The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1897-08-26
HE4Eu'S TWO LOVERS.
BY ANNA SHIELDS.

/ IA 40 nc Sldu was ne aoIry piu
wv he feel triumphant? Did he feel
bitterly ashaiucd?
VIII Spencer asked himself .iese
questions over and over, wearying of
the repetition, and yet never able to
end ii 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 Laymond did not love him, and
that Mrs. Raymond had urged his suit,
and cxcItcd her maternal influence and
cloquence until Helen had consented to
be lis wiic, telling him very frankly
that her heart was in the grave of her
lover, George Vanhorn, who had been
killed IN railway collision nearly one
year before.
"Mothcr was never willing | should
marry George" Helen said, sadly, be
cause he was pooT, and we have suffered
all that poverty can in1ict lie was on
lis way to Colorado, where his brother
has been successful, when he was
Killed."
win Spencer WINGED, for he was rich,
fcry rich, but then he put 10 the wound
hat soothing sal1c, Il viii win her love
when she is my wife," that has wrecked
so many lives. 1t may come, this love
that Will not be hidden, to 4 man and
Mifc after they are bound together for
life, but the risk is great, and VIII
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
ard enduring. lie had stepped back
when George Vanhorn was met with
such n smile for he could never win
had kept from pressing his suit when
the raiuc Of llclcn's lover appeared on
he list of the killed in the recount of
he railway collision, but after the lapse
# several months he had won Mrs.
Ray rnoud to lis side, and SO, by proxy,
woocd Helen and won--Vhat? cold,
reluctant consent TO be Lis wife.
Yct she was not. cold, thi girl of %,
whose heart had been crushed ever
since the day when George Nanhorn's
name WIS recon dcd as dead. He could
have told bow her eyes could soften
with loves tenderness, her checks burn
with loves bushes, her low, sweet,
voice tremble with loves whispered
words. He had won what all the Spcn-
Ger gold, the riches of long generations,
could not buy.
Before that fatal railway collision she
was a bright, beautiful girl, with large,
expressive brown eyes, a voice of
music, the step of fairy, singing as
4 bird sings, from sheer joyousness of
Heart, bringing jest to all the house
hold worries, laughing merrily over her
own blundcrs in the culinary depart
nont, turning old dresses, renovating
cid Eonnets without Il complaint, living
ON love and hope.
After that day she moved about slow
ly, her eyes were duh and weary, her
duties met with rigid mechanical pre-
claion, 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-
rartment, of whose needs he was as ir-
norant as most young bachelors. 1t
was Mrs. Raymond who received an
anonymous letter containing a liberal
SUN, which she quietly appropriated
for trousscau and suitable dress for
the brides mother.
She YVES woman of rare tact. Hav-
ing won Ilclcn's consent to be win
SPencer's vile, she never bothered her
BY complaints about her listless ipdif-
ference 20 her lover or her future pros.
rccts. She simply made all the ar
iangcments for her, without once adj
hitting possibility of change. The
betrothal was spoken of on all occn-
aions the preparation of the house. the
1elactiol of the trousscau referred TO. in
mattcrof-iact words that made Helen
teel, as IL was intended she should, that
she had wallscd into a net from which
here WIS no escape.
Ard VIII Spencer knew it all. and
vrithcd under the knowledge, being
rank, loyal man, whose impulses were
enerors and honorable. and who loved
'!clen with all the strength Of his heart.
iten he asked himself how he could en-
ufe life, if he found his wife faithful
lave, instead of the happy companion
he hoped to make her.
If she never loves mel" he thought,
bitterly IF all my love fails to win
hers, what win my life be?"
lie did her justice. He knew that If
his love failed to win her heart, hisgold
vas poverlcgs to make her happy. lie
ncw that if her mother died or could
not be benefited by her marriage, she