Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1897-02-04

BY Barry Pain.
CHAPTER IN.

. uSNSI StN W lAllAttN " NNlAtSS, l htN
not spend the whole Of this time at
Paris. did occasionally come To Ion
don, and il was more by chance than
from intention that did not meet Will
may there. For some few months
travelled in Italy During this period
| composed an opera, and It was pro
duced and had Il certain measure OF
succeSs-that is to say, il was not near
ly as good as l had meant 1t to be,
but 1t benefited me financially. 1t was
The first money Of importance that /
Uad ever e@rned, and endeavored -
feel that it degraded me but could not
manage It. However, | am quite con
scious that l am the fool Of this story
and not the hero, and that ii is better
to write OF other people.
Let me first of all do justice to Der
tina. A very great person indeed, who
was 10 years q d. but looked more, was
good enough to approve of Wilmay.
He even decided TO share his greatness
with her, and-with the mad impetu-
osity so common at that age sent his
sister to talk 1t over with Bertha,
Bertha expressed herself as being much
complimented, but was afraid that she
was unable to give the great person
any cncoura cement, The great person
thought 1t over, and the mature wis
dom OF his 3 years spared him the
trouble of being refused by WtlmaN.
Bertha felt that she had done well, and
sighed Wilmay laughed. Bertha oc-
casionally sent me selection, and told
me that she had found the very man
in Wilmay. At first, this used TO make
me rather nervous But | soon dis
covered that Wilmay never allowed any
of these very men to get as far rs a
proposal. l grew more easy in my
mind; it seemed as If Bertha would be
compelled to let Wimay choose her
own husband.
Only twice did Wilmay in person
actually receive a proposal. The first
proposal was from young novelist, a
man of good family but with no means.
He seems to have been really very
much in love with Wilmay He COM
| PEELED her to hear him, even though he
| told her at the time that he knew there
was no hope for him. Wilmay refused
/ him definitely and finally, but she did
not laugh this time, On the contrary.
4 rs she told me in her letter about 1t.
/ she cried He turned white, and tid-
getted with his hands, and began SEN
4 fences which he couldn't finish And
then he was so humble, and didn't
seem to think anything about himself,
and his eyes We're SO sad | couldn't
help crying, and | do hope I'll never
have anything of the kind happen to
me again" Bertha was exceedingly
angry with this young man. After his
refusal, he went very much to the bad,
which without doubt was quite roman
tic of him, though 1t would probably
ray2 pail h;w lttter to have written
a novel.
The second proposal was from a
young baronet, Sir Vincent Carrone,
and this proposal Wilmay accepted.
AS | have done justice to Bertha, let
me also do justice to Sir Vincent He
was man of 2S, good looking and
sufficiently wealthy. He was honestly
. ~ wv WIN w ilhi%'S anu III llib't ~
spects he was fine fellow He was
not clever, but neither was he appall-
ingly stupid. He was a straight man
with a good reputation and a liking
for country life and sport. Before the
proposal took place, had letter from
Bertha about him. He has said moth
| ing to her, but he was very attentive
1, r,1t hot
he would propose to Wilmay. replied
that If Wilmay was really fond Of the
man and accepted him, nothing could
be more satisfactory, but that in the
meantime Bertha had better not inter-
fere. How far she did interfere, If at
all | have never learned since nor
wished to learn.
Bertha announced to me the engage
ment in letter of six rhapsodic pages.
She vas quite certain that Wilmay
would be very happy. Sir Ninvent was
so good, and 50 kind and-but there
was no end to her praise of him. am
quite sure that at this time, as at all
other times, Bertha only desired Will
Il avs happiness If she Influenced
Wilmay at all, it was only with the
view of securing that happiness. She
concluded by saying that Wilmay
was very shy in speaking or writing
of the engagement.
The letter from Wilmay was much
shorter, and | did not quite Ike It.
There was an almost pathetic rei'era-
ton that she hoped, or she believed,
that she was going to be happy. But
there was no statement that she actual
/ !y was happy then. She. too, praised
4 Vincent, but almost in the same terms
that Bertha used. as II she were repeat
i ing a lesson. She did not describe,
and Of course had not expected her
TO describe, the circumstances Of the
proposal; but | was surprised that the
greater part Of the lette. was about
/ Bertha and not about herself or her
lover | was not quite satisfied, and
1 yet seemed to have no definite ground
i for interference. ! did my best To
eliminate any personal feelings Of my