The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-08-17
How He Won Her.
BY WALTER LEE"

4GA6 = S4O0A0 WAALy
Lee" Mary said, sad
ly, because he was poor, and we have
suffered all that povery can iEflct.
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-"T will
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 q 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 q return,
and he knew his own love to be strong
and enduring. He had stepped back
when Lee Rowland was met with such
q smile as he could never win, had
kept from pressing his suit when the
name of Mary'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 wen Mrs. Wat
kinson to his-side, and so, by proxy,
wOoed Mary and Won-what7 A 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 Lee
Rowland's name was recorded as dead.
He could have told how her eyes could
soften with loves tenderness, 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 days gone by the Watkinson's
had held wealth, too, but Mary's father,
TO use the expression of his brother,
had 'muddled away two fortunes
somehow" and had died, leaving his
family little or nothing. Mary was
but a child then, and her mother was
sufficiently wise to "ht her for a
teacher" by a course of judicious edu-
cation, for which her uncle paid.
And Mary, nervous, sensitive, quick
in feeling, impulsive in speech, was
about as unfit for a teacher as a 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 @ board,
ing house when she was at home.
Bsfore that fatal railway collision
she was a bright, beautiful girl, with
large, expressive, brown eyes. a voice
of music, the step Of a fairy, singing
as a bird sings, from sheer joyousness
Of heart, bringing a jest to all the
household worries, laughing merrily
over her own plumbers In the culinary
department., turning old dresses, reno
waiting old bonnets without a 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
that he could not break this icy calm.
Alk in vain he brought her costly
gifts, took her to every place of amuse-
ment where he could coax her to 60,
was her openly devoted slave. The
few words Of thanks she spoke were
dull, her emile was on her lips only,
and her eyes did not brighten. By no
device could he call up one fash of her
old j2yousness. She sang for him, Sc
lectlBg different overtures that proved
her proficiency, displayed a charming
voice, nothing more. Never did she
sing the old ballads that Lee Rowland
had loved, when she threw her whole
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 o. the warmth of his
love, and then, in the privacy of her
own room, wept scaidlng tears over
her her W faithlesaness.
Mrs. Watkinsou was often afraid
that she would yet miss the golden
priz9 she had party woD, and heartily
seconded Will in his preparations for a
speedy wedding. 1t was Mrs. Wat.
kinson who went with him to open the
house that he had bought to adorn for
his bride, who aided him in the selec-
ton of carpets, curtains, furniture,
and gave him instructions regarding
the kitchen department., of whose