Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-11-16
CHAPTER 10.
"Dazzled and blinded
BY what men call honor.

Horace Temple. Esq. of Woodeaves.
had gone through many surprises
clients had failed, had married, had
run away: had done the very things he
least expected-but he never had a
greater shock than on this June
evening.
His daughter-his little Violante-
TO be married. His little girl, who
had made his tea, mended his socks.
and attended his comforts, 10 become
Lady Selwyn. of Selwyn Castle. one
of the grandest ladies in the land!
She half ridiculed the notion her
self: she spoke of it with smiles, and
even while she smiled, her dark
eyes were full of tears.
There must have been a fairy at
my baptism. papa" she cried: there
can be nothing but magic in such a
thing-Vio.ante Temple. Of Oakside.
TO be Lady Selwyn; above all. to
marry the man whom she would have
chosen from the whole wide world,
had the choice been hers"
You have no objection" said Lord
Vivian to Mr.. Temple; you are will
ing to give Violante to me-"
4 am simply bewildered." was the
truthful reply. Il do not know
whether 10 be angry and refuse you
TO tell you such nonsense must be
forgotten-cr whether ought TO give
you both my blessing. l am bewild-
cred. as / have never been in life be-
fore"
Take some time TO consider, sir"
replied the young lover; Il shall be
at WCodeaves ten days longer
That night. while his daughters
golden head lay at rest, and her fair
face smiled peacefully, Horace
Temple sat up to think, and consider
what it would be best to do.
He himself had married young; he
did not remember whether he had
been very psI 'onately in love with
his own wife or not. 1t seemed part
of the business of life to get mar
ried; every respectable man did so,
and he had no reason for being behind
he rest He had not spent much
time in wOoing. his office hours were
too long for that; but he had seen a
nice. pretty, modest, graceful girl, the
only daughter of an old half-pay cap
tain who lived at Woodeaves, and il
struck him that she would make
most excellent wife. There was lit
tie OF passion in the lawyers court
ship. but he had made his wife very
h. h~ Id h1-
wants; she had lived a commonplace
happy life in the pretty home at
Oakside. Two children were born
to them there; BERTHE. the son. and
four years afterward. Violante.
lovely. dark-eyed. fair-haired daugh-
ter.
Then. quietly and gently as she had
lived. Mrs. Temple faded away and
died. not Of any acute or painful dis
ease. but Of slow, lingering decline.
She faded out of life as the colors die
out OF the western sky; dying so gent
~ that those who watched her did not
know when sleep ended and death
came.
Her death certainly reused
Horace Temple; It reused him into
greater tenderness for his children. Be
fore that he had been contented TO
see them morning and night. then
leave theE TO their mothers care.
now he tried his best 10 be father and
mother both.
Violante was easily managed: she
mad lessons at home. superintendent
by him. and the result was the strang-
est education a young lady ever re-
oeived. She learned Latin: she was
well versed in the English classics;
the history. the literature OF her own
country. were all familiar to her; she
could draw with exquisite skill: she
sung nothing but Old English ballads.
but those she sung with the purest.
sweetest voice. with a wondrous
power OF expression that completely