Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1892-02-20

, ana perhaps after awhile l shall grow
used to 1T, as one does grow used to all
forms of suffering; but beyond that |
cannot look Nor will | look. She is
coming | shall see her, shall touch
her hand and meet her eyes again, and
that is enough"
But before she came there was sur
prise. amounting to shock in store for
him. 1t occurred one evening when,
Mrs. Derwent and Sibyl having retired
early, wearied by day of sight seeing,
Halbert and himself were smoking to-
gether in the sitting room of the former.
The door was open, partly for the balmy
air, partly that they might enjoy the
fairylike scene which the hotel and its
garden always present at night-the
graceful encircling galleries lighted bril-
llantly with ncandescent electric lights.
and the rich tropical foliage of the gar
den fully revealed in the white radiance.
ii have never been in place that
| charmed me SO much as this. sad Hal
bert. after pause of some length. IL
do not think it is the peculiar circum-
stances that make everything seem so
enchanting. And, by the bye. Geotfrey,
| feel that | ought to tell you something
about those circumstances. 1t hardly
seems fair to keep you in ignorance.
| Sybil insists tkat it makes no difference,
! but | am not sure
"Slbylr' repeated Derwent, staring al
| the other. He had never known Balbert
/ SO familiar before. for Miss Lenox. though
q relative of Mrs. Derwent. was not al
all related TO the young man who was
| Derweuts 5 cousin on his fathers side.
What are you talking about; he asked.
| What circumstances have occurred
winch Sibyl tmuks do not concern met
Halbert smoked for moment silently
before he answered Then he turned and
faced his companion directly. "She has
promised To marry me, he said, ''and,
although she assures me positively to the
1 contrary. | fear the news will not be
pleasant to you
There was more than a moments 81
lence now Drrwent felt indeed as if he
had been most unexpectedly knocked
down This was an event ON which he
had not reckoned IN calculating the pos
sibihty OF atuuing for his fathers wrong
dong In all ms considerations he had
never considered the probability that
Sibyl mlght marry before she attained
her majority and thus anticipate the
time of settlement; in fact. there can be
] little doubt that the general opinion of
every one about them had led him to
fancy that he might marry her himself,
if ho chose TO do so The blow to his
vanity (Which really had been very little
conceruedl was not, however, the cause
of hIs silence He was overwhelmed by
the terrible necessity of telling Halbert
how u.atters stood.
But nothing was more natural than
that Halbert should have misunderstood
his silence He said at length. in low
tone, "Geoff. am more sorry for this
than can say. | feared it would be so,
but Sibyl was sure that was mistaken
She insisted that you never were in love
with her but knew you could not have
been associated with her so closely and
fail to be. F"
"Sibyl is right" said Derwent, rousing
himself with an effort. Il suppose it is
/
| ly-almost like brother and sister-that
never was in love with her, though
know of no girl more altogether worthy
of mans love So far as that is con-
cerned you have my heartiest congratu-
lations; indeed, you have them in any
case. But your news has been u shock
to me for tn altogether different reason.
am in terrible trouble about Sibyls
fortune.
"Geoffreyr'
Eyes; that is why am here. When l
looked into my fathers affairs after his
death found, to my horror, that he had
used SibyFs money in an unjustifiable
manner OF course he intended to re-
place it-it happened, unfortunately, to
be in temptingly convenient form-but
death overlook him, as it has overtaken
many another man, before he could re-
pair what he had done, You may not
have known that he was concerned in
several unucky speculations during the
last years of his hfe.
81 suspected it," said Halbert. "ln
fact. it was whispered once or twice that
ne WAS very HaIu hlt' but "hOi HN.'A
ing seemed to come of it forgot the
rumors. Geoff, my poor fellow, this
is awful How does his own fortune
standY"
Very much impaired; SO much that
when | make good the loss of SibyTs for
tune my mother will be very straitened
in means, 1t was to save her from this,
and also to save my fathers honor, that
intended trying to replace what had been
lost during the time that remains Of
Sibyl's minority. decided that my best
chance to mako money quickly was here;
so / came-with what result thus far
you know"