Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-11-19
A Dangerous Game.
" ruE AUTHOR OF "nYDnAnrsr lie ART"

III u
Don't you now? That's queerl Well,
such Is what some folks say. There's others,
again, will tell you Mr.. Gascoigne-that's
Squire--left his money to Mr.. Gilbert-thats
his nephew-on condition he did not marry
this young lady. Any way, none knOwst the
rights of it; bat Mr.. Gilbert's away, end the
young lady left the Grange, looking, the wo-
men say, as II her heart would break. It's
81 pity they don't make up their minds for
one at any rate to live there. It's a nice
place -hrst-class land some Of itv'
He looked with a certain pride at the
looming pile OF gray stone, the broken sky
line Of tower and gables, aud the windows
sparkling through the haze ia the sunbeams
that shone On them: and | gazed at il with
|tfrObbing, aching heart, drinking in all its
b~eauty-my fair palace, my JOY and my sor-
row-mine, though / shonld lot set foot in
IL ~again-minc, though ] stole near it in
secrecy, and looked on il as N exile and q
wanderer.
walked up the little lane, ST. Gabriel's
Walk, ard by the shore of the calm quiet
lake. Everything was very siiil; no one
was about, I'd the twitt, n Of u linnet from
IL0 IfltI VII A4AC Nhi- VI vi NNii-aItE hbo wv
only sound near me. The trees. which ought
10 have been full Of bud and promises Of
summer, were irost-bound, and a great
stretch of ~snow-coyercd park-land, with
dark belts ard plantations OF shrubs and
cvergrecns, lay between me and the Grange
Then | came 10 the low stone wall and the
gate where Gilbert and | used TO meet and
part. The lichcns were lightly hidden in
snow, but here and there an iyy-leaf peep Il
out green AID unfading from the gray and
white.
Istood there In silence, and prayed Heav-
en- that Gilbert at least might be happy,
whatever was to be my lot; and ] plucked
gently one green iyy-leaf rs a memonto.
And on the still air there seemed 10 come
from the pine-trees the fragmentof a SONG
"whate'er may be, wlere'cr thou art,
Dear love, j love thee cvermore.'
On j Whisper, a whisper
Tender aud soft, loving and sweet,
O0iy - whisper. n whisper
From hearts that Inny never more meett''
For months after that nothing altered the
quiet current Of my life, and thought moth
Ing ever would DO SO again. ] had given up
expectation. and | imagined hope was dead.
Ny duties required all my attention; / had
no time To rcpine or moan. Ii wa better so.
Iheard Of Hilda's marriage with Lord
Ormsby, one Of the fashionable matches OF
the season; and | had many letters from
Annis. ! suppose she guessed gradually
what had happened; bat she betrayed il
only by nm extra loving tenderness In her
letters.
She knew the separation between Gilbert
and me was final, and ] knew she was long
- A. ...Dfs 49,. W.. IL. va,. TTl.f.F
wife, she begged me 10 go and stay with hel
ut Matlands, and she told me how every
thing looked, and what was changed. II
one note she al length spoke vi Gilbert
absence and its cause.
Gilbert will never come to the Grange
but he would be happier If You were there
Viola. lie says he would return at once 4
England then. II is yours, you know"
At the bottom of that same letter wa.
scrubbed q careless postscript
"You remember Mr.. Garden, who used tt
| be Gilbert's partner? Have you heard abou.
him? lie has appropriated a lot of money
| given him by a client 30 invest, aud made
off TO America or somewhere, no one know,
where, three months ago. Some people SAY
that that Frenchwoman who was Gwendo
| llllt > MANU. nilA NAlbii 'NNh hbotiiANNNh -
hastily, went with him; but that Is too ridic
ulouS, isn't il? You never know what vii
lage-folk viii say"
heard too from Gwendoline. Her letter.
were full of her husband. / saw that 81,
was learning more day by day of the wort
of tho love she had so nearly flung away 70
ever. liked TO think of her, changed a
she was from the bitter passionate woman
of two years before 10 a happy loving wife
Idwelt on her happiness as the best pan
acea for my own wounds. If | had bee
abe so % alter her life. | ought not TO fre
nj my own lot. The separation of Gilber
and ne was nothing compared with the cas-
Of Martin POmeroy aud his wife. So i LIN
gercd over G~wendoline'S letters n owe
each word in them that breathed Of happi
ness, and perhaps exaggerated that happi
ness 10 myself, seeing that IL was what
wished; but even IN / was conscious the.
were not all I had hoped. Still there was
restless murmur, still a shadow seemed 4
lie between her and Martin; She appears
TO be aware OF 1t, and 10 De trying TO argu
10 away by telling me she was ~ peace. Sh'
harped on what had happened more thai
was natural; 1t was as IL the ghost OF tn
past haunted her path and would not let he
rest.
tried TO think myself mistaken, to thinl
my own morbid fancy impaired this mean
Ing 10 her words; but the more ! pondere'
them the clearer was this undercurrent re
vealed, and then the seal seemed affixed {
my sorrow, and the world around IN
was dark indeed.
Was this TO be the end? Had ! done ID
good2 Had | not at lels. made Gwendolin
happy? For all that Gilbert and / were sui
feriug, was there TO be no %reconrpensn NTH
life OF Marin and his wife?
Could Crawford Garden have sought he
out even in far India? Surely that could no
be!
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