The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1897-05-13
MARION'S MISTAKE.
by JENNY WREN.

It was strange wooing, that of Nell
son 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 singular fascination in
knowing her momentary caprices had
no power to sway the current Of one
hans will, that what he thought right
ne held to, even should it subject him to
sfher displeasure. His wooing had not
1been very demonstrative. In few
simple, straightforward words, he told
her of his love, and asked her to be his
wife, but when she had as quietly an
eWered him in silent wonderment at her
b submission, he drew her to HI and
pAsssed a single kiss upon her forehead,
and for one moment, as she lay in his
arms, look came into his face as of q
M man who has won grnnd race, whose
Triumph all the world must exult in.
I llWomen smiled when the engagement
was announced. A dangerous rival was
removed from their pathway. Men
frowned. Who was this man who had
cutstripped them in the ranks? They
had not even recognized him as COM
petitor, and, 10! he had borne away the
prize. But Of all this outward conieo-
n ture the lovers needed little. Once Nell
Sson said to her, as he bade her good
wight after returning from an evening
ofkIssipation at some fashionable ball,
II shall be 80 glad, Marion, when all
!, this Is over, when society will be con-
tent to let us drop from its roll, and re-
1 tire into our own quiet home life"
"Oh, but Nelson she answered, $50
ciety is not going to give us up simply
h2ke quite a. sensation, assure you, as
Mrs. Ellis"
"A sensation! My wife sensation?
trust not. Wives, Marion, have other
duties, which hope the girl I 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 1 have seen you tonight,
! giving your smiles, your glances to
other men, has shown me how little
could tolerate in a wife. But I will
atone for all you give up, dear, by de-
voting my life to you, and making your
happiness my own"
It was hours after he left her before
Marion fell asleep. She could have
\ yielded society with all it's glare and
i glitter without pang, but what he had
said had grated on her. He had asked,
not as something yielded for his sake,
but taken it as asimple matter Of course.
He seemed to ignore that it might to
her be sacrifice to yield that which had
really given her keen enjoyment.
Z When he next met her Nelson missed
something. Her creating had lost none
of it's warmth, her smile none of It's
n sweetness, but there was now and then
an absent look in her eyes which
haunted him long after he had left her.
It 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
vsdimmed, 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
unguarded parapet, suddenly is aroused
to sense of his great danger. Marion
met him with warmth which brought
q ray of hope into the darkness. He
might yet retrieve his late return, and,
subtly, quietly, he laid the snares which
we're to entrap her feet.
II suppose it would be hard enough to
give you up, Marion, to anyone" he said
to her one evening when her lover was
pbsent. notwithstanding my own love
Is hopeless, cannot make secret of its
4 existence to you. could not hide it, If
would, but to see you give yourself to q
man who prizes your loveliness only as
a 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
ish as you portray him, certainly
would not discuss his faults with any
ONE so Long as looked upon him as my
promised husband"
N But when again and again her be-
trotbed urged her to appoint a day when
RAhe might really call her his, Allen Fane's
A>ris came to her mind. Linked to her
<Aown expressed Thought which had
ramkled SO Long and sowed the first seed
| Of doubt, she shrank at the idea of talS-
ing the step from which there was no
Withdrawal.
"Why are you SO anxious, Nelson?"
she at last said to him. Think of the
long years we are to spend together.
Absolutely it is appalling! You will
4 get tired Of me soon enough"
"Tired of you, darling. Does one tire
OF the sunlight, OF voluntarily seek