Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-10-15
Will Incelvn if he could.

y2arn0Q over the gil; He lOuS0u 10
warn her, yet fearing to speak, lest he
should arouse the spirit Of opposition
in her. Her woman's keen instinct
told her the thoughts and fears run
ming through his mind.
''You do not like Captain Ayrton, .
she said, resolving to force the sub
ject. "You spoke very courteously TO
him; but 1 know your face, Rupert
and every line of it.
''You are right; I do not like him, -
he replied, grayely. Mature makes
few mistakes. Sybil, and she has writ
| ten his character in his face"
ct is very handsome one"-opening
wide her lovely, innocent eyes.
Handsome, vain, false, an cold" he
said; "the face of man has no heart
to whom woman would cry for
| help and a child for pity, both in vain y
''How unjust you are!" she cried
Was it possible any one could say this
! of the fair-haired soldier who had sat
with her by the brook, teaching her
loves first, sweetest lesson? "You
are unjust thought only women
were Jealous" she said. Captain
Ayrton has never spoken against you"
'You seemed to wish for my opinion
and I have given it," he replied. eve
need not disagree over him, Sybii
He will not be here long, and when
you are older you will be WISER
81 am quite wise enough she said,
with a gay laugh; but it soon died
away on her lips. for his words had
turned her heart cold.
Would the time come when she
would see Lyster Ayrton no more?
All the sunshine of Aer life would go
out with him. Her fair young face
grew strangely sad and trol bled.
Sir Rupert thought, III the blind
strength of his love, that she was
sorry for having vexed him.
'You are wise and charming" he an
swered, with a laugh; "but wiser
women than you, Sybil, have been
blinded by a gay uniform, handsome
face, and very pleasing voice. The
world is full of dangerous lore, and
you have learned none of it yet"
EDO you mean" she said, that all
soldiers are not heroes-are not like
the knights in the old chronicles?"
He laughed aloud.
<My dear child" he said. ''the men
in real life are not like the men in
books. saw you reading Guy Living
stone the other day-do you imagine
there is such man?''
ssYes,' she replied.
"You told me last week." he con-
tinued, that you had cried over the
Heir of Redcliffe.' Do you think the
hero the ordinary type Of man? You
always cite King Arthur as your
favorite in the grand world of poetry
do you think there are any King
Arthurs now?"
81 thought So" she said. Then,
after a pause, added: eyes, you, your
self, Rupert, are not unlike him"
His coUntenance flushed with pleas
ure at her words.
fT thought" she continued, almost
piteously, "that the men in books were
pictures from real life"
''In some books they are" he re
piled. tsThackeray's men are all real
enough; faults, failings, virtues, and
vices, all mingle. Disrae1i's men are
too much on the stills; they seldom
come down to common everyday life.
Bulwer's men are grand, but rather
too IDEAL"
'"Then what is true?" she asked, in
a mysterious tone.
''Do not let me lessen your faith in
ideal and noble; do not let me teach
you that the world is all bad, men all
degenerated; that would be false he
said. There are great heroes and
saints-there are noble, grand, true
men living now, as there always have
been. I only wish to guard you, Sybil,
against idealizing every one you meet
with. You make heroes of all men,
and heroines of all women; that is
wrong-false. You must learn to
know people as they are, and not as
you believe them to be-"
Yet even as he spoke, he hated his
own words. Why should he destroy
her girlish, romantic faithfully
should he teach her the bare, cold
reality, when her own picture fancies
were warmer, truer, and brighter?I
Only to save her, he said to himself
to save her from idealizing Lyster
Ayrton
If Sybi1 could see him as he was,
Rupert Dacre knew she would not
even like him. Seen through thel
warm haze of young girls fancy, he
was very grand hero, no doubt. Bet
ter destroy the haze than let it blind
her.
No day passed without bringing Lys-
ter Ayrton over to Glynn. He made
himself SO thoroughly agreeable, no
one suspected the part he was playing.
He assumed different character with
each different person. With the squire
he was a gay, cynical man of the
world, the last to be suspected of de-
sign upon a lady's heart. With Sir
Rupert he was trifie more cynical;
to Miss Ruthers he showed great de-