Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-11-30

Il was trying to be happy" she said
learning to be content; and now you
have come to spoil it all"
She looked so lovely in her pride. her
anger, and her tears, that the lawyer
wished his employer could have seen
her.
Bear Witness" he said, that have
not tempted you. have simply done as
| was told to do. l will bid you fare
we'll"
She looked as though inclined to de-
tain him.
He hesitated.
will you take time to think over
it?" he asked Shall / go away, and
return in one month from now?"
YES" she replied, almost inaudibly.
and will you take my advice?" he
concluded. do not say one word of
this to your husband until 1 have seen
you again"
CHAPTER x.
There came an evening when Paul
Waldron sat in the beautiful flower
garden, a prey to most anxious
thoughts. The sun was setting, the
birds were singing in the green depths
of the shady trees. He had returned
home early that evening, and had
found his wife, with a sad, pale face,
standing listlessly at the cottage win
| dow. No tea was prepared for him,
and the smile that usually greeted him
was absent from her beautiful lips. He
| loved her too dearly to offer any re-
monstrance-he went up to her and
| kissed her.
you are not looking well today, Is
may" he said gently.
He was almost startled when she
| flung her arms round his neck with
! low passionate cry, and hid her face
on his breast.
You are not we'll, Ismay," he re-
peated Never mind tea for me. Come
out and I will try to cheer you. The
room is warm-come into the fresh air,
and oh my darling give me one bright
| look, or all the world will be dark to
| met"
AS they walked along he said to
| her
Il cannot understand you, Ismay.
You are so changed, you are so vari
able, my darling, so unlike your sweet,
bright self. One moment you are
here, and with your arms clasped
round my neck-loving, tender, all that
my heart desires; the next moment you
are cool and naughty, as though you
were princess, and l your slave. At
times you seem to love me, and then
again you seem to hate me- One day |
think you are perfectly happy-you
smile and sing and your face is more
| beautiful than ever in its sweet con-
tent; the next you are silent, sad, en-
crossed with melancholy thoughts. I
cannot understand you. Are you with
holding any secret from me, Ismay?"
She clasped her arms round his neck
and drew his face down to hers. She
said that he was the truest, the dearest,
the best of husbands and that she
loved him, and ended with passionate
tears.
He sighed deeply as he soothed her.
What had come to this lovely young
wife of his? He little dreamed of the
terrible struggle going on in the heart
he believed to be all his own.
1t seemed to her that her very soul
was rent in twain; she longed with an
intensity of longing for wealth, the
rank, the position, the grandeur that
had been described to her.
She was not surprised at what she
had heard; there had always been in
| bar mind a hind of iptuitiya kuoul nd op
that her mother was lady, and that
she herself was not in her right place.
1t seemed so cruel that she should be
deprived of all the glorious advantages
she had longed for, because she loved
her husband and would not leave him.
How happy she would have been, in
stalled at Bralyn, mistress of that
grand mansion! How the great people
of the great world would have admired
her! What jewels, what dresses she
: would have had? No wonder that
when she thought of all she had lost
she grew sad, silent, and unhappy;
, the little cottage became unbearable
then, the needful economies most hate
[ full, the husband for whom she haG
. sacrificed so much, source of aver
5 sion.
: Then a sudden fit of remorse would
5 seize her; she would prove her love fol
= him by the most loving words, the
: most tender caresses; she would laugh
/ and sing al to show him that she wa:
happy: she would utter a Thousand
t extravagances about their little hom
t and her affection for it. And thel
e would follow the reaction, and sh
would be intensely wretched again. S.
r matters went on for three long weeks
0 until her health began to fail.
t A nobler woman, having once mad
the sacrifice, would have abided by il
l She wavered even while she be
: lieved herself to be most firm. Sh
o looked i'll, her face was always eithe
d flushed or white, her hands trembled
d she was nervous, hysterical, unlik
r. herself In vain her husband trie
! everything to please her; he was,
possible, more unhappy than hel
l. self.
.e 1t had been such a glimpse of Pal
0. adise to her; now the gates we1
shut, and she was debarred from er
Of tering. She had not said one word
lie Paul: he was still in utter ignoranc
SO the fourth week dawned, and sf
n knew that before it had ended 81
re must be either rich without her hui
band, or poor with him.
Il In the meantime Mr.. Ford had tol
- the old lord all; he had painted tt
girls beauty in vivid colors; he ha
>" described her anger, her indignation