The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1897-06-05
MARION'S MISTAKE.
By JENNY WREN.

IL was strange W0Olng, tnaI OF Nel-
sn Ellis. Perhaps its very strange
ness won Marion Reynolds into assent.
She has been so accustomed to see men
at her feet-to have them smile at her
bidding and obey her slightest whim,
that there was a singular fascination in
Knowing her momentary caprices had
no power to sway the current of one
mans will, that what he thought right
he held to, even should it subject him to
her displeasure. His wooing had not
been very demonstrative. In a few
simple. straightforward words, he told
her of his love. ard asked her to be his
wife, but when SIZE had as quietly an
swered him in silent Wonderment at her
own submission, rs. drew her to him and
pressed single kiss upon her forehead,
and for one moment, as she lay in his
arms, look came into his face as of a
alan who has Won grand race, whose
triumph all the world must exult in.
Women smiled when the engagement
was announced. a dangerous rival was
removed from their pathway. Men
| frowned Who WIS this man who had
outstripped them in the ranks? They
| had not even recognized him as a com
petitor, and, 10! he had borne away the
prize. But of all this outward conjee-
tlre the lovers needed little Once Mel
son said to her, as he babe her good
night after returning from an evening
of dissipation at some fashionable ball:
II shall be so glad Marion, when all
this is over, when society will be CON
tent to let us drop from its roll. and re-
tire into our own quiet home life"
''Oh, but Nelson" she answered, $50
ciety is not going to give us up simply
because we are married. | expect to
make quite sensation, assure you, as
Mrs. Ellis"
"a sensation My wife sensation?
l trust not. Wives, Marion, have other
duties, which hope the girl love will
find greater pleasures than any society
can offer. / am not a jealous man, Ma
rion-at least not consciously so; but
to see you as l have seen you tonight,
giving your smiles, your glances to
other men, has shown me how little |
could tolerate in a wife. But | will
atone for all you give up, dear, by de-
voting my life to you, and making your
happiness my own"
1t was hours after he left her before
Marion fell asleep. She could have
yielded society with all its glare and
glitter without pang, but what he had
said had grated on her. He had asked,
not as a something yielded for his sake,
but takeni it as a simple matter of course.
He seemed to ignore that it might to
her be sacrifice to yield that which had
really given her keen enjoyment.
When he next met her Nelson missed
something. Her greeting had lost none
Of it's warmth, her smile none of It's
sweetness, but there was now and then
an absent look in her eyes which
haunted him long after he had left her.
/ 1t was at this time that Allen Fame
came upon the scene. He and Marion
had been friends when children. He had
carried with him all these years the pic
tured memory of her face, and when he
returned to find its radiant beauty all
undimmed, the first gladness was met
with an absolute shock of finding an
other its possessor. He had not been
conscious of his dreams until he was
rudely awakened from them, as one
walking peacefully in his sleep upon an
unguartled parapet, suddenly is aroused
70 a sense of his great danger. Marion
met him with a warmth which brought
ray of hope into the darkness. He
might yet retrieve his late return, and,
subtly, quietly, he laid the snares which
we're to entrup her feet.
81 suppose it would be hard enough to
rive you up, Marion, to anyone" he said
20 her one evening when her lover was
absent. Notwithstanding my own love
is hopeless, cannot make a secret of its
existence to you. | could not hide it, if
! would. but to see you give yourself to a
man who prizes your loveliness only as
Turk his slave, who will possess it only
that he may hide it from the world who
will doom your young life to be spent
only for his own selfish ends, is intoler-
able to me-
"You do Mr.. Ellis great injustice,
| Allen. But even did think him so self
ISL as you portray him, | certainly
would not discuss his faults with any
one so long as | looked upon him as my
promised husband"
But when again and again her be-
trothed urged her to appoint a day when
he might really call her his. Allen Fane's
words came TO her mind. Linked TO her
own expressed thought which had
ranked so long and sowed the first seed
of doubt, she shrank az the idea of taxi
ing the step from which there was no
withdrawal.
"Why are you 20 anxious. Nelson -
she at last said to him. Think of the
long years we arc TO spend together.
Absolutely it is appalling! You WI
get tired of me soon enough"
Tired OF you, darling. Does one tire
Of the sunlight. or voluntarily seek
the shadow? IT, seems TO me since I
have met you that have only for the
first tine realized what great boon
life may prove. | have waited long and
patiently. dear. Give me TIE promise
ask tonight. let the June roses bios
fom for my bride. and the robins song
echo our happiness"
Where shall we sFsnd the summer.
| Nelson?'
Il have chosen a little cottage far
away from the noise and hustle of the
world. IL is perfect in It's every APP
pointmeut, aud we cen spend the long
summer d7"s ia iOERe;fuluess that