Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-06-05

touched him greatly she held out her
hand to i'm. Il do not blame you for
tc message you have brought" she
saio; ''the fault lies with Lady Lans-
we'll and the English law, not with
you. You have fulfilled your mission
as kindly as you could. I forgive you
what you have done and what you
have said"
The white lips closed firmly, no 9TH
er sound came from them, but Mr..
Sewell looked back as he closed the
door, and she lay with her face on the
floor. He did not go to her; he
thought it was better to leave her
alone. He saio to himself, as he quit
ted the house. that not for all the
weelth of the Lanswells would he pass
through another such scene.
The hour came in which she raised
her face once more to the sunlight,
and tried to realize what had hap
nened. She had risen that morning
the happiest girl in all England, her
only anxiety being to make herself
more beautiful than ever in her hus-
bands eyes. The morning itself was
not more fresh and fair; everything
had been "couleur de rose"
Her husband, as she believed him,
thought so little of the quarrel with
his parents that she had imbibed his
careless, happy ideas about it. There
was no cloud in her sky, no doubt in
her heart; now her heart was full of
despair. She looked at the blue Sep
| TENDER sky, and asked herself if it
were possible to realize what had hap
pened. She was daZed, stunned, as
though some one had struck her VIC
lent blow. She went out of the pretty
drawing room where she had heard
what seemed to her her death war
rant. She opened her white lips to
breathe the pure, fresh air Of heaven
AS she stood there painting for
breath, one of the servants came to
her, holding letter in her hand. Lee
one opened it, The few hastily-writ-
ten lines were from her husband
They said, simply:
M Odl Shall uOG NC dUIS W
return home today. I have some disa-
greeable business in town, of which |
will tell you more anon. I shall be at
home for luncheon tomorrow. Believe
me, always your loving husband,
Lance"
She looked at the word husband"
until the letters seemed to burn ike
fire. He had signed himself her hus-
band. All, then, it was quite plain
that he neither believed, or, perhaps,
had not even heard, of what had been
done. AS she stood there with the
fading boughs of a spreading tree over
her head, the words came to her again
and again:
Those VOWS we're all forgotten,
The ring ausnder broke"
She seemed once more to hear the
falling of the waters. Would the vows
made to her ever be broken? All, no!
a thousand times no!
She would go to his mother and APP
peal to t1er A woman must, of course,
be merciful to a woman. She would
go herself to Lucia, Countess of Lens
we'll.
CHAPTER XVII.
II Would Rather See My Son Dead
The countess stood alone in the
drawing room. The sun was setting
over the trees in the park, and a warm
glow filled the beautiful room with
rosy light-a light that fell on costly
pictures, on marble statues, on buhl
and jaspar on silver and gold, on mir
rors and flowers, whose fragrance was
delicious even to breathe, but it fell
on my lady's proud face and figure as
though it liked best to linger there.
The oressing-bell had not rung, and
she, waiting for it, had fallen into a
reverie. She was sure she had done
right, yet, without doubt, the girl
would feel it keenly What matter?
Women must weep''-it was part of
their lives. Whoever paused or cared
for woman's tears? Women had
wept before and would weep again
She looked round on the superb home
where she reignd mistrss, and laughed
with scorn as she tried to picture the
Idfm0F niece queen OIL Cn0S6 ancient
walls.
Right? Most certainly she had done
right; let weak minds and weak hearts
think as they would. The golden sun
set, the rosy CLOUDS, the soft, sweet
song of the birds, the fragrance of the
thousand blooming flowers, the faint
whisper of the .odorous wind appealed
to her in vain. What were bleeding
heart and weeping eyes to her?
Yet she was but a woman; and these
soft voices of nature could not leave
her quite unsoftened. She wondered
where Lance was. She remembered
him fair-haired, laughing, defiant
boy, playing there under the trees
where she red light fell. She started
suddenly when one of her well-trained
footmen opened the door, and said a
lady wished to see her The countess
looked at him in naughty vexation.
''Why do you bring amessage so