The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-28
MARRIED IN HASTE.


father and weak mother, was not prop
erly guided. While she sparkled In the
ballroom and glittered in the giddy ehrong
her heart, her mind and her morals were
neglected. The mazes of the world, its
quicksands and its hypocrisy were I'M
known to her. She Airted, laughed and
trifed with the many, caught one hour by
a fine form, another by rich voice, and
third by dashing exterior. And yet in
the depths of that young girls breast were
rich and true affections. Properly trained,
she would have graced any circle. Her
mind was good by nature, her spirit was
benevolent and cheerful, and many of the
lights of beauty iaSheN- and frightened
around her. Despite her artificial manner
and her air of coquetry, her feelings were
deep and strong. Her being was one of
impulse, and her attachments, even to her
school companions, were animated by truth
and fidelity. Thus it was when Annette
discovered that the society of Howard Lee
roy possessed an unusual charm for her;
that she saw him approach with pleasure;
that she listened with more than her
wonted attention to his remarks; that she
felt the blood mount to her cheek at his
compliments; that she found her eyes fol-
lowing as he wandered through the ball
room; that she lisped his name even in her
Dreams
Never can I forget the dashing Leroy.
He was what is usually denominated "a
handsome fellow''-one of the butterflies
of society-a ladies' man in the general
acceptation and a favorite also with his
own sex. He rode we'll, talked we'll and
sang an excellent song. This latter quail
ihcation was in some respects fatal gift,
for it introduced him into many a gay Cir
Gle from which he otherwise would have
been acknowledgements him sought for, and
vain of his voice, and thus won him away
from the more useful pursuits of life. Le-
roy, moreover, was fond of poetry-Was
able to quote glowing passages, and had
withal touch of romance in his character
which served not a little to enhance him
in the estimation of some of his female ac-
quaintances.
He assumed a remarkable degree of in
dependence-was rather bold and reckless
in his manner and language, and possessed
the faculty of talking for hours in relation
to the prominent beauties of Moore, Byron
and BuIwer. These were the traits of
character which won upon the mind and
heart of Annette Delisle. Her education
and mode of life had fitted her for the arts
of such man. She fancied him some
thing superior to the ordinary fop-to the
mere merchant or shopkeeper. Leroy be-
came her ardent and enthusiastic admirer.
The fact soon reached the ears OF her IA
Their He reused himself for the moment
and proceeded to investigate the realities
of the case. Leroy he ascertained to be an
idle, absolute pretender and dependent, he
feared, upon the gaming table for his
means of subsistence. He was of good
family and had received fair education.
But he had gone astray from the path of
rectitude in early life, and now contrived
to appear on the principal promenades as
a fashionable lounger-but the world won
dered how.
The manufacturer was terrified at the
prospect for his daughter, whom he really
loved, but it was too late. Leroy saw the
storm coming, and prevailed upon Annette,
by falsehood and Misrepresentation, to
consent to a secret marriage. Fondly and
long she chung to the delusion that her
husband had been slandered-that one who
could talk SO well and profess SO much
could not be a villain. He was not one
perhaps in the usual Interpretation, but
we can conceive of no more heartless wretch
than the man who deliberately deceiyeS
and betrays fond and confding woman.
Leroy never loved Annette with a true and
exalted affection. He felt himself bank
rupt in fortune, and nearly SO in character,
and he was base enough to become the
husband of unsuspecting girl, in the
hope of dependency upon the bounty Of
her father. Deceived in this-for the old
manufacturer would have nothing to do
with him-he soon threw off the mask.
At first cold and Indifferent, he speedily
grew harsh and unkind. True there were
moments when his better nature prevailed,
and he would endeavor by apparent oontri-
ton and well turned promises to atone for
his conduct. But they were few and far
between and diminished in number as
time rolled on.
Strange, despite the giddy character of
the little care which had
been bestowed upon her principles, she
chung to him with the true fidelity Of
woman. She loved him with her whole
soul, and while the pride of her woman
nature repealed the idea of any public ex-
posture of her situation and while she even
concealed from her parents much of the
unworthy conduct of Leroy, she still cher
ished a belief of his ultimate reform.
Night after night she sat in her quiet
chamber or gazed earnestly from ii win
dow, in the hope that the form of her hus-
band might appear before the midnight |
hour. Who may paint the agony of her
mind at such moments-the jealous fears
that shot like daggers through her breast
as to his haunts and his society, the appre-
hension of danger and of death, the terri
BILE fancies which mingled him in some
scene at the gaming table, and,
worse than all, the oft repealed but still re-
turning conviction that the wine cup was
too familiar with his lips.
Poor Annette! Step by step her hus- |
band plunged on in the downward path. !
Ray after ray departed from the light of
her beauty. Wider and wider became the |
gulf between the manufacturer and his
But, horror of horrors, the |
crisis soon came. The resource of gam
bling failed at last with Leroy, and then |
he resorted to forgery-aye. he forged the |
name of George Delisle, the father of his
wife, and fed the country in order to es-
cape the penalty of his crime.
But a few days have gone by since we |
saw Annette. Only five years have elapsed |
since her marriage. What a changed The |
lily has supplanted the rose, the eye has |
lost its fire, the step it's buoyanoy, the |
form it's grace. She is a doomed and |