Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-03-25

4 \ WS
and you preferred them to mine"
glance around her, said, pleadingly:
81 don't ask you to forgive me, Louis. /
was wrong, but / was afraid of paining
him; and l thought you, being an old
friend, would not mind so much, for once"
Eyes" said Louis, bitterly, "you thought
of the pain to him, a stranger, and forgot
the pain to me--your promised husband"
Valerie started, and grew white, then
flushed holly. The accusation was true,
and yet it came to her, in q confused kind
of way. that this aspect of the question
had not been before her-was not now; she
knew this without grasping the position,
and was too startled and dazed by the tu-
multi Of feeling aroused within her to utter
a word, or try TO stop Louis when he rose,
and, saying something-the words con.
veyed no sense to h~er-turned away, and
left her.
For the first time that evening Valerie
was alone; but she scarcely realized that,
or whether the band was still playing, the
dancers still dancing. Her one distinct
thought was that she must master herself
and wear a mask. 1t was her first lesson
In the needful duplicity Of society.
Someone was speaking-a soft, mellow
voice. What was it saying?
"Miss Herbert ~abandoned' Why, how
is this?'
The girl started violently, and looked up
into Max Beauregard's handsome face.
at is only a few moments" she STAN
mered, hardly knowing what she said. 81
Il don't mind. Mr.. Charters was with
me-"
"I saw him with you, and l saw him
leave you-a recreant knight" said Beau
regard, taking Louis vacated chair, and
saving to himself, "What in heavens name
can the young idiot have said or done to so
trouble the child2 And why should she
care so much!'
"Ah. you must not call him that" said
Valerie, ~rallyinG a little, and trying TO
speak lightly; but she was too youngi in the
worlds ways to be successful.
mot recreant," Beauregard answered,
watching her covertly, ITO vex you, and
then to leave you? But, pardon; he is your
friend-and So
$50" said Valerie, more steadily, but
turning aside her face, while her breast
heayed, II must not let you be unjust TO
him. / am to blame, not he, and he has a
right to be veXed."
"You are g~enerous-to a friend" said
B%eauregard, bending down to her, and
speaking in a low, quick tone, a slight
stress on the last word.
He should not have uttered that sentence;
he had no right to ask the question 1T I'M
piled: but he felt in that m that he
must know the truth; and he was n man
used to resolve and to do in Il breath, q
man to whom suspense was intolerable.
Valerie started, and colored deeply. She
might have resented the implication. Had
| she been u woman of the world, instead OF
n very young girl taking her first peep into
IL. she might have been flattered by it; but
"a it was-especially in her present state OF
remorse in regard TO Louis-it seemed like
disloyalty to him to withhold the fact that
he was more than n friend to her. so,
playing n~ervously with her fan, and turn
ing away yet more, she answered, almost
in n whisper:
but, yes-he is not n friend-at least
you know-we are engaged, Louis and l."
1t had not come out in very dignified
fashion, she felt; but little cared Max Beau
regard in what form the information came;
the thing was that it waS given; her own
lips told him she was engaged 10 Louis
Charters. and all the strong selR-cOntrol Of
nature and long habit combined could not
prevent him going white 10 the lips, or give
him power for another word for full two
minutes. How great the shock would be
to him he had scarcely realized until II
ame We never ri in contemplation,
fully realize shocks like these. Boy and
girl love this might be; IN the girls side
hardly love at all, in the sense of passion.
But Max Beauregard was chivalrous in all
matters of honor, and would have held it
base indeed to disregard the tie that bound
Valerie to her old playmate, the more that
he knew that he could, if he would, snap
1t like Il thread.
The struggle for self-command was brief,
II terribly sharp; and Valerie, not looking
at him, misread the cause of his silence.
1t flashed across her that he thought she
was annoyed with him for speaking as he
had done, and she said, hurriedly:
"You don't think | mind your showing
what you thought, Captain B~eauregard?
! don't see why anyone shouldn't know"
81 think" he said, gently, that you are
kinder to ME than deserve, for have no
claim to a friends privileges"
"Ah, but indeed You have'' said Valerie,
with a desperate, unconscious clinging 10
what she felt was somehow slipping away
from her.
Then said Beauregard, in n lighter
tone, to hide the stab her words gave him,
"let me exercise my privilege, and ask you
to try and put from you what troubles you.
and be happy. You are too young to suf-
fer. Don't you remember Longfellow's
words?
"'Enjoy the spring of love and youth
To som good angel leave the rest:
For time will teach thee soon the truth.
There are no birds in last years nest.'
He spoke smiling, and, rising, gave her
his arm to lead her to Mrs. Fanshawe; but
Valerie's dark eyes filled with tears, and
she felt that there was not much more
happiness for her that evening.
Later on Louis thawed, and when he led
Valerie out for his second dance, begged
her in a whisper to forgive him; he had
been cruel TO show so much anger. But
the load on her heart seemed scarcely light
ened until 1t was Captain B~eauregard''
dance again, and then once more she was
happy.