Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-03-09

A Broken Wedding Ring

BY Bertha II. Clay.

found that il was strangely familiar
\ to him. Somewhere else he had seen
| those lustrous blue eyes and that
sweet pleading mouth-the same tace'
but with a different expression. Then
l il dawned upon him slowly that this
/ girl had been the original of the pic
! ture. The First Glimpse of Morn
I ing" and he remembered what he had
said to Leah, That face has what
I yours lacks-tenderness Il am des-
tined to know her through the arts,
! he said to himself. she dawned up
| on me in painting, l see her ethere-
I allied by music-yet what is she to
/ me?"
/ She was nothing to him, yet during
I the whole of the day that rapt spirit
uaI face seemed always before him. He
would have asked who she was, but he
! knew no one there. and when the
anthem was finished she vanished. He
! fingered in the old churchyard, where
/ the tall elm-trees cast graceful
/ shadows on the grass, but he caught
/ no glimpse of her. He went home TO
/ Dene Abbey with the clear, rich voice
/ ringing in his ears. There was a little
rvulet that ran through the Dene
woods: he bent over il, and 10, the
/ sweet face smiled at him from its
| clear depths! He laughed at himself.
/ No woman's face had ever haunted
him before. With all its brilliant
1 beauty, even Leah's had not haunted
| him as this one did.
During luncheon he spoke of the
music he had heard at Southwood, of
/ the clear. sweet soprano voice, so rich
and rare in quality.
The duke said that he had heard
young singer spoken of there as hay
/ ing a very beautiful voice. One or
two OF the visitors said they would
[ Like TO 90 to SouthwOod church. The
1 Duke Of ROsedene declared half laugh
ingly that there was a feud between
himself and the rector of SOuthwood
and that until IL was healed neither
himself nor the duchess would leave
St. Barbauld's.
Sir Basil decided that every Sunday
while he remained at Dene he would
90 and hear the beautiful voice that
had charmed him so greatly. If any
one could fan in love with a voice, /
should think that l have done so,
he said TO himself. Some strange in
stinct that he did not understand at
the time kept him silent to Leah con-
corning both the face and the voice of
the fair young singer. He would have
told her that in her he recognized the
original OF the painting they had adj
m.red. hut that he remembered so
well that she had been hurt by his
comparison of her own and the pic
tured face. and he did not wish to
remind her of the circumstance.
4 wonder" thought Sir Basil, later
on in the day, IF she stands there
every Sunday in that pale blue dress,
the light on her golden hair?"
He was sitting by one of the open
windows that evening, haunted still
by the fair face he had seen, when
Leah came suddenly behind him and
laid one hand caressingly upon his
dark head.
Basil" she said, you have been
very distract today Do you know
that you have not spoken fifty words
to me. have been patient to bear it
so long. but now you must make
amends for it,
Even as he looked up into her face
tho cthe. fa.rer one seemd to come be-
tween them.
"How shall make amends he
asked. with q smile
You must find that out for your
SELF she replied.
re drew her to the seat by his side
and whispered some tender words to
her. She loved him so entirely that
very little satisfied her. One more
exacting might have thought that he
was not a very demcnstrative lover,
but Leah was too much blinded by her
own passion TO note any defect in him.
That hour spent with him at the open
window in the autumn cleaning was
one Of the happiest she ever knew.
That same night, while her maid
stood brushing out the long dark rip
pling waves of hair, Leah, with hap
by smile was looking at her own face
in the glass She said 10 herself
and the words came home to her az
forwards: IF I never have any more
happiness while [ live l have had
enough for a lifetime" She loved him
so well.
The week that passed before Sunday
came again was a long one to Sir
Basil. He had not the least inten-
/ ton CT ever being. even in thought,
untrue 10 Leah. If he had dreamed
that there was any danger in seeing
/ the beautiful singer again, he would
have avoided her. He was engaged TO
marry Leah Hatton-how could ne
know that he was IN danger. In Italy
he had loved to listen TO such voices;
here in England he never missed good
music when ne had a chance of hear
ing IL. What harm could there be IN
uoinr 10 SouthwoOd church TO hear