Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-09-14

q carriage vss wzsftng not FAR from
Mrs. Proscocrs rsadec15a AnDOt crept
softly down troIn Der own room and
stole cat toward q. sad sney were driven
swiftly awsy. Ann0t sobbing IA a hys-
tsrical fright 81 TIE step she had taken.
ft hsd been understood that they
should proceed Immediately % the hO1ss
Of a Clergyman and Do married. but 81.
Ives proposed That they should leave
ths city for thzt parpOss, sid, ss II was
too late 70 render Il probabis that they
would easily ind clergyman. postpone
the ceremony til morning d2wned.
IL wzs far into the next day before
they stopped al a little country hotel
miles from the city, aud Annot, haggard
from sLseplessness and red eyed from
weeping, was conducted within.
81. Ives ordered breakfast and went
out sfterward. al be said. u look for a
minister. Annot waitei, sui very much
depressed aud act feeling at ali a-5 she
had supposed people did who were about
10 BE married. Some one knocked.
biushing gtaltily, she opened the door;
bat instead OF 81. Ives and his expected
companion. a woman glided into the
room, and throwing back her veil
showed a saee of surprising beauty,
and fixed upon the shrinking girl pair
Of dark. burning Italian ewes
who are your What do you wanty"
stanmered Annot at last. rallying her
self.
The woman's glance softened.
you are such child, she said-'so
young. | am very sorry for you"
Sorry for rae? I-dont-understan
/ YOU AnnOt said, wishing that St. Ives
would come. and thinking that this
strange woman must be crazy, and then
I with a low cry sprang 10 meet st. ives.
I who had just entered the room, and
stood glariEg az the stranger with en-
ragged eyes.
I banging the door 70 behind him, and
I pushing Anuot from him almost saw
agely, he spoke to the woman with the
I dark Italian eyes.
Have you told her?' he asked.
Tho woman shook her head.
He laughed bitterly.
You thought II WAS too pleasant a
task for me to be deprived of, eh?"
st. Ives turned sharply toward her.
There's no use IN dilly-dallying now,
Annot," be said abruptly. II couldn't
! deceive you any longer il / wanted to.
I think you and won't be married this
morning"
Annot dropoed trembling and uncom-
I prchensiye into "A chair.
..For the very singular reason" he
went on, ''that have already one wife,
and she's too much for me-"
The strange woman glided to the side
of the bewildered girl.
II am his wife, dear she said almost
tenderly. Don't mind. it might have
been worse, you know"
St. Ives seemed touched by the face of
white despair Annot lifted at the wo-
mans words.
You're only ten miles from Jaynes-
! vile. AnnOt," he said almost remorse-
fully, land there's a stage, / believe.
You can go right home aud nobody be
the wiser. Here is money to pay your
way"
Annot rose mechanically, and as she
did so the bills he had upon her knee fell
to the floor.
lie picked them up and offered them
to her again, as she was tying on her
bonnet; but she left rhe room without
looking at them or him, and went slowly
out of the hotel, with her veil down, her
head dizzy, and her heart SO heavy 1T
could hardly throb.
The stage drove up at that moment.
and while it waited she eagerly entered
it, and took her seat, without glancing
toward the single passenger who was
already there. An exclamation caused
her to lift her eyes.
II was too much, too much, that that
face of increduIous surprise should be-
long to Rollin Dracut. But it did. He
caught her as she fell fainting.
She walked from that swoon to burn
ing fever and the unconsciousness Of
delirium; and Rollin, supporting her all
the way till they reached home, gath
cred from her crazed lips the whole sad
story, or enough Of it TO wiring his heart
and make his own brain whirl.
She hay i'll weeks, and he went every
day 10 see how low she was. Then,
when she was pronounced out OF danger,
he left Jaynesville without seeing her at
all.
Two years after he came back. He
went 20 see her as any old friend might,
and he found her so sweetly like tho
little Annot who had been his promised
wife once. SO gently penitent for the
past, So resigned to any fate that might
await her in punishment, that he fell
more deeply in love than ever, and asked
her to be his wife as though nothing had
happened. Annot had long since walked
to n consciousness Of his worth, and she
did not ssy no.-C. c. in New York
News.
Nice Points I'm Iaund drying.