San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-01-10
PART lat THE NORTH.
CHAPTER l.


Miss Van der Huysen turned away. and
the Creole, with puzzled face, moved
rapidly toward the house once more
''Vivien!" repeated the woman aloud
Her face was Sur,lcl tow" Inc distant
mountains which she nos see, for
again the darker glow crept into the
brown eyes 'Vivienl What, after all
was she? W. ',
But whr': i.. ~ der Huysen en-
t.rei i,-l.,.s room a few moments
at"I A., marked casually that she had
Deeu LOO I. nLule turn in the garden she
had the same quiet smile in those eyes
with which she had left it.
Not SO the bride to be- Her cheeks
were hot and flushed. her eyelids heavy
with recent weeping The pride and
w0manhood, the moderated strength Of
he sex which makes them martyrs if
need be, break down all the more help
iessly after strongest occasion for their
exeT else
On leaving, Dale Everett the girl ran
to her room. locked the door and threw
herse prone upon the sofa, the fair
round arms clasping the hard, gold en-
broidered cushion against her face For
gettin., the fight of time. the ceremony
10 com =, she abandoned herself to a gush
of grief, remorse and self contempt that
shook hr Us a strong ague
But youth is elastic, and few griefs
kill Ora lually the sobs came less fire.
quently. then ceased, and the girl lay
quite motionlrss a while. What thoughts
crowded one another out of place in her
-nind, in all those dnnoted minutes. she
herself could not have told. But at last
she rose listlessly. pushed The damp hair
away from her face in a weary, dazed
manner, and showing strangely little on
the pale but quiet features of the mental
storm that had passed over her. Turn
ing to her dainty dressing table, she
rested her chin upon her hands and look
ed steadily at her reflected face rs if to
question whatever resolve the struggle
had brought forth. Then she quietly
opened her writing desk and took from
: drawer two photographs, note dusty
with dried flowers. a much mono
grained class card, and the inevitable
button and loop Of blue ribbon, ever
trophied with the victims and the victors
alike of the summer tits around Flirta-
ton" Listlessly turning them over,
faded rosebud fell from an envelope,
breaking from the stem and scattering
dead leaves and dust upon the desk. A
strange smile twisted the girls lips as
she slowly picked them up, dropping
them one by one back into the euvei-
ope.
81 have made my own fate" she said
aloud, as if to the superscription in
Adrien's bold, free hand. Having
made it, l will meet it like as true o
woman as may. In few hours l shall
be wife. These are the toys of child
hood; they are mine no more Only a
future is mine-no past Among them
they have killed THAR
Still moving quietly, with no cloud on
her face, without even a sigh, Bonnie
Standish piled the papers and tho flowers
in the empty hearth, touched a match to
them, and calmly watched while they
curled into gray ash. blackening as it
cooled.
Then she turned to the desk again.
chose tiny sheet of paper, and wrote
almost automatically-t words:
God pardons our sins Surely he forgivcs cus
errors. He win pity the child, forced into a mar
riage without love; viii right the wrong thus
done others-and herself On your honor, re
member Adrien must never know tho loys for
him that forces these last words ever to be signed
BISNrE STANDIsH
Folding the sheet several times she
slipped it in the smallest envelope and
sealed it with steady fingers Then, still
holding it in her hands, she knelt by the
bedside and bowed her head in silent
prayer. Long she knelt: and the sun.
passing westward on his way 10 night,
looked into the window near and sent
his golden light around the golden hair,
like a halo 8.iE
When Bonnie Standish rose from her
knees only the red trimmed eyelids told
of the storm passed by. Paler than its
wont, her face was quiet, even gentle.
Not one tremor showed in the hands
that quietly took out the simple, tasteful
travelling dress and dainty bonnet and
laid them on the bed, ready for the
bridal toilet. This she began by drop
ping the masses of shining hair about
her shoulders and passing again to the
mirror.
Pushing the hair back from her temples
with both hands, the girl looked steadily
once more into her reflected eyes, 1t
was long. searching look. but the eyes