Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-01-19

A Broken Wedding Ring

By Bertha IA. Clay.

! showed her the chief objects OF at
traction.
The duchess summed up the whole
situation briefly. Leah had loved him
at first sight; but, if ever he learned
to love her, it would be after months
of friendship.
That day spent at Glen was one Of
the happiest in Leah's life. and the
memory Of if it was to her like a
strain of sweet music in which there
was no discord.
CHAPTER Xxx.
AS the days passed on, the in
timacy between Leah and the baronet
increased. The general grew warmly
attached to Sir Basil. He said-what
was a great thing for him to say
that, if Heaven had blessed him with
a son, he should have liked him to
resemble Sir Basil. All the visitors
and they were many-admired and
liked him; he was a general favorite,
and he spent far more of his time at
Brentwood than at Glen.
With every day that dawned, with
every sun that rose and set, with
every bright moon that waxed and
waned, Leah's love deepened. The
world was as nothing to her; she
! became absorbed in this one passion
it was her life, her all. There are
some to- whom this fatal gift of a
great love is given. They are the
happiest, even as they are the most
miserable; they reach the highest
| bliss that life offers, and they know
the most bitter Of it's pains. No one
warned Leah. The duchess looked on
interested, as she would have been in
any trial Of skill or any struggle for
mastership. She did not interfere
| Gather by word or look. She knew it
was useless. She never ceased Won
dering how it was that Leah, who
had refused some Of the best offers
in England, had given her heart and
soul at first sight to this man.
Leah was hardly the same girl in
Sir BasiPs presence; her face, her
voice, her manner changed com
pletely; her love TRANSPORTED her.
| If he touched her dress in passing,
she trembled; if he touched her hand
in greeting, she grew pale as the
petal Of a white lily; when she sung
to him, all the pent-up passion Of her
soul seemed to go out to him Such
a world of love lay in the dark eyes!
1t would have been a thousand times
better for Leah had she never had
such a pretty theory as that of souls
meeting, or filled her mind with ideal
! notions. No misgiving came to her,
no doubt, or fear. She never asked
herself whether her great love would
! be returned, she never asked herself
how it would end; she lived entirely
! in the present, each day full Of hap
piness, OF interest; Of the beauty and
glory of the passion that possessed
her. She had forgotten that they
would soon leave Brentwood, she had
forgotten that they were going to
Dene Abbey; she had forgotten every
thing, except that Sir Basil was neal
her and that she loved him. Every
dream, every wish of her life was
realized; there was no more to de-
sire. She would have been quite con-
tent to lie down in the light of her
| great love and die. 1t seemed to her
this. Now she had reached the haven
of rest, never thinking that the
storms in the haven might be greater
than those on the open sea.
1t happens so often that a great
love is lavished in vain. Sir Basil
saw nothing Of Leah's. He admired
her exceedingly, but he never dream
ed of loving her. He would have
done anything for her; he had the
] kindly affection of a brother for her;
| ever since she had stood by the white
lilies in the hall, in the spot where
his fair young sister had died, she
! had to him in some measure taken
that dead sisters place. He con-
! fided everything to her, told her, Of
all his affairs, sought her advice, was
happy in her society, never rested
long away from her, thought of her
with continual kindly Affection; but
of love he never dreamed.
The duchess, who had said to her
self that she would not interfere, did
just this one thing-she told Sir
Basil of the splendid tnriumphs that
Leah had acnIeved, and how she had
passed through three such seasons as
! few even of the most brilliant
/ beauties had ever experienced. She
told Of the offers Of marriage made
to her, and how she had refused them
all.
why did she refuse them?" he
asked.
The duchess meant to do q kindly
action when she answered:
"She has ideas that are peculiar
for the nineteenth century; they are
I may say, obsolete"
He looked anxiously at her, she
thought.
What IDEAS" he asked-'if my
question may be answered."
II am sure [ may answere it, said
L.,