Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-07-02

"As though l did not love you" he said,
reproachfully. ''Show me another woman
only half so fair"
Pauline made one more effort.
LADY Darrell" she cried, with outstretch-
ed hands, ''you will not decide hastily-you
will take time to judge?"
But as they passed out together, something
in the delicate face told that her love for Au.
brey Langton was the strongest element IN
her nature.
Lady Darrell" she cried again, do not
listen to him! l swear l have told you the
truth-Heaven will Judge between him and
me if i have notw
"You must have studied tragedy at tina
Porte st. Martini" said Aubrey Langton,
with a forced laugh; Lady Darrell knows
which to believe"
She watched them walk across tho lawn,
Captain angton pleading earnestly, Lady
Darrelrs face softening as she listened. II
am too later cried the girl, i'm M agony of
s~elf-reproach. "All my humiliation Is in
vain; she will believe him and not me. I
cannot save her now, but one word In time
might have done So"
Oh, the bitterness of the s~elf-reproach that
tortured her-the anguish of knowing that
she could have prevented Lady DarrelPs
wrecking her whole life, yet she had not
done so! 1t was no wonder that she buried
her face in her hands, weeping and praying
as she had never wept and prayed in her life
before.
y y
'Elinor, look at me-" said Captain Lang
ton; ''do | look like a thief and a would-be
murderer
Out of Pauline's presence the handsome
face had ~regained its usual careless, debonaiI
expression.
She raised her eyes, and he saw in them
the lingering doubt, the lingering fear.
IF all the world had turned against me-"
he said, 'and had refused to believe in me,
you, Elinor, my promised wife, ought to
have had more faith"
She made no reply. There had been some.
thing In the energy of Pauline's manner that
carried conviction with it; and the weak
heart, the weak nature that had always re-.
lied upon Others, could form no decision I'm.
aided.
For argument sake, let us reverse the case.
Say that some disappointed lover Of yours
came to tell me that you had been discovered
stealing; should | not have laughedP Why,
Ellnor, you must be blind not to see the truth
a child might discern it. The fact is that
long ago | was foolish enough to believe my.
self in love with Miss Darrell and she-well,
honestly speaking, she is jealous. A gentle.
man does not like to refer TO such things, but
that Is the simple truth. She is jealous, and
would part us if she could but she shall not.
My beautiful Elinor is all my own, and no
half-crazed jealous girl shall come between
u.s."
as it so, Aubrey" asked Lady Darrell.
"My dearest Elinor, that is the whole SO.
crct of Miss DarrelPs strange conduct to ME,
She is j~ealous-and you know, | should I'M.
agine, what Jealous women are like"
She tried to believe him, but, when she re,
called the noble face, with its pure light OF
truth and pity, she doubted again. But Cap.
tain Langton pleaded, prayed, invented such
ridiculous stories of Pauline, made such fer.
vent prOtestatlons of love, lavished such ten.
der words upon her, that the weak heart
turned to him again, and again its doubtingS
were cast aside.
lrrnt, -