The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-12-14
Coming Events Cast Their
Shadows Before

Wa A)&kOA OsaLA
+ 81 hope 1 may one day laugh, at my own
folly, but. the hour is not yet, < said Jack
Harold to his a~fflanced bride, as they stood
together Que moonlit summer evening at
the gate. ~o, tH-~@<
How like you, Jack" she exclaims, Ito
fancy, because I insist upon this visit to
the city, some wonderful event is to hap
pen which is to bring misery to both. No
jealousy is at work, 1@hope, jack this
last with half-irenicaa emphasis.
Even so,- it would not be unpardonable,'
was his answer, as Jack Harold, with fond
pride, looked on the beauty of the girl by
his side.
MANY mem have suffered from the green
eyed monsters sting with far less cause.
but I can plead not guilty this time. I
DO not think jealousy would explain my
feeling. but I can never forget, Nellie, how
humble is the lot I can promise you in
comparison with glided offerings of
other men. ]. know, my darling, the ad-
miration your beauty cannot fail to excite,
and, oh, how quiet and uneventful will
seem this existence mid birds and trees
and flowers when you are surrounded by
the gayety. thees excitement and the gla-
mour of city life. Yet should you choose
II III QIc1ETSuCS, Iuc misery only would
come to me; therefore I cannot compre-
bend the dread feeling that something
threatens both."
Il will not even sympathize with it,
jack" is her reply, ''since it does me so
much injustice. Have you forgotten the
pretty home you speak of so disparagingly,
Love it to be its sunshine, Love the very
song OF the birds, AOve the rustic of the
trees, Love the fragrance of the flowers?
Who. then, would choose the gilded bars
of the Gagged sengster? Jack. what wealth
could compensate for the loss of your
hearth"
II can scarcely realize l have you at
last" said pretty Mrs. Raymond to her
| friend, as they sat side by side in the for
mer's comfortable dressing room prepara-
tory to a goodnight chat, woman's dearest
privilege. The two had been school friends,
and only a year before Nellie had ofAci-
ated as bridesmaid, and it was this visit
Jack Harold had anticipated with such
dread.
Now. tell me- continued Mrs. Ray
mond, who is this ogre in the country
who did not wish you to come to me?"
Never mind about him." answered Mel
lie, blushingly. you see his power was
not sufficient to detain me. l prefer hear
ing something of yourself"
o myself. Happiness is always mono
tonous. and SO 1 have nothing to relate,
save that every dream has been more than
realized but one, and that is that you
should have a home near mine. Therefore
| am glad to hear the ogre's claim can be
broken" 49,. -
"Oh, 1 did not say that" interrupted
Nellie. .
Al all events, dear, while you are with
me we will ignore it. and p~erhaps-perhaps
: BY the way tleaving the former sentence
unfinished Dennis Doane was charmed to
hear l was expecting you. Tomorrow night
he is to dine and accompany us to the
opera; so, my dear, look your prettiest."
Again Nellie blushed. A year before Mr..
Doane had been the groomsman appointed
at her wedding, and even in the few hours
they had spent together he had found time
for the pretty speeches, spoken with low,
lingering accent, which the color tanning
her cheek at his name proved unforgotten.
Somehow Jack never said such things. His
plain Il love yOn" seemed to him to cover
all, and render all else unnecessary. But
they were very pleasant to hear, neverthe-
less. thought Nellie, as with a sigh of half
regret, half longing for Jacks presence,
she lost herself in dreamland.
Very pleasant to hear" So it seemed,
as day followed day and Dennis Doane
lowered like a shadow at her side. He
so we'll knew their magic, could throw
into his eyes the fire which seemed soul
lit, or into his voice meaning, which, If
counterfeit, defed detection; and slowly
but surely the fatal net was woven in
which the girl was to yield up her plighted
word. Jack read the letters which still
to him from her hand with a sinking
at his honest heart and a paling of his
ruddy cheek, and he waited, knowing the
blow must fall, waiting her kindly words,
the while telling her nothing of what loves
intuition had taught him, but leaving her
hands free and unfettered to strike the |
blow when she would. He had thought he
had steeled himself to bear it, little know
ing of the hope which all the while had
burned with it's faint fame, until it sud |
denly went out, extinguished by certainty,
leaving him to grope in a blackness so
dense that for a time not even Gods light
could penetrate.
"Hhow shall I tell you," she wrote, that
the girl who parted from you under the |
light OF the moon, who SO dehantly laughed
at your foolish presentiment, has by her
own act verified it? Jack, If that night
you had told me l could cause your heart |
such pain, l would have scorned even the |
SAONoAt' ~ "AANC lAO WOluo " L |
give me- l dare hope in time you may
forget me. l have broken my vows to
you, Jack. l have pledged them to another. |
gilded bars are to be mine, after all. |
not the home pervaded by loves sunshine. |
yet it is my own choice. 1t is as you said.
glare and glitter has been more than
my weak eyes could bear. l have prom
Used to love the man who is to be my hus-
band. but the love he requires is more
easily given than that the birds echoed
and the flowers blessed. l think, after all.
heart is buried ON the spot where YOU
and I parted. Let us hope it never may
be resurrected. Jack, Jack, forgive me!'
So Dennis Doane had done this work. Her
letter once dispatched, Nellie forbade
thought to enter more, and dreamed that in
her new life she had found happiness.
while. he who had gained her for his own
looked ON her wondrous beauty and gloried
that with wealth unlimited at his COM
mand, SO fair a bride should grace his hand
home. The sweetly solemn words Of
wife and mother were to him unknown.
ButHher visit was approaching it's close.
A few days more, and she must return to
ler home. when the preparations for her
were to. be hurried as speedily as
and in the new year Dennis
Ooane was to come to claim her.%$It was
he excitement. she thought, which made
Ter head throb so heavy as she laid it one
hight on her pillow and caused her cheeks
o burn SO hotly, while she tossed to and