Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-08-17

make him Keep It. sac made no COM
plant, no rcproaches; she never men,
, toned her pain or her sorrow: she
said nothing Of her long watch or its
unhappy ending; she did not even tell
him OF tho delayed letter--and he won
/ dered. He was more uncomfortable
than II her letter had been one singing
reproach from beginning to end. He
| answered it he wrote to her often,
but there was change In the tone OF
her letters, and he was half conscious
Of Il,
He meant 70 he true to her-that was
his only comfort In the after years:
he could not tell--nor did he know
how It first entered his mind To he any
thing else, Perhaps my lady knew
for she had completely changed
her taetics--iustead Of ignoring Leone
she talked " her continually never
unkindly, but With plying contempt
| that inscnslrly influenced lord Chan
dos, She spoke ot his future with
deepest compassion, as though he
would 10 completely cut on from
every thing that could mako life worth
! living; she treated him as though ha
were an unwilling victim to an uutor-
tunatc promise II took some time to
! Impress the idea upon htm-ho had
never Thought nf himself IN that light
at all A victim who was giving up
| the best mother, the kirdost friend,
everything IN litc to keep an uufortu-
nate promise, My lady spoke OF him
so continually In that light at last he
began to believe Il,
He was like wax In her hands;
despite hts warm aud true love for his
wife that idea became firmly engraved
ON his miud-he was n victim,
When once she had carefully i'm
pressed that upon him my lady went
further; she began to question whether
really, after ALL his promise bound him
or not
In her eyes It did not certainly not,
The whole thing was most unfortu-
nate mistake; but that he should con-
slider himself bound by such n piece
Of boyIsh folly was madness,
So that tho second stage of his prog
ross toward ralsohood was that. besides
! looking on himself as a kind OF victim,
he began To think that he was not
bound by his promise, II It had been
an error at first II was an error now.
and the countess repeated for him very
often the story OF the Marquis OF
Atherton. who married tho daughter OF
u lodge keeper In his nineteenth year
His parents iutorfered the marriage
was set aside, What was tho eonse-
Quence? Two years after the girl mar
rIcd tho hutlor. and they bought
Atherton Arms The marquis, In hls
twenty year. married n pooress in
her own right, and was now one OF the
first men In England, My lady often
repeated that ane"dote; II had made
great impression on her, ant 1t GER
tainly produced nm effect on Lord
Chandos
My lady had certainly other IN
lluences to bring to bear. The uncle
Of Lady Ersltlne tho Duke OF Lester,
was one of the most powerful mobiles
In Engnnd-the head Of the Cabinet,
the most influential peer In the House
of Lords, tho grandest orator and the
most respected of mon. My lady en-
joyed talking about him abe brought
forward his name continually, and was
often heard to say that whoever had
the good fortune To marry Lady
Erskine was almost suro to succeed
the duke In his numerous honoB Lord
Chandos. honring her one day said:
wl nj nj hnr .tpl n
them for myself-and that will DO BET
ter than succeeding another man"
She looked Mt him with n half-sad.
half-mocking smile,
II have no ambition, no hope for
you, Lance. You have taken your wife
from dairy-the most can hope Is
that you may learn to be good Judge
Of milk
He turned from her with n hot flush
Of anger on his face Yet tho sharp,
satlrical shaft found It's way TO his
heart He thought OF the words and
brooded over themthey made moro
impression on him than any others
had done. In his mothers mind he
had evidently lost HIS place In the
worlds race, never TO regain II.
The duke--w who knew nothing OF the
conspiracy. and who knew nothing of
the young lords story. except that he
had involved himself In some tlresome
dilemma from which his parents had
rescued him-the Duke OF Lester who
heard Lord Chandos spoken Of as one
likely TO marry his niece, took great
fancy To HIM he had no children OF
his own, ha was warmly attached TO
his beautiful niece; and 1t seemed very
probable that II Lord Chandos mar
ried Lady Erskine, he would have be-
fore him one OF the most brilliant fu-
lures that could fall to any mans lot.
Many people limited nj II. and con-
slant dropping wears away stone
Tho last and perhaps the greatest
hold that the countess had over her
son was the evident liking OF Lady