Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-10-02

He said to himself that if for the fu-
ture he wished to go to the opera he
would not mention the fact, but would
go without her.
They went out that evening, the
oper was Norma. Lord Chandos
heard nothing and saw nothing but the
wonderful face of Norma; every note
of that music went home to his heart
the love, the trust, the reproaches.
When she sang them in her grandly
pathetic voice, it was though each one
were addressed to himself, Three
tmies did Lady Chandos address him
without any response, a thing which in
her eyes was little less than a crime.
Glow you watch La Vanira," she
said. FI am sure you admire her very
much"
He looked at her with eyes that were
dazed-that saw nothing; the eyes of a
man more than half mad.
"And now look she said "Why,
Lance, La Vanira is looking at me.
What eyes she has. They stir my
very heart and trouble me. They are
saying something to me-"
Marion, hush What are you talk
ing about?" he cried.
Ella Vanira's eyes-she is looking at
me, Lance"
"Nonsensei" he said, and the one
word was so abruptly pronounced that
Lady Chandos felt sure it was nonsense
and said no more.
But after that evening he said no
more about going to the opera. If he
felt any wish to go he would go; it
would be quite easy for him to make
some excuse.
And those evenings grew more and
more frequent He did not dare to
disobey Leone; he did not dare to go to
her house, or to offer to see her in the
opera house. He tried hard to meet
her accidentally, but that happy acct
dent never occurred; yet he could not
rest, he must see her; something that
was stronger than himself drew him
near her.
He was weak of purpose; he never
resolutely took himself in hand and
said:
'T am married now. have wife at
home. Leone's beauty, Leone's tai
ents, are all less than nothing to me,
I will be true to my wife"
He never said that; he never braced
his will, or his energies to the task of
forgetting her; he dallied with
the temptation as he had done before;
he allowed himself to be tempted as
he had done before; the result was that
he fell as he had fallen before.
Every day his first thought was how
he could possibly get away that even
ing without drawing particular atten-
ton to his movements; and he went
so often that people began to laugh and
to tease him and to wonder why he was
always there.
Leone always saw him. If any one
had been shrewd and quick enough to
follow her, they would have seen that
she played to one person; that her eyes
turned to him continually; that the
gestures of her white arms seemed to
WOO him. She never smiled at him,
but there were times, when she was
it seemed as though she were almost
waiting for him to answer her.
He did not dare go behind the scenes,
to linger near the door, to wait for her
with one eager desire to see her. He
went night after night to- the box; he
sat in the same place; he leaned his
arms on the same spot, watching her
with eyes that seemed to flash fire as
they rested on her.
People remarked it at last, and be
gan to wonder if it could DE possible
that Lord Chandos, with that beauti-
full wife. the queen of blondes, was be-
ginning to care for La Vanira; he
never missed one night Of her acting,
and he saw nothing but her when she
was ON the stage.
Again one evening Lady Chandos
said to him:
Lance, have you noticed how sell
dom you spend an evening that is, the
whole of an evening-with me? If you
go to a ball with me, it seems to me
that you are always absent for an hour
or two"
"You have a vivid imagination, my
dear wife," he replied.
And yet he knew it was on the night
Leone played; he could no more have
kept from going to see her than be
could have flown; it was stronger than
himself, the impulse that led him
there.
Then his nights became all fever;
his days all unrest; his whole heart
and soul craved with passionate long
ing for one half hour with her, and yet
he dared not seek it. Even then, had
he striven to conquer his love, and
have resolutely thought of his duty,
his good faith and his loyalty, he
would have conquered, as any strong
man can conquer when he likes; he
never tried. When the impulse led
thought of her; when the temptation
came to him to think of her, he
thought of her. when tie temptation