Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-08-26
CHAPTER xLIx.-"MY FAIRY QUEEN"

was no outward change In anyone; ever
Mrs. Langley preserved IN affable aspect,
but Max Beauregard and Valerie could see
the thunder-clouds behind the sunshine,
n the former smiled to himself as he
thought how radiant my lady would feel
If she only knew the truth.
After luncheon Valerie could not escape
from Lord Westbrook and the others, who
spread about the lawn and the gardens;
she would rather have been alone, but she
was so happy now that there was no need
to assume a brightness not felt.
Colonel B~eauregard sought Mrs. Lang
ley, who had retired to her boudoir, and
when he knocked at the door, was sitting
tapping her foot on the floor In a state OF
extreme perturbation.
Valerie's conduct was simply distracting,
Colonel Boauregardl' she exclaim ed,
in great surprise rs he entered; you wish
to see Elinor, perhaps?"
NO" said he, coolly. ~ wish to see
you for a few minutes, IL you can spare me
the time"
"Of course I can, with pleasurel' she
answered, making room for him on the
lounge by her side, and more amazed thar
ever.
Ahhlho, odlu hCy SCdblllS UIlIlStll, anu
pardon a soldier for going straight to the
point. Is Valerie obliged TO fulfill this EN-.
gagement at the Morton's2"
Colonel Beauregard, | don't under
standr'
1t was wicked Of him, but he could not
resist teasing her.
"NoS" he said; "well, excuses are some
times made in these cases, are they mott
and if Valerie went back TO Welfordr'
And who told you," asked Mrs. Lang
ley, leaning back, that Valerie was going
back to WelfordI"
''She told me herselfl' returned Beaure-
gard, playing with his moustache.
Mrs. Langley looked at him steadily for
a moment before she spoke again; but her
scrutiny was not very satisfactory.
valerie" she said, coldly, lis impetu
Gus and capricious. She had taken into
her head to go to Wexford; but l don't
know why she need nave mentioned it to
your
II don't see why she need gol''
"Nor /; 1t was her W wishr'
"Wishl hardly. If a man jumped in to
the sea, as an alternative to committing
a crime. would you say he wished to be
drownedS"
"You talk in riddles - said Mrs. langley,
turning pale, yet with a flash OF hope in
her heart.
"They are very readable riddles. You
have done all you could, Mrs. Langley he
said, laying his hand on hers, and speak.
ing with a certain sternness underlying
his gentleness Of speech and manner, "to
wreck a life that q nature too noble-for-
give me-for you to understand saved from
moral shipwreck, but could not save from
the shipwreck of happiness. You tried to
force Valerie, first into a hateful marriage
with Aston Lawford; nex into trying to
win me, when | became a more valuable
match and since she would do neither,
you pronounced her a failure and practi-
cally CAV her the choice of these two al.
ternatives, or Punishment from your care
and favor. You were worldly wise-very
worldly wise, and yet you never discovered
what a truer wisdom might have found
out without any worldly knowledge-the
handspring of all Valerie's conduct"
Mrs. Langley had sat gazing stonily al
the speaker, too utterly taken aback to re-
sent the accusation, which, put plainly and
tersely, looked very ugly indeed, and yet
was so true; as he paused, and she did not
SPEAK, ne duueu, WlJH u nall Smlle-ln his
heart he almost pitied the woman-"I sup,
pose you know 1t now?"
Colonel Beauregard, do you mean-yn
~ mean" he said-and what q light
flashed up into his dark eyes!-"that Va
lerie's heart was given to me before she
went to live under your roof, though she
did not know it then; and when she knew
It, all her life was given to the task of hid
ing her secret. She hid it from you, and
she hid it from me until to-day. So, after
all, YOU have your wish, though not as you
had planned it, but because / learned the
truth, that Valerie loved me for myself,
would have given herself to me if | had
asked her ~love-when / was only a younger
son, with a younger sons allowance and o
soldiers pay!"
Poor Mrs. Langley! 1t was a bitter pill
10 swallow, to find that she had no terribly
blundered; and to be told point-blank by
Max Beauregard, although he spoke gent
ly, that she was a worldly-minded match
maker. But still, there was the consola-
ton that Valerie would, sitter all, be the
mistress of Abbot's Loigh. 1t was not her
Mrs. Langley's) success, but 1t was success