Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-11-01

Then the door opened behind her,
and Helen entered. She was very pale
and her eyes had in them a strange
CLEAN. They rested upon Grace al
most detlantly. With a swift. nervous
motion, she unfastened the strings of
her hat and tossed it from her.
Has he spoken?" she asked. indi-
eating her husband by a glance.
"Only 10 murmur your name" Grace
answered. Il think once or twice he
fancied / was you"
Better for all of us If his fancy
were true!" said Helen; and, as
though inspired by some sudden re-
solve, she came close to where Grace,
risen from her knees, was standing be-
side Harry's couch. Eyes, better if
you were Harry Reynolds wife. List
EN-, Grace. o learned my secret last
night. I was hard, and cold, and al
most brutal, perhaps, in telling, but
suffering isn't apt to soften such wo-
men as / am, and when you told me
that you had promised to marry Har-
e Barclay, I suffered in that mo-
ment more than you have suffered in a
lifetime. / don't know why 1 should
appeal to you. l never loved you. I've
nearly hated you, for you ave every
thing in the world / most covet, and I
have been, for many a day, Harvey
Barclays game. He tried to blind me
to it; but love it not easily blinded,
n / loved him, Grace. He is a bad,
INSCRIPTIONS man, but he is the only
thing on earth i ever loved. Swear to
me you will not marry him I can
trust your word. Swear it to me-,
Grace. 1t is your fortune, not you he
covets. He will make misery of youI
life, as he has of mine; out I'm not
hypocrite enough to plead with you for
your own sake. It's for mine, Grace
for mine! Oh, he is all I nave in the
world! and If you cast him off, he'll
turn to me again. In his soul he cares
for me more than for anything save
self. Tell mt you will give him up.
Swear 1T to mel" .
II can't swear it," answered the girl,
with white, shocked face. II must be
his wife now. There is no help for it.
1 did 1t for Harry's sake and yours!"
And If / tell you hat your sacrifice
was useless? Oh. I see it all-all the
treachery by which he has won your
promise. i can guess it all; but my
lips are sealed. / am powerless to un-
deceive you. But you will listen to me,
Grace? You do not love him. You
will give him up when 1 tell you that
he is false and cruel?"
II cannot give him up!" repeated
the girl. MY word is pledgedi"
Then break it," said the older wo-
nan Break it. If you have any pity
on my soul. Do you know what it is
to love as 1 do? How could you
know" and she laughed a low laugh,
terrible to hear. Had you known, you
would have murdered me rather than
that I should have stolen from you the
love and kisses of him who lies un-
conscious beside us. Yes, murdered me,
as / could murder the whose
lips should be appraised to meet Harvey
Barclays kiss. You tremble and grow
white. You think that I am mad! I
am not mad! Listen to me, Grace
Hawthorne. You shall know all-why
l married Harry Reynolds. / did it for
Harvey Barclays sake. I loved him;
but we were poor-wretchedly, miser-
ably poor, and he had not the courage
TO work for both. He told me that
Harry Reynolds had a large and indie
pendent fortune-a fortune of which I
might gain possession by having it set
tied upon me. We did not go beyond
that, for we both understood what lay
beyond. ] was to begin life again with
him; we were to go to some distant
country and forget all save that we
loved and were together. This is no
fit story for your pure ears. @ see,
/ make a confession of my own infamy
that you may guess at his. 1t was not
wealth, not responsibility and graft
fled ambition alone that 1 had at stake.
They were but the stepping-stones to
my higher greed. l loved him, and for
his sake l counted a world we'll lost.
And you would steal him from me now
now in the moment when / need him
most. But you have heard enoughl
Your will give him up to-day-to-night
within the hour?"
The night had fallen, and the light,
turned low, barely showed the two
faces each TO the other-each white
with a CHASTITY Wilderness: but on one
was written a purpose born of desper-
alton; the other a great horror and a
great despair. This was the man who
held her in his power-this was the
woman for whose sake Harry had bar
tered her pure love. And Harry-ah.
could he take up the first stone. when
his own garments were soiled with the
mud of his dishonor? Was there NOT
purity, no goodness, no honor in the
world?
With a low cry, which sounded
through the quiet room like the de-
spairing moan of a broken heart, she
pushed past Helen Reynolds detain-
ing hand and fed, as If pursued by
demons, to the purer atmosphere of
that portion OF the house she might
cab as yet her own.
I'll pTER WV