The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-07-09
HEhEN'S TWO LOVERS.
WAS he glad? Was he sorry? Did
w he feel triumphant? Did he ieel
BY ANNA SHIELDS.

questions over and over, wearying OF
the repetition, and yet never aole W
end it by saying heartily that he was
glad and triumphant, or bitterly that
he was sorry and ashamed. Inc pain
fact stared him ever in the face, that
Helen RAYMOND did not love him, ana
that Mrs. Raymond had urged his suit,
and exerted her maternal influence ana
cloouence until Helen had consented TO
he 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 l should
marry George" Helen said, sadly, be
cause he was poor, and we have suffered
all that poverty can infiict. He was on
his way to Colorado, where his brother
has 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. 1t may come, this love
that will rot be hidden, to a 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 a return,
and he knew his own love to be strong
and enduring. He had stepped back
mat with
such smile, for he could never win,
had kept from pressing his suit when
the name of IIclen's lover appeared on
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 20,
whose heart had been 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 tenderness, her cheeks burn
with loves blushes, her low, sweet,
voice trenble with loves whispered
words. lie had won what all the Spen-
Ger gold, the riches of long generations,
could not buy
Before that fatal railway collision she
was Il bright, beautiful girl, with large,
expressive brown eyes, a voice of
music, the step of a fairy, singing as
Il bird sings, from sheer joyousness of
heart, bringing a jest to all the house
hold worries, laughing merrily over her
own plumbers in the culinary depart
mcnt, turning old dresses, renovating
old bonnets without complaint, living
on love and hope.
After that day she moved about slow
ly, her eyes were dull and weary, her
duties met with rigid mechanical pre-
cislon,.her lips compressed, her cheeks
pale, shadow Of her joyous self.
Mrs. Raymond was often afraid that
she would yet miss the golden prize she
had partly won, and heartily seconded
VIII in his preparations for a speedy
wedding. 1t was Mrs. Raymond who
went with him to open the house that
he had bought to adorn for his bride,
who aided him in the selection of car
pets, curtains, furniture, and gave him
instructions regarding the kitchen de-
partment, of whose needs he was as ig-
norant as most young bachelors. It
was Mrs. Raymond who received an
anonymous letter containing a liberal
sum, which she quietly appropriated
LOT trOusseau and suitable dress for
the BRIDES mother.
She was woman of rare tact. Hay-
ing won Helen's consent to be Will
Spencer's wife, she never bothered her
by complaints about her listless indif-
terence to her lover or her future nros.
poets. She simply made all the ar
rals.ements Tor her, without once adj
uniting a possibility of change. The
oetrothal was spoken of on all occa-
slons, the preparation of the house. the
selection of the trousseau referred To in
matter-of-fact words that made Helen
feel, as 1T was intended she should that
She had walked into a net from which
there was no escape.
And VIII Spencer knew it all. and
wrlthed under the knowledge, being
irank' loyal man, whose impulses were
generous and honorable, and who loved
Heien with all the strength of his heart.
Otten he asked himself how he could en-
dure life, if he found his wife faithful
save instead of the happy companion
he hoped to make her.
IL she never loves mel" he thought.
bitterly. IF all my love fails to win
hers, what will my life be?"
He did her justice. He knew that if
his love failed to win her heart, his gold
was powerless to make her happy. He
knew that if her mother died or could
not be benefited by her marriage, she
would rather beg her bread herself
than be his wife.
while matters stood in this unsat-
'sfactory state. Mrs. Raymond made a
suggestion: Il want you to go away
for month"; she said to him, 'sand let
Helen miss the constant devotion that
she has had ever since your betrothal.
Let her feel that a void has come into
her life, and how dull and chcerless it
would be if she lost YOU The wedding
day is set for June 10, and this is April.
stay away until the 5th or 9th of June -
1t seemed to him good advice, and he
had business in the west that would fill
his time probably. 1t gave him the
hfst really happy moment of his en-
gagement, when Helen said gently, vet
with shudder:
Il cannot bear to think of you on rail-
way trains, Will. Write often, that I
may know you are safe''
Her lips met his in tender pressure,
such as loving sister might bestow,
but with far more affection than she