Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-03-29

nut. for all that, she started precep-
i lively when a step crossed the hall and
gentleman, his hair slightly tinged
with gray, entered.
She had sunk back on the sofa, and
, her frame quivered with emotion
You have come. madam, in an
swer TO my advertisement" he asked,
| cautiously.
| No, no." she answered. There
are reasons why it will now be i'm
possible for me to accept the situation
offered"
That voice. Had it not too long
haunted him TO be thus easily for
gotten? Would he not know it. even
though it sounded above his very
grave?
Sydney. you here?" he exclaimed.
All. Mrs. Clayton pardon me; for
the moment l forgot
Then she threw back her veil. Six
years had made little change 1t was
the same beautiful face, but grown
very pale, and the lovely mouth quiv-
cred as she spoke.
Believe me. l would not have in
truded myself upon you had dreamed
it was you who had inserted the ad-
vertisement. I had not even heard of
your marriage"
My wife is dead he answered.
But stay" as she rose to go. Tell
me how it happens that you are in
necessity. Is Mr.. Clayton dead?"
You mistake she said II did not
marry Mr., Clayton. l am Sydney
Vernon STILL
You did not marry him?"
mo. 1t is a woman's privilege. You
know, to change her mind but my
aunt was very angry and at her death
she left me nothing Your advertise.
ment attracted me. I thought I might
learn to love little girl
And you will not learn to love my
little motherless child?" he asked.
Accept this position, l beg of you,
Miss Vernon. 1t is only that you
should see she is not left to the mercy
of nurses, and that she has some re-
fning care
So it was at last decided, and Sydney
found the old emptiness of life fed,
since her heart and hands were full.
She rarely saw the master of the
house. One day, when she had entered
on some errand into his study, she
had seen hanging over his desk the
fair, pictured face of Mabels mother.
How soon he learned to love
again she thought "And II
whom he so cruelty condemned
threw aside ambition and wealth for
the idol I could never grasp
But one evening Mabel stole to the
side of the lovely lady who had won
all her loyal little heart
Papa is ill.," she said. Did YOU
know it, Miss Sydney? Won't you go
nurse him, like you do me when I am
ill?"
Certainly, darling, if can do any
thing"
And with trembling steps she de-
scended the stairs and entered his
room
For hours she sat beside him, chang
ing the cooling bandages upon his
brow, and tanning his fevered cheeks.
Mabel had come softly in for her
goodnight kiss; then he had fallen
asleep, and she had feared to stir, as
she might waken him.
Sydney, why did you not marry Mr..
Clayton?"
Had he really spoken. or was it her
own thought which formed the dues
ton? No, he was awake now. his eyes
resting upon her.
You have no right to ask me- she
said, imperiously. Let the dead past
bury its dead"
No right, perhaps-that I admit;
but answer me all the same. For the
sake of all these starving years let
me know the truth"
Because l did not love him. she
answered then-"beGause / found my
self weaker than I knew"
"Oh, Sydney! if we had known-if
we had known! My darling, was
there another reason? Was it be-
cause you loved me-"
In his voice there thrilled the truth.
In that moment she knew herself en-
press of his heart all these years, and
gliding from her chair, until she fell
on her knees, by his side, with her
beautiful head close pressed against
his heart, while his kisses rained up
on her hair, she whispered:
Because I shall love you while life
lasts"
A month later Their was a quiet we'd
ding, when, after six years cruel wait
ing, Sydney made the life happiness
of the man to whom she gave herself,
a royal gift; but they always said,
with sigh of deep regret, that in
both their lives they had lost-six
years.-Jenny Wren in Spare Mo-
ments.