Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-05-12

NothlnS can excuse or paliiate the weak
ness which allowed me to. l should
have waited until | could come to You
nnirHmmeleI-as now. | attempt NJ
Justification Of my madness, Princess.
have no excuse but my love, and can
only sue for pardon. You viii forgive
me, sweetheart'-using the old word
tenderly-''for the sake of my great love.
It's my only plea" His voice took Il
pleading tone as he advanced the plea
hardest of all for woman to steel her
heart against.
Pocahontas gazed at him in bewilder
inent, her mind graphing with an idea
that appalled, her, her face blanching
with apprehension and her form COVER
ing as from an expected blow.
Must understand, Mr.. Thorne, that
love for me suggested the thought of di-
yorcing your wife?r she questioned
hoarsely. That | came between YOU
and caused this horrible thing? 1t is
motif cannot be true. God above.
Have fallen so low! Am / guilty of
this terrible SIM"
Thorne's quick brain recognized in
stantly the danger of allowing this idea
to obtain possession of her mind. Fooll
he thought furiously. why had not he
been more cautions, more circumspect?
Dexterously he set himself to remove the
idea or weaken its force-to prove her
guiltless in her own eyes"
Princess he said meeting the hon
est, agonized eyes squarely, II want to
tell you the story of my marriage with
Ethel Ross. and of my subsequent life
with her. had not intended to harass
you with ituutil later, if ut all; but now
| deem it best you should become ac-
quainted with it, and from my lips Ii
will explain many things.
Then he briefly related all the miser-
able commonplace story. He CLOSED
over nothing, palliated nothing; bearing
hardly now on his wife, and again on
himself, but striving to show throughout
how opposed to true marriage was this
marriage, how far removed from per-
feet union was this union. Pocahontas
listened with intense strained interest.
following every word, sometimes almost
anticipating them. Her heart ached for
him-ached YEARLY. Life had been so
hard upon him; he had suffered So
With a woman's involuntary hardness to
woman, she raised the blame from
Thorne's shoulders and heaped it upon
those of his wife. Her love and her
sympathy became his advocates and
pleaded for him at the bar of her judg-
ment. Her heart yearned over him with
infinite compassion.
If Thorne had kept silence and left the
matter there, and waited until she should
have adapted herself to the new condi-
tions, should have assilnilated the new
influences which crowded thick upon
her, it would have been better. But he
could not keep silent-he had no patience
to wait. He could not realize that the
things which were as a thrice told tale
to him had an overwhelming newness
for her. That the influences which had
nodded his thought were very far re-
moved from the influences which had
made her what she was. He could not
understand that, while the world had
progressed, this isolatej immunity had
remained stationary, al that the prin- |
ciples and rules of conduct among them
still were those which had governed his
world in the beginning of the century.
He saw that her sympathy had been
aroused, that she suffered for and with
him, and he could not forbear from
striving to push the advantage. He
went on speaking earnestly; he demon
strated that this marriage which had
proved so disastrous was in truth no
marriage, and that its annulInent was
Just and right, for where there was nc
love, he argued, there could be no mar
riage. With all the sophistry, with all |
the subtle arguments of which he was
master-and they were neither weak nor
few-he assailed her. Every power OF
his brilliant intellect, every weapon OF
his mental armory, all the force of his
will was brought to bean
upon her-and brought to bear in vain.
Calm, pale, resolute, she faced him
her clear eyes meeting his, her nervous
hands folded tightly together. She
would not give way. In their earnest
ness both had risen, and they stood fac
|
eyes nearly on level. The mans hand
rested on the mantel and quivered with
the intensity of his excitement. The
hung straight before her, mo-
tionless, but wrung together until the
knuckles showed hard through the tense
skin. She would not give way.
Thorne was startled and perplexed.
Opposition he was prepared for. argu-
nent he could meet and possibly refute,
sears and reproaches he could subdue-
put dumb, quiet resistance baffied him.
suddenly he abandoned reason, cast self
control to the winds and rave the reins
% feeling. If he coul1 not convince
Ter through the head, he would try a
Iurer road-the heart. Though proof
against argument, would she be proof
against love? He knew she loved him.
lie felt it in every fiber of his being.
very pulse of his heart-and he was de- {