Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-03-18

beyond until them came to a bridge
which spanned the river that moved
across the road.
You must get out here and look
over the right side o. the bridge. Inere
used to be bed or white water HlIe5
| there, out of which at any moment one
wouldn't be surprised TO see the spirit
of the stream rising, ThOrburn sad,
as he pulled UP. Then they both got
out and pony grazed against the hedge
and f1icked flies away with his tail.
The bed Of white water lilies was still
there and Patrice looked at it in silence
| for few minutes. When she spoke
! she turned her face toward him and
| there were tears in her eyes.
| They have made ne think of SE0lro
Graham" she said. softly, and he re-
piled, heartily:
I am sorry, very sorry for that. He
is the last person | wish you to think
of. Did he ever give you water lilies?
If so | am sorry l brought you here o
| look at these"
4 smile shone out through the tears
in a moment.
Il laughed at the time" she said,
with the speedy change from pathos 10
mirth that was one of her greatest
charms to men, He had been down
on the river and dining with Mrs.
Cumberland and he brought me The
water lilies. not as peace offering. for
[ knew nothing about her at the time,
but as a salve to his own conscience.
I suppose. | only heard that MIS-.
Cumberland had been his companion
long afterward from May. who heard
of it from Guy Vereker.'
Forget him, Patrice; let me neIp
you to forget him, my darling. 1 swore
to myself that | wouldn't speak to you
you. [ should have asked you TO be my
to-day, but the words would come. 1
have loved you ever since I first saw
you. | should have asked you to be
my wife long ago, but something neld
me back"
WAS it the fear that l had not for
gotten Sholto Graham?'
L suppose it was that"
Il have not 70, gotten him, Ned;
part Of her life for long time. It
would be unnatural for her to do that,
but 1 don't love him any longer.
Can you love me?'
For answer she put her hand on his.
II a different way-yes. l snail
never have to feel tolerant and pitiful
about YOU as 1 mad to constantly about
h WI I hi
Yor are much stroll ger than L am, NeI;
he was much weaker. Are you salts
fied?"
More, l am proud and happy" he
told her. But all the same he wished
that Sholto Graham had never crossed
her path and brushed some of the soft
est bloom of her heart and life.
They drove home very slowly, dis
cusslng their plans anu prospects.
Ned's position and iLcome were botn
we'll assured and good and the future
promised prosperously and pleasantly
for her.
Inc dear old mother and Capt. Rel
~ VIII be united at last through us"
and be constant companions and still
have those little social barriers between
them which sustain the interest men
and women feel in each other who
have been more than friends and less
than lovers and which matrimony
Ned said, for the brief romance OF his
mothers girlhood was known to him
often destroys"
THAT'S not an encouraging remark
Ned! Will matr1mcny destroy your IN
terest in me?"
II have never been less thar your
lover since the first day I met YOU lie
told her, and she believed him and
wished that she could give hin? a SINH
lar assurance.
Ned Thor5urn was man of mark in
literature and Journalistic circles, and
q god deal of interest vas felt by club |
men who knew him when he spoke Of
his approaching marriage. One OF
these thought it well to clinch the mat |
ter by paragraphing it in various daily |
and weekly papers. So it was that
Sholto Graham came to know of it.
The proverbial cat-aHd dog life was
enc of serenity and harmony to that
led by Sholto Graham and his wretched
wife. He had conceived one Of those
antipathies 10 he" personally That
many a good and honorable man has
to fight against, conquer and keep out
of sight toward the wife of his bosom.
Sholto, far from cc1quering and re-
polling, did not even attempt to fight
against it. He Ioah-ed her, and be-
trayed his loathing, and in her NORTH
cation and despair she became daily
more and more unattractive and unen-
durable to him.
Society was good to him in way,
though he did not reward it in the law
ish way that it would have deemed be-
coming in the husband and financial
manager of so rich a. woman. He hated
entertaining at home, because she was
of necessity present there, an untldy,
uninteresting ugly specter at the
feast. Moreover, the faint of parsl-
moniousness in his nature overcame his
love of display unless he was sure CT
getting an excellent return for the
latter. Accordingly he preferred being
entertained to entertaining and liked
to take his pleasure in bachelor tree
dom, unhampered by the ungainly
presence OF the wife at whom he could
scarcely bring himself to glance.
The one object of his life was TO
| meet Patrice Laugherne and by means
of a plausible piteous tale of dire need
! Il 81 ind n tn o