Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-11-22
CHAPTER XIV.

|
time since his marriage, that the beau
tiful wife he had won from the wood
| lands Of st. Byno's did not love him
with quite the same devoted affection
he had Tor her. He would have been
| content to have remained with her for
ever; he asked nothing better than to
live always with her in the weird villa
overlooking the Rhine; he wanted no
other society, no other world-heart.
brain and soul would have been quite
content
Not so with her. It was with some
thing Of dismay that she found her
husband quite willing to live at the
| solitary villa. 1t was beautiful enough
she did not attempt to deny that;
but 20 her richly gifted, vivacious ma
ture, to her ardent mind and soul.
there was not sufficient in this wor-
| ship of nature; she wanted more life,
more to amuse her, than the contem-
plation Of magnificent scenery. Lord
RIVERS was of a contemp1ative nature,
| his young wife rejoiced in a more act
i've disposition. She liked to tread
frequented paths of life, he the by
paths. She liked to be always doing,
he to be always thinking.
He was thinking very seriously one
morning, as he stood in his favorite
| spot, the pretty rustic bridge over the
| Saltz, the river foaming and fretting
| beneath, the green boughs spreading
| above, the blue sky over all. He had
| been thinking, first of all, that he
would paint such a picture as would
set the whole world on fire with admi-
ration-just this bridge, with the deep
| roaming river beneath, the tall trees
with their great boughs, and the beau
tiful figure of his wife standing be-
meath them, just as he had seen her
| stand hundreds of times, with a wrapt
| expression Of admiration on her face.
If he could paint her as he had seen
her, if he could catch the brilliant col
oring, the lovely lights and shades al
ways fitting over her face, if he could
catch that superb poise of the head,
and grave, proud bearing of the figure.
he would call his picture ''The Queen
of the Rhine" and men should bow
down in homage to the exquisite face
whose beauty now was known only to
him. The more he thought of it the
more he became possessed of the idea
Even his lady-mother, who sneered at
pictures and haughtily patronized
art-even she should acknowledge that
it was chef dauvre.
And the thought Of Lady RIVERS
brought many other things to his
mind.
He had lost himself of late in 2
dream of happiness; he had almost
forgotten the responsibilities of life
that he was heavily weighed bv for
tune, that he had all the responsibili
ties Of title, position, rank and money
They had always been a tie and a bur
den to him, whose life had been more
or less engrossed by art If by some
good chance he had been born an art.
ist, he would have been good and
happy one; born in a high sphere. his
art career was in some degree spoiled
His vast fortune entailed many duties
upon him, and they were not alto
gether to his taste. The one thing he
had dreaded all his life he had mos
successfully avoided-he had not mar
ried for money. To his romantic
poetical mind and temperament there
was no idea so horrible as that O.
marrying for money; it was death Il
all that he valued most in this world
Thank Heaven, he had avoided that
The girl he had found loved him fo1
himself, and was perfectly ignorant O
the fact that he had money; indeed
. with her passionate hatred of the ricl
and noble, she would never have mar
RED him had she known exactly VIVA
he was. They had been married near
~ nine months, and the conclusion
he came to was this, that his fai
: young wife did not love him with tn
| same passionate and devoted affection
that he gave to her. He must win it
2 that was all.
These thoughts came to him as b
/ stood on the bridge. That same mo-u
ing he had received a letter from hi
mother which had startled him an
e brought him face to face with tn
S sterner realities of life.
Lady RIVERS had reminded him tina
l his birthday fell on the 22d of June
and that on that day he came of age