Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-03-11

ried off this prize already? He got up and
walked over to the window stood staring
out in moody trepidation.
Once, he said, without turning toward
her. 4 thought you cared little for me.
and knew later that 1 cared a great deal
for YOU believed then that my attitude
toward Miss Towers and my expressed
promise to my friend Desbrow were mex
orably binding upon me.
Il have been trying to free myself from
the ENHANCEMENT of my own making ever
since my stay here. Before / left Farm
dale's Gulch the true state of my heart
was known to NE. said to myself When
she comes back from Europe, she shall be
| mine. You got the message of my roses.
You knew that I was thinking of you
when you sailed away from US and then.
You came back so radiant in your beauty.
so admirably prepared to hold regal sway
over society, that | shrank with a fresh
dread. did not want to seem to presume
on anything that had passed while we were
living under the same roof out there, and
SO I held aloof-and--''
"Left-me-to suffer"
They were the first words she had spoken
since he had entered upon his fmpassioned
confession. They came to him with low.
sweet distinctness He turned and went
back to her with great gladness shining
in his handsome face. She had left her
chair and was leaning against the old Far
indale piano. He drew her toward him
with proud sense of possession.
Then you still care for me? Oh. heart of
woman. how generously ready to forgive!
&c
hands,
He kissed the shining hair about her tenn
pies. She placed her folded hands on his
breast to force him gently away from her.
II have nothing to forgive. When 1 was
a crude; ignorant woman you came into
my life and I showed you all my heart.
Those were the days when l was rashly
confident that an Old mans generosity had
but put into my hands the lever that could
move a world thought l could buy your
love. And" with a swift Shy glance of
depreciation, II was ready to barter my all
for it. A very little experience of life
taught me better My dear Mildren once
said to me- Nothing can ever be just as
it once was after people have come into
each others lives" You and she had set
my life to higher key, and whether you
gone on trying to live up to the ideals you
gave me-
He bowed his head before her in UNI
feigned humility.
"You try to live up to an ideal of my set
ting. Oh, my love, my sweet, the aim of
my life henceforth shall be to become en-
tirely worthy of YOU
Fully half an hour passed before the
slowly toiling stage deposited the rest Of
the party at the cottage gate. When the
sound of wheels fell on their ears Fielding
said with smile:
"You have never once asked me who 1t
is that has suppIsnted me in Miss Towers
Affections
Connected man! 1 hardly think I need
to. Our dear boy Teddy, of course"
'sHe is numbering along on the stage with
Diana and Mildred. But before they in
wade our solitude L want to hear you say
one thing"
'Yes,"
81 want you to say that you believe
have loved you these many months. /
knew before I left Colorado that if 1 was
to ABIDE by a tae.t compact with Desbrow
/ must try to Danish your image. l knew
that l was leaving, not going back to, the
dearest woman on earth. 1 want to hear
you say you believe this"
81 do" she answered with a sweet SOL
emnity.
Then the invaders were upon them. and
for the first time in her life Harriet's cup
was filled to the brim with the love and
tenderness for which she was athirst.
1t was Milly who told her, as they were
parting for the night, of the conclusion
her friends had come to.
''The story of our dear Mrs. Monnette's
early life concerns no one outside of our
circle. Diana will soon be Mrs. Hoibrook
ard you Will soon be Mrs. Fielding There
are no Woodrows. Let the dead past bury
it's dead