The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1903-07-25
A Boys VOW

"Mr. wingrove. you haven't asked
about Claire. Don't you ever speak Of
herr
Never; on my honor"
"Ohr"
MY dear Mrs. Kingston, this IL
scarcely reasonable. OF course I had
q great deal of-respect for your daugh-
ter. and so on. but she threw me over
for that other fellow, and l went to
the Cape. l tried not only to forget my
trouble, but to forget her as well That
was the only thing to do. Wasn't itT'
did you succeedY'
No answer.
Have you quite forgotten. Mr.. Win.
sToyeT'
"well-of course-that is-yesw
Then why have you come to e
me?'
Surely we are old friends. Remem-
Der how kind you were to me when l
was a student at Heidelberg. Your
house was a home to me at a time
when / most needed good influences,
and when she Joined you and ! began
to love her l don't know whether you
saw how things were going. but you
were so kind and helpful that my time
there was the best and happiest l have
ever known And then. when II all
turned out wrong and everything SEEM
ed going round. your gentle sympathy
steadied me, and / got through some
how"
II was so sorry for you, poor boy!'
you have always been good to me.
and. though goodness knows I'm moth
ing to boast of, IL it hadn't been for
you / don't know where l should have
landed A fellow doesn't forget these
things, Mrs. Kingston. though at the
time be may not quite understand
them"
by the way. Mr.. wingrove. do you
still are for Claire?"
Mrs. Kingston. what a question"
"Do you?
"~Really-but. hang it all-you must
not ask me that. 1t isn't right-in-
deed it isn't"
Don't you know? Didn't they ever
tell you? She's a widow, Mr.. Win
grove"
"Claire a widow! But how? WhenT
"He died more than a year ago; In
fuenza-quite unexpected 1t was so
sadv'
And I have been away all this time
without knowing a word about II!
Heavensi / don't care who hears II
now. I may speak. | love her Just as
much as ever, and, by Jove, she must
marry mel Claire free
Hush, Mr.. Wingroye. / am very
sorry / spoke about ii, but ! thought
I ~hoped-you had really forgotten her.
Oh, why did you com back just at
this moment? Claire is not free"
Northumberland"
"She is going to marry John Mears-
dale. He was one of your rivals. you
will remember, and, though / don't
think she ever liked him in b way
she did you. he pleaded so hard and
was SO devoted that at last she took
him. You know what an extraordinary
fascination she has over men,. Ever
since I can remember. even when she
was the merest schoolgirl, they have
come round her and liked to look at
her and hear her talk. There is some
thing magnetic about her. i suppose.
but where she gets it from
WHO knows better than how hope
Iessly irresistible she is? But never
mind that now. What / want to knoH
is why didn't you or somebody let me
know what had happened and give me
another chance. / know b liked NE
better than Mearsdale. She often told
me so. After all that there was be-
tween us, was it fair or kind to leave
me sticking out there while he had ev-
erything his own way here?"
But, my dear boy, how could we
write to you after that vow you tookT
"yow! In heavens name. what
vowY'
"Can you have forgotten
"opens an escritoire and produces a
manuscript
II you are true, no love more true
Than mine shall be bestowed on YOU;
But If you're false. then go your way
And trouble not goodby to say.
For this / vow. by all most dear
will not give you one poor tear.
One moments thought. one slight regret
But hasten to unlesrn-foTget.
"Mrs. Kingston. you don't mean to
say that that absurd Jingle prevented
you from writing to met"
"You signed it. Mr.. Wingrove."
"Signed it! I've signed a thousand
idiotic things that ought never to be
made binding on me. Why. ! was
about nineteen when ! wrote tia
mere irresponsible boy. Look at It,
Wretched stuff, such as all boys write
when they're in love for the first time.
which ought to be swept together and
burned by the common hangman. She
can't have believed it."
"She did, though, and SO did l. You
were always so earnest In what you
said and did. / remember her telling
me after you had given 1t her that she
felt quite certain that II, after all. she
did not marry you. you would never
come near her or think kindly of her