Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-03-14
CHATTER 1.

III was eVenlnS. The moon had risen
nd was bathing in it's silvery light the
tone walls of Grey Oaks, the country
esidence of Donald Markham, and the
how place of the ~neighborhood.
Within the acknowledgements dining
Dom. around a table artistically gar
.lished with fruit and flowers, fingered
hree persons.
One was Grey Oaks owner and mas
ERA tall. superb-looking man of six
y-fiye winters, whose frosts had whit
ned his hair and beard, but failed to
ow his powerful frame.
Twenty years before, the society
7orld. already looking upon Donald
1arkbam as a confirmed old bachelor,
sad been startled by being summoned
0 welcome. on his return from an ex-
ended foreign tour, a young and beau
iful woman OF Italian birth, whom he
resented to them as his wife.
Who she was, where he had met her,
nd how she had conquered this hither-
. unconquerable. were matters for GU
icus speculation, of which there was
o lack.
Some said that she was the daughter
( a Roman noble, and that she had
rought her husband dover of almost
Incredible magnitude; others declared
aat h was penniless, her only dover
err exquisite beauty and winning
race.
Whoever. whatever, Donald Mark
a me- x.rffa ,,n.y a,,a 49, L.z L.
nus had honored her. as Mrs. Donald
Markham. she was too great a local
over not to reign as social sovereign
ad she so ordained. Society's pet
rievance was that she did not SO or
ain.
She adored her husband, and he ap-
cared to lavish all the pent-up flood of
ears upon her.
For a year heir happiness was I'M
barred. and then. one perfect May
corning. the heaviest sorrow of Donald
Iarkham's life fell upon him. They
MT int his arms an infant daughter,
nd whispered to him that his wife was
cad.
His grief was something terrible in its
ilent, hopeless intensity. Iron bands
eemed at hat moment to lock them
elves about his heart-would have re-
iained so locked forever but for the
fny fingers OF his little girl, who, as
he years went by, one by one loosed
hem.
On her he concentrated all a fathers
enderness. No other woman's smile
yer allured him. Reticent and grave.
is child alone reveled in the inner
s,armth and sunshine of his nature. un.
ID. advancing from babyhood to child
ood-from childhood to girlhood-sha,
,ow standing on the threshold OF wo-
manhood. appeared to him the imper-
onation and idealization of the past.
If her dead mother had left her no
Their inheritance than her exquisite
,veliness, that. at least, was full, com
slete and perfect.
The light, streaming full upon her
ace. revealed no flaw. The figure was
ounded into a beauty which defies all
riticism. Hers was a face no pen
ould describe. Her eyes were gray
The straight regularity OF the little
ose. the rebellious. willful rings of
uddy gold upon her white ~brow-this
ntil she smiled; and th@n you would
ave sworn it was the smile to which
he owed her rarest charm.
Yet now. sitting opposite to her father
nd toying with, rather thar eating, the
punch of dollhouse grapes upon her
aiate, the lashes were sweeping her
heeks. the dropping head half-shad-
wed it's bloom. The smile was absent,
Indeed, a tiny frown puckered her
Brow; but the beauty still was there,
nd on it gloated the eyes of the third
lember of the party.
Randolph Chester was the nearest
elative Donald Markham could boast.
tut 1t was difficult to believe even a re-
mote tie of blood connected two men
chose expression rendered them so dis
imiIar.
4 The face of the younger man was at
nee ~singularly handsome and siugu-
tlrly repellant. One recognized in him
he fascination possessed by the SER
s,ent.
His eyes were dark and glittering;
ais hair and mustache black: his skin
air as a woman's. There was subtle
race in every movement. His voice
vas low and musical.
At the time OF his cousins marriage,
twenty years before, he had been a boy
%f fourteen, and already looked upon
aimself as Donald Markham's pre-
umptive heir.
F'or years he had nourished a deadly
hatred against this innocent destroyer
5,f his fond vision; but, as the child de-
eloped into the most perfect woman
aood. a new idea had burst upon him,
by which his early disappointment
might yet be wiped out, and his early
ambition attained.
~ Over Donald Markham he already ex-
.rcised a strong and peculiar influence
HAT influence he fostered by every
care. until he knew hat to no man
would his cousin more willingly intrust
lis most precious treasure than him
f,eIf.
But an unexpected obstacle lay in his
bath. 1t was one thing to WOO Beatrice
Markham-another to win her: and the
girl usually so sweet, so gracious to all.
ook no pains to disguise toward him
her aversion and-she was In love with
Bertram Talbot, holding a salaried
position In his cousins employ, aspired
10 the hand OF his cousins heiress. II
uaS ha ubo had canSad ncpala .farU-