Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1899-02-02
and sees Lance stapletou's sympatheus

and sees Lance StapletoN's sympathetis
countenance bending over her.
Lance" she says, in faint surprise,
and gives him her little thin hand in
greeting.
ut is good of you to come so soon" she
says gently. 'And l am all alone just
now. vi and Enid are OUT
Il know" he returns quietly. care you
getting better? Do you feel strongerw
"Oh, yesv' she answers languidly. 81
suppose you see a great change in me.
Lance" she says, excitedly, Il must tell
you now. I have never told any one be
fore. | saw -that-afternoon."
Slowly and faltering the words leave
her white lips. Slowly and distinctly they
reach her listeners ear.
He turns and gazes at her, as If he
doubted her sanity.
"You saw Charters on that day." he
exclaims. "And you have said nothing all
this time! Oh, Yolande.'
"What would have been the use?" she
cries, passionately eff he be dead, as
they say, it could have proved nothing.
If he lives, why should l give myself the
shame, the misery, of pr8laiming my
own mistake to those who care nothing
for the suffering bear?"
'Yolapde"-andd Laance,s voice grows
stern, while his face is colorless and cold
as marble mask-"what is it you mean?
What has been between you and-and
Charters? Why have you concealed it all
this time"
Because I was coward, answers the
girl in sad, shaken voice. Because
put my own feelings before his; because
/ dared not let all the world know my
poor pitiful revenge on him! And now
oh, heaven, he is dead and lost to me for
everv'
| For a moment there is a strange, sud
| den silence; and then
"You loved himv' cries fierce, hoarse
voice. "All this time you cared for him!'
And Lance falls by her side, with his
| head on the folds of her soft white dress
and his hands clinched in agony above
| his bright brown curls.
Yolande looks at him in his bitter suf-
fering, and her heart goes out to him IN
pity. Does she not know, only too well,
too painfully, what it is to bear torture
| like this?"
81 have loved you all this time," he
goes on, in a voice so strange that Yo-
lande can scarcely recognize it-"loved
you and thought of you only! And l
never for one moment imagined that-tnat
| there was any one else!
''Did | hide it so well?' she asks, with
a despair that echoes his own.
| He is silent; only tremor shakes the
| strong young arm, and the sound OF a
| choking sob escapes his lips. Yolande
bends over the PROSTATE figure; her tears
fall like rain upon the short, crisp curls.
| Lance" she says-"oh, Lance, don't
| grieve! II am not worth it. You don't
know what a wicked girl am!'
eff YOU were the vilest woman in the
world. it could make no difference to me!'
he answers, hoarsely. II have loved you
| all my life. Can change now! Love is
| not in any mans control. l loved you be-
cause 1 could not help it; and you-you
did the same to him.
EYES," she says, simply. "And yet l
sent him from me with bitter words-l re-
| fused his lovev'
"Yolande!'
"You see,' she goes on, trying to speak
| steadily despite the piteous culver of the
poor pale lips-'you see, Lance, was
angry because he had offended me once;
and I vowed to bring him to my feet and
repay him to the uttermost farthing.
1 Qlu IL Ut ldSls UuI az " LAT q SOoI Why
heaven and my own heart know! Lance
we bear the same burden, you and l!
| don't know which is the heavier; mine is
1 think, for, when I remember how sent
him away that afternoon with such bit
ter, scornful words, l could not know that
that act would bring me life's remorse
Oh, Lance, to think that he is dead-dead
and lost forever! that never in all the
years to come can l see his face or hear
his voice, or know he has forgiven! When
I think Of the future-of all the long blank
years when, in summer or winter, by day
or night, I shall never meet him, watch
how l may-when, in vain remorse, in
heartbroken agony, I shall hold out my
arms, despairing, waiting, and only shad
ows can fill then-when [ call and cal
and there comes no answer-oh, Lance
how can I bear it? Why did not heaven
let me die when death was so near?"
The poor young lover hears these pas
sionate plants, and his heart grows faint
within him. He has lost her so utterly
now; lost her as though indeed the death
for which she Graves had folded her il
icy arms which no power on earth ceulG
ever unloose again!
Go be continued)