Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1898-11-10

ally. She heard the hum OF merry
voices ningling with the tender strains
of "Ehren on the Rhine" and saw the
bright sunshine falling aslant the green
branches OF the trees and touching her
lovers z angry face. She was stu
pidly silent, almost believing that she
saw and heard all in a dream.
"Oh, love, dear love. be true!' was
the burden Of the melody rendered by
the band; and the words found a cruel
echo in Grace Sankey's thoughts. Had
she not been doubly false-false to this
man. to whom her first love had been
| given, and false now to Il dead! FOR
was there not treason to Herbert
Santley In the wicked gladness that
she felt in once more being in Vincent
Erle's company?
You do not answer me-" h man
said, sternly; you will not accept my
excuse. You doubt II, perhaps, hougn
heaven knows / was as anxious as You
could ever be that we should never
meet again. Good morning, Mrs. SAINT
ley.r'
Mr.. Erie spoke with desperate ener-
gy, and turned away; but a cry thai
broke involuntarily from the girls pale
lips arrested his departure.
'iou spoke, / Think he remarked,
Nth a resolute effort TO maintain his
studied coldness; then, as he looked at
the young widows pale face and qulv-
ering lips, the blue, ~beseeching eyes,
that turned so ~piteously to his, the
pent-up passion that swelled his heart
almost 10 bursting broke forth in eager
and r~eproachful speech.
..Oh, GraceI A hundred times / have
imagined u meeting; but | never
thought you would have been so cruel
to me us you have been today"
He caught both her hands and held
them III close, ~convuls!ve pressure; ne
looked down into the very depths or
the tender, trusting eyes, ana READ
something there that made his pulses
throb more quickly-something before
which his pain and anger vanished, as
mist vanishes before the rising sun.
'Was / crueil' the girl asked, con
fusedly, yielding to the strange charm
of the mans presence. Il think not,
Vincent! l was only startled, and so
very, very glad!'
1t was the most innocent of COMES
sious, and the most absolute and COM
| plete. Vincent Erie raised 10 his lips
the hands he held, but inwardly
thanked heaven that his cause was
wen
Mr.. Erie said no more then. al self
restraint was easy in the Circumstance
es; but on the faces OF the man n
woman who walked back 81 quietly
together to join the general group on
the lawn, there shone the serene radi-
ance of a great joy and content.
Mrs. Leger was by no means pleas
antiy surprised to see her daughter re-
appear by her old lovers side: and the
welcome Vincent Erie received at her
hands was of the coolest possible de-
scription. Indeed, only the fact that
he came as the friend of the all-impor-
tant Cartons saved him from a down
right snub.
Bat Vincent bore Mrs. Leger's frigid-
ity with good-tempered indifference,
feeling too happy to resent anything
just then. He gladly turned 10 catch
Ruth's eagerly-outstretched hands, as
the girl came flying across the lawn TO
greet her old playfellow and friend.
oh, Vincent, you dear old fellow!'
she cried, her bright hazel eyes shining
with an aifectionate delight that
caused Tom Carlton to envy his friend.
how good of you to come! | began TO
think that we should never meet
again.
$50 did !. Ruthr' Vincent replied,
looking down at the eager, yiyacious
little creature with his kind, grave
smile. Lady Caroline brought me. as
I thought, to the house of n stranger;
but | find myself among OLD friends!'
Whom you would not have visited
of your own free willg" Ruth queried,
with n shrewd little nod. II love Lady
Caroline for playing you the trick!'
That's awful nice of you, Miss Leg
err" Tom Carlton interpolated; but
you must love me, too, you know, for
assure you that helped my mother to
deceive him for his good. We are
equally meritorious; and | do not see
why all the reward should fall to her
share"
Ruth answered only by a demure
glance from under her long lashes; and
the two strolled off together. The
sight of the comely young pair, who
were evidently on such excellent terms,
did much to restore to Mrs. Leger the
equanimity that Vincent Erle's appear
ance had disturbed; but her enjoy
ment was spoiled for the rest of the
day. all the same.
"'Our very wishes give us not our
wish" she quoted. gloomily, as she
watched the lingering parting between
Grace Santley and the man whom she
had given up at her mothers bidding,
but whom fate had so strangely
thrown across her path once more. Il
was so proud Of my victory-so glad to
drag Grace out of her retreat: but now
| wish, with all my heart, that I had
left her there, for who knows what
will happen next?"
A thousand agonizing possibilities
flashed through the woman's mind.
She had Il conviction that her pleasant
domestic reign was over, and it filled
or with an angry bitterness that was
all the t~iercer, because in her heart she
knew hat 1t was impotent.
Vincent Erie might, for all she knew,
be poorer than he was when. FIVE years
previously, he had asked her for her
daughters hand, and had received the
contemptuous refusal she would SO
gladly re-echo,