Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-04-13

oAAS tAkAiSu 0OSR04l klSlg AMINS
her eyes fell on the little note Paul had
given her, which as yct she had neither
remembered nor read.
CHAPTER XNN.
"MY DEAREST LEoNIE, tho note
hegan-"I will MT tease you with q
long letter. L did not intend to trouble
you ut all this evening, but that ! a
no lcngsr conceal the deep, truo, ardent
love for you that fills my whole heart.
1 have G c you this evening so lovely,
so radiant, 10 gracious, that it seems
to me the whole world must be longing
to take my prize away. Leonie, 1 am
not u poet-l cannot VOC you in musical
song. am q soldier, loyal and true,
and gifted with no great cloquence. 1
could not tell you how ] love you'll
have no words ut my command that
can describe my love-but l lsneel at
your feet, and pray you to be my wife.
earth's fairest price then. I would,
rather call you my wife, and know that
l had won your love, than I would be
crowned king; and, if you will trust
yourself to me, I will make you happy.
With my sword I will win a name even
grander than that OF Charnleigh. 1 will.
give my whole life to you. You will
not keep mo waiting for an answer,
SWEET could not bear long suspense.
| shall come to hear my fate tomorrow.
Yours, in life and death, PAUL"
Swift, sudden, and terrible came the
temptation, and it mastered her.
Marry Paul and you will do him no
wrong: marry him, and moneys and
lands will all be his own them the will
of the late Earl will be carried out, and
yet you will be Lady Charnleigh." So
spoke the subtle. tempting voice
"There is no need to mention the will,
no need to lose all that you value SO
highly, no need to say one word ofhav-
ing found it. Marry Paul Flemyng,
| your worldly goods. 1t cannot matter
tates, If he does possess them. 1t can-
not matter whether they are yours,
and you give them to him, or whether
they are his and he gives them to you.
Do not mention the will-you r doing
no wrong. Paul will be master Of
Crown Leighton, as the late Earl in
tended him to be, and you will retain
your independence"
A terrible temptation! She fought
against it for a few minutes; from her
lips came the murmur OF a prayer:
Keep mo in all honor, oh Heaven!
Keep me in all truth" Then the sub
tie words rang in her ears once more:
"Marry Paul %Flemyng, and all will
be completely his-as completely as if
you showed him the will, and left your
self at his mercy. Why go through
all the pain, why expose yourself to all
the comments, the gossip, and the
sneers? He says he would rather
II M rr,x <hnV 1o n 1ysn~. on k1,ok -
reality, you are doing him q Kindness.
and no wrong"
Her head dropped among the leaves
and passion-aowers that climbed round
the window. She buried her face in
her hands.
II must marry him." she cried,
passionately. II cannot give up ali
this that my soul loves best. I cannot
lose wealth, position, and grandeur, oil
at n blow. Icannot be u slave where
I have reigned a queen"
Then there anne to her better
thoughts.
Il do not love him, and I do love Ber-
tram with all my heart. l had better
tell the truth and leave all to him.
Bertram would marry me if I were o
beggar."
But Bertram had told her he was not
rich.
eff 1 did marry him. she said, 1--WE
should be poor. If it is, as he says, a
struggle for him now, what would it be
were 1 his wife,"
The grandeur, magnifcence and lux
ury that she had always loved seemed
to her now dearer than ever. If she
might have kept her wealth, how it
would have delighted her to lavish it
on Sir Bertram!
I'VE might have been rich and happy
together; as 1t is we must part. must
marry Paul Flemyng, and restore to
him what is his"
So right and wrong battled in her
soul-6onor fighting dishonor-the
better, higher and nobler nature
struggling against the lower one
Sometimes right swayed her, and she
resolved, come what might, she would
be true to herself; she would give Paul
Flemyng the will; she would give up
at ono the grand inheritance Of Crown
Leighton; she would marry Sir Der.
tram if he still urged her to do so; she
would say good-by to the glorious life
she had been leading lately; she would
keep her conscience free and unsullied
before Heaven. Then came q regret.
full vision Of all she would lose, of the
diamonds worth a kings ransom, of
this beautiful Grown Leighton, of the
fetes and balls, of the homage and
adulation that followed her. And
wrong swayed her. She would not
mention the will, she would carefully
keep oil knowledge of it from Paul
Flemyng, but she would marry him, SO
that ample justice might be rendered
to him after all.