Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-06-12

S%sEr asked him sci f
%S~-.~ these questions
over and over, wearying Of the repeti-
tion, and yet never able to end it by
saying heartily that he was glad and
triumphant, or bitterly that he was
sorry and ashamed. The plain fact
stared him ever in the face, that Helen
Raymond did not love him, and that
Mrs. Raymond had urged his suit, and
exerted her maternal influence and
eloquence until Helen had consented
to be his wife, telling him very frankly
that her heart was in the grave of her
lover, George Vanhorn, who had been
killed in a railway collision nearly one
year before.
"Mother was never willing should
marry George" Helen said, sadly,
"because he was poor, and we have
suffered all that poverty can infict.
He was on his way to Colorado, where
his brother had been successful, when
he was killed.
Will Spencer WINGED, for he was
rich, very rich, but then he put to the
wound that soothing salve, Il will win
her love when she is my wife," that
has wrecked so many lives. It may
come, this love that will not be hid
den, to man and wife after they are
bound together for life, but the risk is
great, and Will Spencer knew it.
Yet he cherished the delusion that
love in the end would win return,
and he knew his own love to be strong
and enduring. He had stepped back
when George Vanhorn was met with
such smile as he could never win,
had kept from pressing his suit
when the name of Helen's lover ap-
peared Oh the list of the killed in the
account Of the railway collision, but
after the lapse of several months he
had won Mrs. Raymond to his side,
and so, by proxy, wooed Helen and
won-what? cold, reluctant consent
to be his wife.
Yet she was not cold, this girl of
twenty, whose heart had seemed
crushed ever since the day when
George Vanhorn's name was recorded
as dead. He could have told how her
eyes could soften with loves tender
ness, her cheeks burn with loves
bushes, her low, sweet, voice tremble
with loves whispered words. He had
won what all the Spencer gold, the
riches of long generations, could not
buy.
In the "long ago. the Raymonds
had held wealth, too, but Helen's
father, to use the expression of his
brother, had "muddled away two for
tunes, somehow" and had died pau
per. Helen was but child then, and
her mother was sufficiently wise to eft
her for a teacher" by course of jul
dicious education, for which her uncle
paid.
And Helen, nervous, sensitive,
quick in feeling, impulsive in speech,
was about as unfit for teacher as Il
girl could be. Still she trudged about
in all weather to instruct such pupils
in music and French as she could pro-
cure, and helped her mother shoulder
the thousand and one cares of a board
ing g-house when she was at home.
Before that fatal railway collision
she was bright, beautiful girl. with
large, expressive, brown eyes, a voice
of music, the step OF fairy, singing as
a bird sings, from sheer joyousness of
heart, bringing a jest to all the house
hold worries, laughing merrily over
her own blunders in the culinary de-
partment, turning old dresses, renov-
ating old bonnets without complaint,
living on love and hope.
After that day she moved about
slowly, her eyes dull and weary, her
duties met with rigid mechanical pre-
cision, her lips compressed, her cheeks
pale, a shadow of her Joyous self,
And it made Will Spencer furious
he could not break this icy calm. All
in vain he brought her costly gifts,
took her to every place of amusement
where he could coax her to 60, was
her openly devoted slave. The few
words of thanks she spoke were dull,
her smile was on her lips only, and
and her eyes did not brighten. BY
no device could he call up one flash of
her old joyousness. She sang for him,
selecting difficult overtures that proved
her proficiency, displayed charming
voice, nothing more. Never did she
sing the old ballads that George Van
horn had loved, when she threw her
heart into every line, and made her
eyes misty with her thrilling tones.
Yet she was grateful, and spoke
often of her own regret that she so
poorly repaid all Wills tenderness.
She tried not to shrink from his
caresses, to give back something of
the warmth of his love, and then, in
the privacy of her own room, wept
scalding tears over her own faithless-
ness.
Mrs. Raymond was often afraid that
she would yet miss the golden prize
she had partly won, and heartily Sec
onded Will in his preparations for a
speedy wedding. 1t was Mrs. Ray.
mond who went with him to open the
house that he had bought to adorn for
lis bride, who aided him in the selec.
tior of carpets, curtains, furniture, and
gave him instructions regarding the
kitchen department, of whose needs he
was as ignorant rs most young bach.
clocs. 1t was Mrs. Raymond who re.
ceived an anonymous letter containing
aliberai sum, which she quietly ap.
propriated for trousseau and a suita-
ble dress for the brides mother.
She was u woman of rare tact. Hay-
ing won Helens consent to be Will
Spencer's wife, she never bothered
her by complaints about her listless in
difference to her lover or her future
prospects. She simply made all the
arrangements for her. without once