Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-07-02
Continued.

beWilder6d at nef own IGHeCCtOA IL
the glass. Of what use was beauty
after all? There was no trace OF 1t
left with her white hair and eyebrows.
The shape of the forehead was hidden
bv the low, white front, the expression
of her face totally altered by the pallid
gray coloring, with skillful lines upon
it.
"ShaII I ever look like that really, |
wonder?" she said. Shall l grow
ugly. white and withered as I appear
to be now? What will it matter?
have lived but for one object, and
that object | have gained
She dressed herself quite plainly in
black and drew a deep, black veil
over her face; then she called the
surly Belgian to her. Be what he
might to others, he was a devoted
slave to her.
81 am going on a visit she said.
81 cannot tell how long I may be
away. You will remain here, and keep
the house exactly as it is until I re-
turn. [ may be absent weeks or
months. do not know the precise
limit"
The man was aware that there was
some mystery connected with her. He
saw plainly that she was disguised.
Even through the thick veil he de-
tected that fact, but he said never a
word
'.The most beautiful woman in the
wide world" he muttered to himself
-''the most mysterious and the most
stubborn, too Still, will remain here
as she has told me, and think no more
harm than I can help
Meanwhile Nine. st. Ange leaned
back in the comfortable compart-
ment of a f1rst-cIass carriage and
closed her eyes. She would not look
at the beautiful country through
which she was passing the vine
yards, the hills crowned with myrtles,
the laughing streams, the quaint old
towns with gray church-towers. No
beauty Of land or sky should touch
her heart She hardened herself
against it. What if the birds sung,
the flowers bloomed, and the golden
sunlight flashed upon green meadows
and silver streams? 1t was all less
than nothing to her-a woman whose
heart was hardened.
Presently a sound reused her and
sent the color in hot flush to her
face It was the noise of the waves
on the shore. She opened her eyes
then, and in their depth there was q
look of keen pain.
A few minutes later she was or
board the Queen of the Seas" Ar
elderly lady, plainly dressed, she
passed unnoticed. How wildly she
remembered the time when, from the
moment she had stepped on board IN
til she had left the steamer, she had
been the one great attraction. All thai
was ended now She had, as it were
been dead and buried all these long
years.
The waves beat against the vessel
and the winds waited her onward
whilst Nine. St. Ange's heart each mo
ment grew harder and colder.
The white cliffs rose before her a.
last. She alone knew why it was tina
she trembled and faltered when he
feet touched English ground
On landing she took a ticket t.
London, intending, after resting on,
night there, to go to Deeping on tht
morrow. 1t was so strange to hea,
English spoken all around her, to SCI
English faces again. She felt be
Wildered.
II have been buried so long," sht
said to herself. 81 feel like one riser
from the dead
Arrived in the metropolis, she wen
to hotel that long years before
Nine. de Ferras had made her home
1t had changed since those days, anC
the proprietor had little time to spare
for the plainly-dressed elderly wo
man who asked for a bedroom ant
wanted nothing more =.
By the earliest train in the morn
ing Nine. st. Ange went on to Deep
ing. There was no closing of the eyes
now. She sat quite upright, watching
the familiar scenes. She knew every
field, every clump of trees; she saw il
the distance the Fielden woods, thu
gray towers of Scarsdale, and the for
est near Deeping Hurst All, Heaven
the pain that rent her heart was like
the singing Of a poisoned arrow! Bit
ter anguish filed the dark eyes; The
expression on the changed counter
ance was one of mute misery. Once
with some of her old impetuosity, she
threw herself back in the carriage
II cannot bear it," she said. 81 wa.
mad to comet" But she had more tt
suffer yet. She stopped at the sta
ton, every brick Of which was ia
milar to her, and on the platform O
which, with her kindly, loving mother
she had been hundreds of times, al
ways happy, triumphant, bIithe, ant
gay. Now she came to it alone, IN
loved, with the seeds of death and {
lifelong hate in her heart
There was an omnibus waiting tt