La Junta tribune., 1899-03-11
scandal and hi. consent to the marriage h.

delight. Why not invite thiS Objection
able young person down TO Maddox Hall
his country seat--say. for month, the
engagement TO he made public ut the end
Of that time. unless Lord Merton
smiled.
II the compromises thus effected hNd
done nothing elss, 1t had educated the
young actress to fuller appreciation OF
the amenities of life than she had before
possessed. She had known but little
brightness hitherto, and poverty, with ita
endless shifts and contrivnnces, has u mar
rowing influence on the possibilities OF
woman's NATURE She realized also for the
first time that Talbot's affection for her
entailcd n certain amount of sacrifice on
his part, and that she WAS by no means
the only pretty or fascinating woman In
his circle.
She rcveled in tho unwontcd luxury
and refinement of her surroundings.
II hate to be poor, she said to Lord
Merton in foolish burst of confidence,
II think It's worse than anything"
And Lori Merton smilinRly agreed, and
made himself more charming than ever,
taking her over the estate and explaining
at length the working of the coal mines,
froEi which he derived his wealth. "Mer-
cenary to the backbone, +" was his mental
ejaculation. "Sell her soul for gold, he
at tho number of tons brough, to tho sur
face and the royalty duo on each
MY place is nothing, my dear young
lady he said. in reply to some enthusi'
astic remark ''You should SEQ Sir Harry
Tylcr's. It's simply magnificent! In fact,
Tyler could buy me up twice over. He's
the coal king OF the country, you know;
whereas only own two miserable mines "
And he shrugged his shoulders dcpreciAt.
ingly.
Perhaps 1t was tho knowledge that the
young man was the .'coal king" that
made Dora so gracious to him that After
noon. He hal been more persistent In his
attentions during her stay than Taltos
quite liked, and Dora In that spirit of
coquetry which is part OF the equipment
OF every actress, had by no means repclled
him. That evening, the last night OF her
visit, she WAS more than usually radiant
Lady Merton had given ball in her
honor, and she had teen great success.
Tired with excitement, she readily nc
cepted Sir Harry's invitation to sit out
for couple OF dances. London, with Its
dreary streets and hideous cries, seemed
very far away In the dimly lighted con
servatory; the stage with its endless teal-
ousics, tircsome rehearsals and rapid tri-
umpbs, unsieakably abhorrent- How
wonderfully lucky she was to be able 50
soon to leave it--and forcverl She was
reused from her day dreams by her com
panion' s protestations. In flood OF STAN
mering eioqucnce he placed his riches, his
title, at her feet, assuring her of his un-
changing alteration.
He was SO earnest. SO passionate, In his
pleading that the girl felt sorry for him,
vexcd that he had not known Of her en-
gagement She laid her hand upon his
,,,,I, t,,,t ba tt,R n,
answer, Lord Merton's voice. grown Id
and thin-yet raised to an unwontcd pitch
sounded from the hall.
" Tis true. my boy. the mines nrc Hood
ed, and we are ruined-pnupcrs. not
penny" She did not cntch his sons rc-
ply. Stunned and dazed, she strove TO
realize what had happened. Gradually,
out of the chaos and confusion Of ideas.
her mind grnsped the fact that with her
lay the choice Of poverty, with its mean
surroundings. and wealth, with all that
makes life worth living Talbot ruined,
poor-she could not go back to 1t; the
small. stuffy rooms In the suburban street,
tho hideous ALTERATION Of life Of work,
want and weariness. Her mother, oh, how
could she tell her that 1t had all come to
an end-that there was nothing to look
forward to, nothing to hope fors Her
whole soul sickened and revolted
Answer me, dear, whispered her COM
panion. "Tell mo you will he my wife.
And then she remcm bered that when no
one else had noticed or cared for her Tai
bot had thought nothing slight that gave
her pleasure, deemed nothing sacrifice
for love OF her. Could she who had drained
the poisonous cup OF poverty to the dregs
could she let him taste the bitterness Of
such draft alone, should she be the first
to wound him, to treat him with disdainf
The truth, the naked truth, rose up above
the fOllies, the fripperies, with which she
had surrounded 1t. Should she buy the
world at the cost Of her own soul?
"Oh, no I" she sobbed. mol" And with
outstretched hands and streaming eyes
she called to him, ineffable tenderness in
her voice.
Talbot, Talbot, want you, my dar-
lingl want you. Poverty doesn't mat
ter II have you"
The bride looked simply lovely, as all
brides do and Lord Merton, charming a.
ever, appeared perfectly satisfied with his
sons choice. The wedding was altogether
q magnificent affair, the report about the
mines having been grossly exaggerated.
His lordship is invariably kind and
courteous to his sons wife, but considers
diplomacy when applied to women to be
mistake. For the rest he publicly de-
nounces all engineers as robbers. and pri-
vately thinks R2 900 for flooding disused
mine a pretty stiff price.
All the sanie, don't think he'd have
grudged double that II things had been
otherwise. = Boston Traveller.
warwick Laae.
On the right hand side of NewRate
street are various streets and courts lead
ing Into Paternoster row. OF these War
wick and wv lanes Panyer alley and