4,000, 900 if a dime, and though Louis
would perhaps receive the great bulk Of
the property on his fathers death still
bis sisters share would doubtless prove
. handsome one. But Mrs. Ravelow
wa Of too hypochondriac a turf to al
low hope the least altitude of fight.
Her semi-invalid eyes forever gazed on
the dark sides Of things, and she saw
slight prospect of q mere boy and girl
preference ever resulting seriously in
after life.
At IS Gerald went to Harvard, while
Louis, owing to the enfeebled health Of
his melancholy father. remained at home
under the care Of tutors. During Ger
AIDS vacations he saw q great deal Of
both Louis and his sister. This had
proved one of the few childish friend
ships not fated to be shattered or dis
PEELED by time. Gerald took no high
stand in his class, and Louis, studying
and reading amid comparative solitude,
would sometimes assail him with gentle
ironies.
~ dare say you'd beat us all ont Of
our boots il you were at Cambridge"
laughed Gerald one day in his junior
year.
"Ob, how ! do wish he had gOner'
said Brenda, who CHANGED to be present,
and who had now become a damsel With
hair like threaded sunshine, figure Of ar
rowy straightness and cheeks to rival
rose petals,
- Her brother looked at her with a little
start They scarcely seemed as if blood
really allied them; he was so dark and
grave beside this blonde, buoyant sister.
"Why do you say that, Brendaf" he
queried. do you mean that you could
spare me 50 easily if ! were of in Massa-
chusetts with GeraldT"
"Ah, no indeedI" cried Brenda. But
! think you grow gloomy, Louis, from
living in such complete seclusion."
"Tm gloomy by nature" said Louis
with one OF his sad little smiles.
Heaven only knows why you should
ha,v acclaimed Gerald. with q glance At