The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-02-19
H]EILEN'S i ] SECRET.

HELEN'S SECRET.
ri have told you there is a secret
in my life Lean share with no one.
Let ME go my way and ouyours, for
We could never be happy with cloud
OF mystery between u.s."
"1n other. words, you refuse mel
There was, a quick resentment ID
Alfred Graves tone, for the refusal Of
the woman he loved to be his wife
was blow at once to his heart and
his vanity. He was not a conceited
man, but when he offered his hand to
his sisters governess he certainly did
not expect q refusal. There had been
many meetings before he spoke, and
in some of them he had thought Hes
ter Strctton's face betra yed her love
for him, In spite of the cold manner
that was habitual to her.
Scarcely a man to measure his own
merits by the length OF his purse,
Alfred Graves could not quite forget
that he was owner of fine estate in;
The country, several houses in town
and five thousand a year, while Hes"
ter Stretton was his sisters governess.
She had come to Mrs. Evans from
female seminary with letters of intro
duction, had proved herself trust.
worthy with the children, and no one
had any desire to pry into her pri-
vate affairs during the whole of the
first two years.
Mrs. Evans considered her trea-
sure. and the children were much at
tached to her an progressed rapidly.
Eay hen Alfred came back from abroad
and his sister, offering him the hos.
pitality Of her house ut Guiidford,
suddenly made several discoveries.
First, she found out that although
the family had thought and spoken OF
her brother as an old bachelor, after
all, at forty he looked younger than
some men under thirty. Next, that
Hester Stretton, though she was re-
served, was wonderfully fair and
could converse with Alfred long after
the topics were quite beyond the eld-
der lady's comprehension.
The old, old story progressed, day
after day, and she could find no good
reason for sending Hester away, and
surely Alfred was not to be turned
from her house. Mrs. Evans was con-
stantly devising schemes for shutting
Hester in the schoolroom, for sending
her long errands and employing her
time in needlework. But if Alfred
would lounge into theschoolroom and
insist upon hearing his nephews and
nleces recite long poems while
he made pencil sketches of Hester's
profile; If he would join her just as she
started on the long errands, and was
seized with desire to read in the
very room where the needlework was
in progress, what could g. prudent Sis
ter do more?
1t was some comfort that the s'in-
1atuation." as Mrs. Evans mentally
termed it, was all on one side; that
the pale face never flushed at his
coming, or the soft, dark orbs wooed
him to her side. But Mrs. Evans
could not believe it possible for
Alfred to offer his hand and fortune
to any woman and be rejected. So
she fretted secretly, while Alfred
wooed patiently, till on the summer
morning when he found Hester in the
garden, for a. wonder, free from the
attendance OF a. juvenile Evans, and
made his declaration in explicit
terms.
And without one flush on her white
cheeks-if possible, even paler than
usual-Miss Stretton had told him
there was a secret in her life that kept
her outside the ranks of married
women. Still he pleaded, still he
owned it was no crime or fault of her
own, that separated them, and again
he urged his suit only to meet the
repetition OF her declaration. "
I'm other words, yon refuse me-"
he said. with angry emphasis.
The color flushed then over Hestor's
face, Tor there was keen pain as we'll
as resentment in Alfred's tone. For
the first time she touched his arm,
lifting her soft, dark orbs to his own.
There was a thrill IN her voice as she
said, steadily but in low tones: ..Be.
cause Ilove you, Alfred. If I had no
affection for you | would put my
hand in yours and share your wealth,
Tor my life Of drudgery is q. weary
burden to me. But love you, and
y 50 ! bid you go from me and seek to
forget me in a happier smile;n . l !
Something in her tone and face
awed wed her, q lover from any demo onstra-
2tlon OF pleasure at her frank confes-
sion: sion He .prisoned the little white
hand she had placed upon his arm
and an said: Confde in me, then. Tell
me Your IL secret, or, il you will, keep
IT, and rest assured will never try to
surprise it. s 5.
' I cannot. Nothing but death can
tree me, and your life is too useful