Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-05-11
AT WAR With HERSELF!.
The Story Of a Woman. Atonement.
by Charlotte NJ. Braema
CHAPTER xxxv1-Cont,nued.

AOAscE.
He was satisfied; he was beside him
sell with Joy that she had voluntarily
given him this little caress-she who
was so distant and reserved. Her man.
ner had often puzzled him. He had no
right to doubt her, yet there was some.
thing SC strange about her conduct.
She seemed always as though she were
trying to make amends to him for
something's though all her affection
n Kindness came from q desire to
make atonement. He could not UNDER
stand her. She had never wronged
him; it was not her fault that she was
the nearest of kin. There was no rea-
son why she should accept him if she
did not love him. She had had offers
from some of the most distinguished
mon in England. and had refused them
for his sake. She must love him after
all, but he wished that she would show
her affection in q fashion that he could
better understand. Hc saw her often
he rode over from Weldon every
day-but, in some strange kind Of
way. he seemed to draw nearer
better than he had at first.
Ethel Dacre was still at Crown Leigh
ton, although it was sorcly against her
will that she remained the @; but Cen
eral Dacre had gone abroad, and he
had said that he should much prefer
his daughters residing with her friend
during his absence than keeping house
all alone ut Westfield. Ethel could
offer no reasonable objection, therefore
she remained.
X .
One bright morning in September
i. Leonle stood at the library window
alone. The ,ilies were dead, the roses
faded. and in their place great sun
flowers turned their bright faces up
ward. and tall dahlias reared their
heads with handsome flowers. Tho
leaves were falling from the trees;
they lay, crimson, brown and gold, on
the ground; the wind swept them along.
ard then mOaned over them.
The fair face looking wistfully from
the window at the falling leaves had
changed most remarkably. 1t was not
less beautiful; but tho brightness and
radiance were gone-there was q worn
look that did not belong to youth-the
eyes were very bright. but there was
somewhat of fever in their brightness
there was a flush on the beautiful
face, but it told more of unrest than of
health-there was q tremulous move-
ment about the white jeweled hands, a
sudden quivering of the lips, both
tokens of q mind i'll ut ease.
No one saw Lady Charnleigh with
out remarking the change. Miss Tenn
pleton had boon froin Kew to spend the
summer vacation, as she told the par
ents of her pupils, with the Countess OF
C%harnleigh, Of Crown Leighton, aid
when she had 9 Q Leonie, she had
cried out in wonder
SNfNhs, On,, 1;fo I,-. go n....k. r -.
C~harnleigh; you are so changed. You
o e ine as thoag gay you had had sean long ng. years
@Rest!s the girl had re.ochoed
m%ournfully. "There is no rest in this
world"
And after Miss Ternpleton had been
there for a few days. and had noticed,
ITO her dismay, the { foyer of unrest in
'hich the girl lived, her surprise had
one greater still.
III canns sleep in the dark" she
z, pnee.sv, after overhearing q
zion between Lconie and her
you do not like the twilight:
not endure to be left alone, you
ar continual excitement as chill
for food. My dear Lady Charm
you give me the impression that
are at war with yourself"
h1OW eAo WOFuS AHu tilluteO ner.
tow they tainted her still! They de-
words could have done. 1t was not q
tempest. not q struggle, but q con-
tinual warfare-and the warfare was
self against self. There was hardly q
single moment, night or day, during
which her better, nobler, higher self
was not crying out in rebellion against
the deed she had done. There was
hardly o single moment in which heart
or soul was free from that war. She
vas swayed by impulse as were the
leaves by the wind. She would rise
one morning determined to write to
Paul Flemyng, and tell him Aide
termined to undo her great wrong-to
give up tho wealth she was so unjustly
keeping from him-to he honest, loyal
and true. Tho resolution would last
until she went downstairs and saw the
magnificence that surrounded her.
Il cannot give it up" the unhappy
girl would say: "it is the best part Of
my life. l could not endure poverty
after this"
At other times, the memory of the
lover she had lost would be so strong
within her that she would be ready to
give up everything she had in the
world only to Q him again. At such
times she loathed even the name of
Paul Flemyng; she avoided seeing him
when he came; sho vent out into the
green solitude of the woods and called
g, BY name him whom she had sent from
her with o lie. No wonder that the
radiant face grew ~worn-looking, and
that the bright eyes lost their clear
light. no wonder that sweet snatches
of SONG and sunny laughter were no
longe. heard.
Lady Charnleigh stood watching the
falling leaves. The wind no longer
waited to her rich, warm gusts of per-
;fume; it was wailing over the dead
flowers.
"My life was virtually over" she was
thinking to herself; this world has no
more to give me. 1 have lost my lover:
nor spring nor summer will ever bring
him back to me. Some time, sooner or
later, I shall marry Paul Flemyng. l
shall live and die Counties, OF Charm
leigh. l shall live and die one of the
ifairest and richest women in England.