Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1902-06-05

rant, continued the girl. ne only
woman on earth | should ever envy
would be the woman you loved-that is
If ever you did or could love anyone but
me-"
July, with its warmth and fragrance,
passed; August came. 1t had been un.
derstood between them that Irene should
not leave Bcechgrovc.
walk or drive as much as you will in
this neighborhood" Sir Hubert had said,
but never go to town"
She had faithfully complied with his
wish; but during the FIRST week in Au-
gust came his birthday, and she wanted
to purchase a handsome ring for him.
She planned in her own mind how she
would always make him wear it. 1t was
not fair, she thought, that married man
should not wear some token of his bond
age. She had often debated the subject
with Sir Hubert, and her own opinion
was that a married man was quite as
strictly bound to wear wedding ring as
married lady.
SO, on his birthday, she would present
him with one, and she would ask him
to wear 1t always, just as she wore the
plain circlet of gold he had placed upon
her finger.
| CiNt III toWH' size Thought IL no narm
to drive around She had no intention of
watching her husband she preferred not
meeting him. She wished to keep her
present as surprise, and IL she met him
she would have to give some evasive an
swcr when he asked what she was doing
there.
AS i'll luck, or fortune, or fate, would
have 1t, as she was driving through Hyde
Park. she saw him; he was seated by
the side of lady, and he was so deeply
engrossed in conversation with her that
he never even raised his eyes as Irene
passed by. She knew that expression on
his dark, handsome face. 1t was one of
deep and rapt attention-she knew the
look in the dark, eloquent eyes-it was
one of profound admiration, she had seen
| them with that same look linger on her
face. 1t was but heetng look on his
face, her glance fingered long on the
lovely lady at his side--a dark -browed
woman with a mouth like a rosebud
dark, proud eyes--a high-bred patrican
face-a proud, graceful, elegant lady, SUI
perbly dressed, young beautiful, and evil
IDENTIFY not Indifferent to Sir Hubert.
1t was not so much jealousy that gave
her so keen a sense of pain, that her
face blanched and her hands trembled
not so much jealousy as a sudden, subtle
sense of the fact that her world and his
lay far apart; that his interests, his
friendships, his lkipgs, and everything
connected with him, were entirely sep
arated from hers, that had always been
one of unity, Of harmony, two lives in
one, not of divided interests and separate
worlds.
II might as well not be married." she
said to herself, "for l live outside my
husbands life.'
Another time, when she was in town
on business which she did not wish him
to know, she saw him riding by the side
of the same lady. They were going to-
ward the park, and a sharp twinge Of
| jealousy added to her pain there was no
concealing the fact that the expression
on Sir Hulberts face was one of pro-
found admiration.
| Then a fatal idea entered her head; it
was that the next time Sir Hubert went
to town she would follow him, and watch
for herself. what kind of life he led
there, and how he passed his time.
When he left Beechgrove at three the
next afternoon she followed him by the |
four o'clock train; as he rode into town
and she went by train, she was there
first. Instinct rather than knowledge
made her go to the club, where he told
her he spent the greater part of his time.
She had wrapped herself up so securely
that she was sure, even if he passed her,
that he would not know her. Everyone
knows Estmere House, the lovely and
magnificent mansion facing Hyde Park,
one of the finest houses in London. 1t
is more like a palace than the dwelling
| place of a subject On this August even
| ing while the silver moon hid her face
behind the clouds, and the sweet night
wind told its secret to the trees, one
| might have seen a tall, slender figure,
| draped iii black, near the gates of the
mansion; the figure of woman evidently
watching, but she was fortunate, so far
| as this, that no one noticed her Every
time the grand iron gates opened she
passed near enough to see and hear. Her
| patient waiting seemed to be rewarded
when she saw the tall figure of a gentle
man in evening dress. \ closed carriage
drove up to the porch with its long, broad
hight of marble steps, and she overheard
the order given to the coachman:
Court place."
Now, who lived at Court place and
| what was it?
The only plan that suggested itself to
her was to hasten to the nearest cab
stand, and tell one of the drivers to take
her to Court place. She did so, and the
first man to whom she spoke, said: II do
not know Court place, miss"
Up came another, quite eagerly. 81
know it, miss" he said; sit is ST. James
Park Lord Gerants mansion. I know
1t, miss"
Lord Gerant's!' The words were like
u revelation to her. She remembered now
that few days since, while reading the
fashionable intelligence to Sir Hubert,
she came across the following item: The
Earl Gerant still remains at his mansion
In st. James Park, where his official
duties detain him." She had asked at
the time what these official duties were,
and Sir Hubert had told her She
thought of this as she drove to the house
where Sir Hubert had gone. There the
cabman asked fare that might have
astonished one more versed in the WAYS