Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1903-01-23
q OOD-BY, dearest"
"Good-by"

ioh ~
Jermyn uttered the words Of farewell,
and for the twentieth time the girl
responded, but, realizing that the part
ing was not an ordinary one, they
were 10th to part even then. Years
hence they might meet again; perhaps
never!
"And dearest, you'll remember, If
the recollection of me ever stands in
your light, you're to forget l existed.
Promise me that!'
The girl looked into the earnest face
bending over her, into the depths OF
the grave, brown eyes.
IL cannot" she said softly. "More-
over, is it necessary? Is it what you
would do were you in my placer
Her logic was unanswerable, and he
sighed.
"If you were the only child of some
body neXt door to a millionaire" she
went on, land your father forbade
you to marry any one who was not
wealthy while you really loved u
poor as Il church mouse, would you
give up without a struggle? OF course
you wouldn't, Mark. You'd wait, and
wait, and HOPPER
but waiting doesn't always bring
wealth." broke in Jermyn, especially
in the musical profession. Why did
my father ever destine me for his
own career?" he added, bitterly.
Because it's what you're most fit
ted for" Elsie Renton replied. Mark,
dear, you're going to be a great man."
He waived away her words with a
smile and another kiss.
you flatter me, sweetheart" he said,
although it's rue my father was far
from being a mediocrity. He changed
his name on marriage, and died when
1 was only five years old. But his ex-
istence really ended, so far as the
world was concerned, when he for
sook mis- old name, for he never COM
posed a single thing after"
"How %strange!" remarked the girl,
wonderingly. "And what a terrible
example to you, dearest"
"YOu may think so. OF course, l
was too young to know much then,
and never heard how 1t all happened,
for my mother soon followed my
father"
And his name before was-W
"Wegar-Mark Wegar-one of the
foremost composers of his time!"
80
A couple Of years later Mark Jer-
myn was in London. 1t seemed much
longer since he had parted from Elsie
Renton in Paris, where they had been
fellow students at the Conservatives;
she for the sake of finishing n musical
education, he because he had his fu-
ture living to consider.
In Paris the girl had been free from
the %hidebound conventionalities of
home, and her doting parents would
doubtless have been Mortified had
they known she had dared to regard
some one with affection. The two had
parted; he to work for a name and
she to enter Society.
And now he was in London, his fame
having preceded him, and Mark Jer-
myn, the celebrated pianist. was an
tlOullttu W lluht lie utDut btlOIt tut
most critical audience in the world.
Success had not spoiled him. and he
remained the same modest man that
had held Elsie's hand in his two years
since; deeply, madly in love with her
still. Several times she had written
pocket as a talisman, he faced the
cage crowd that evening.
The performance was a success,
Mark Jermyn's reputation was more
than upheld and he quickly became
the lion of the hour. Invitations from
the aigiiest In the land literally show
cred upon him, so numerous. that they
would have taken years to respond to
all, one Of the earliest coming from
the Rentons offering Il princely fee
for n short recital ut n forthcoming
AT Home" To this Jermyn stittly
replied that he only accepted social
engagements. An answer soon came
altering the tone of the invitation.
and n day or two later he found him
self about to meet his loved one once
more.
The place was already thronged
with guests when he arrived, but
Elsie was the first to greet him, and
as he took her hand he would have
knelt down there and then and kissed
Il, had not decorum forbade. She wei
coined him gayly, and he felt all at
once the happiest of mortals, for a
single look served to tell him he held
her heart still.
.'Tm hostess for the moment" she
observed. Let me take you 10