Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-07-09

pIeAees low they q haunted her foot.
steps at balls and at tho opera, and how
no other mans homage had been SO sweet
to her ~ the homage Of 0ervase Deceive.
1t was supposed by some Of their circle
though enormously supposed, she told
herself-that another man loved her. Per-
fectly enormously, because that other man
had never breathed one word OF love to
her; and because, though he would some,
times be in her society continually for
perhaps a week, and then be absent for q
month, he Lever, during NIL the time they
were thus constantly meeting, paid her
more marked attention than other men
were in the habit Of doing.
Yet, Notwithstanding this, 1t had come
to her knowledge that it had been whis-
pcred about that Walter Cundall loved
her.
This man, Walter Cundall, this report
ed admirer Of hers, was well known in So
ciety, was in a way famous, though his
fame was in the principal part due to the
simplest purchaser Of that commodity-to
wealth.
He gave dinners that men and women
delighted in getting Invitations to; but
it was noticed that, though his chef was
a marvel, he rarely ate anything but the
soup and joint himself, and that, while
others were drinking the best wine that
Burgundy, or Az, or Rheims could pro-
duce, he scarcely ever quenched his thirst
with anything but a tumbler Of claret.
But he would sit at the head OF his
table with a smile Of satisfaction upon
his handsome face, contented with the
knowledge that his guests were happy
and enjoying themselves.
This man Of whom Ida was now think
ing, and whose story may be told here,
had commenced life at Westminster
School, to which he had been put by his
uncle, a rich owner of mines and woods
In Honduras, from which place he paid
flying visits to England once q year, or
once in two years.
The boy was an orphan, left by his
mother to her brothers care, and that
brother had not failed in his trust.
The lad went to Westminster with the
full understanding that Honduras must
be his home when school days were over;
but he knew that it would be a home OF
luxury and tropical splendor. There, at.
ter his school days, he passed some years
of his life. attending to the mines, seeing
10 tic CUuSl& uIilGulS Va oAfpIVAoc VI AAA
hogany and cedar, going for days in the
hills with no companions but the Mestizos
and the Indians, and helping his uncle to
garner up more wealth that was eventual
" destined to be his.
Once or twice in the space Of ten years
he came to Europe, generally with the OBJ
ject Of increasing their connection with
London or Continental cities. and Of look.
ing up and keeping in touch with his old
school-fellows and friends.
And then, at last, two or three years
before this story opens, and when his
uncle was dead, it came to be said about
London that Walter Cundall, the richest
man from the Pacific to the Gull Of Hon
duraa, had taken a house in Grosvenor
place, and meant to make London more or
less permanently his residence. Other
places had been purchased n
by one, and he used all his pos
sessions-sharing them with his friends
by turn; but London was, as peo-
pie said, his home. Occasionally he would
20 off to Honduras on business, or would
rush by the Orient express to St. Peters
burg or Vienna; but he loved England
better than any other spot on the globe,
and never left it unless he was obliged
to do 50.
This was the man whom gossip had said
was the future husband of Ida Raughton
this tall, dark, handsome man, who
was, when in England, a great deal by her
side.
2ut gossip had been rather staggered
when it heard that, during Mr.. Cundall's
last absence Of six months to the tropics,
she had become the afianced wife of Lord
Penlyn.
It wondered what he would say when
he came back, as it heard he was about
to do very shortly, and 1t wondered why
on earth she had taken Penlyn when she
might have had Cundall. It talked it over
in the drawing rooms and the ball rooms,
at Epson and on the lawn at Sandown,
but it did not seem to arrive at any con.
~clusion satisfactory to itself.
II suppose the fact OF it is that Cundall
never asked her." one said to another,
''and she got tired Of waiting"
Did she think so herself, as she sat
there that bright afternoon? No, that
could not be possible! Ida Raughton was
q girl with too pure and honorable a
heart to take one man when she loved
another.
TTn 10 ooc<;ruod