Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-09-24

~ So
II Wna.t to tell you whdt has happened"
to see you here? Why, my dear girl. I
have beeL in hell since I saw you last.
/ had got 50 low that l did not dare
claim you for my own. Oh, Lord, you
don't know what I have suffered since I
came to this accursed country
He pulled forward the only chair
which the room contained Except the
one which supported the wash basin)
and asked he &c &c seated. The dismal,
hopeless expression of his face gradual
ly vanished as he looked at her, and
something Of his old animation return
ed. But, oh, what a metamorphosis he
nad undergone IN n o. year! what
q pitiful, what q heart rending meta
morphosis! That understandable youthful
charm in mis- speech and his n
had degenerated to a half appealing,
half cynical reckle ssness. The smile
which formerly lighted up his face as
with q beautiful inward illumination
had faded into a mere flicker. His COM
plexion was unnaturally pale, and FIRE.
quentiittle twitchings of the lips, which
gave q sardonic look to his handsome
mouth, indicated q degree Of nervous
ness which he had never betrayed previ-
q to his emigration. His soft blond
mustache, which was formerly al care
fully tended, had lost its smartly aspir-
ing air and dropped in a most dispirited
fashion. It was evident that he had not
been long out Of bed, for bits of feathers
stuck in his hair, and he was ~collarless.
The atmosphere Of the room was stuffy
and 80 cold that his breath was visible.
OF furniture there was nothing but a
tumbled cot, two chairs and o plain
easel, upon which was a drawing board
with an unfinished sketch.
Hulda had been too stunned, too yer
whelmed by conflicting emotions to be
able to utter a word. She sat gazing in
motionless amazement at his pale face,
which yet moved her strangely. She felt
tremulous and undone and yet deter.
mined to rescue this man, whom with
all his weakness she loved, from the pit
into which he had fallen.
He was walking up and down on the
floor talking in q jerky and dismally
humorous way Of his many ills and
showing plainly how uncomfortable he
felt under her steady gaze.
"This is o blasted country" he war
saying. People here have no more ap-
probation of art than a cat has of mus
tard. I made an awful mistake in COM
ing here, there's no doubt Of that. But
it's too late to remedy it now since my
high and mighty uncle blankly refuses
me funds for returning, or for anything
else, for that matter. / have managed
to scrape up the scantiest kind Of q liv-
ing by selling a drawing now and then
to the various papers and depending fol
the rest upon the free luncheon count
erR. I was just trying to compose an
appropriate design for q new kind Of
soap when you came in-something
happy and to the point, something in
the style of Good morning. Have You
used Pears soap?' or like the allusion to
those abnormal children who cry for
castoria?"
In spite of his jerky inconsequence
and his shabby dishabille Hulda could
not but remark that he was still q gen
tleman, every inch of him. There was
something gentlemanly even in his seedi-
ness, and she was far from seeing any.
thing comic in the airy loftincss Of his
manner amid such miserable surround
ings.
"Olaf," she said seriously, looking
up at him with large pathetic eyes, II
want to tell You what has happened, SO
that you may know how to act. I was
to have been married to Falck q month
ago last Wednesday, and the banns were
published, and everything was prepared
for the wedding"
1.-THE nasty beggarl You don't mean
to say that he worked the old lady to
get her to put the screws ON your
mo, he did nothing mean or ull.
worthy. 1t was not his fault that I
could not love him. When l saw that
there was no escape, I got Nils to drive
me in the night to Barholm, where /
took the steamer to Bergen. That was
the night before the wedding. Now, l
know from the consul in New York
that either father or Falck is following
me to bring me buck. He may be here
any day, and unless we are married.
Married. exclaimed the young
man, pausing in his walk aud casting q
glance Of comic disgust at the sleeve Of
his threadbare overcoat. well il you
say SO, by all means let's get married"
He was about in the position Of Don
Caesar de Bazan, to whom the same
proposition was made as he was prepar.
Ing to mount the scaffold, and he cheer.
fully assented, since it made little diff
ference whether he died married or un-
married. Olaf Brun had made 20 CON-
plete q failure since coming to the
United States, and being under the
necessity to earn q livelihood, that he
Vu0n NJ m 1n- IN 400 hrSr, ~ nw~snro 1919