Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-02-29

So this woman, with youth and
gorgeous beauty, vita every gift OF
earth, with power and free will TO
have been good and great If she
would-this woman. who by right of
her age and sex ought to have been
the last TO stand between husband and
wife, exulted in the success OF her
petty prosecutions, of her clever in
nuendOes and skillful playing upon
the feelings of Lord and Lady Selwyn.
Mrs. Selwyn wondered that she bore
the news so Quietly-won'ered that
new light and brighter beauty flashed
in her proud face-wondered that she
seemed gayer OF heart than she had
even been beforei
There was not so much preparation
for this farewell ball as there had
been for Countess Sitani's fete. The
suite of rooms at the Villa Pisani was
large and beautifully arranged; the
last of them, coy little boudoir,
hung with green satin and gold,
opened into the grounds where the
river ran like a broad silver stream.
The grounds were tastefully
decorated; colored lamps were sus,
pended from the fragrant trees, the
/ trailing vines were in full beauty,
roses and lilies filed the air with lus-
viOus perfume.
That day-how well Vivian re-
membered il in after years Lady
Violante was more than usually dull.
There had been some conversation
about sending Rupert to England with
Mrs. Selwyn, and the mothers heart
rose in hot rebellion against it.
1t shall not be-" she said, while
the three looked upon her with won
dering eyes. If my boy goes to Eng
land, go to. He shall not be taken
from my care"
do you propose going to Elton and
Oxford with him?" asked Miss Leigh,
with a smile; but Lord Vivian said,
gravely:
Your wish shall be respected,
Violante, even though it be against the
boys welfare. We will not mention
the subject again"
She looked on the three cold, avert
ed faces, and a bitter cry rose from
her aching heart.
If she were but dead. he would be
free."
That little scene took place a day
or two before the ball. and the
domestic atmosphere darkened per.
ceptibly after il. There is. perhaps,
no phase Of married life so painful as
that through which Lord and Lady
Selwyn were now passing. A GOODNESS
nothing could remove, a constraint
noIning lessened, an estrangement for
which they could hardly account; a
whole multitude of trifies, each one,
taken separately, light as air, but
taken altogether, they formed a
barrier both seemed unable to cross.
Lady SeIwyn thought her husband
unkind and cruel in thinking of send
F.. ing her boy from her; Vivian thought
his wife purposely contradicted every
Wish that he expressed.
The whole house was filled with the
preparations for the ball, and Lady
I Violante-listless, Indifferent, weary
at heart-went out in the grounds to
/ be alone with her wretchedness. She
was intensely miserable, a great gulf
seemed to have arisen between her
and her husband, one that could never
be bridged over, and that morning, in
the summer skies and the iily-leaves,
/ in the emerald grass and crimson
/ flowers, in the waves of the river and
+, the beams of the sun, she read only
those words:
III l were dead, he would be free!"
Z She dreaded the evening fete. She
dreaded going back to the house. She
. had begun to feel nervously afraid OF
her husband and of his mother-afraid
10 speak before them. She had grown
constrained, embarrassed. almost
awkward, when in their presence. If
Vivian looked preoccupied, or grave,
she thought he was repenting OF hav,
ing ever seen her. She had become
perfectly morbid over it.
Seeing out in the bright sunshine a
girl so young and so lovely, who
would have imagined that she was one
Of the most miserable of women?-
who would have dreamed that her
only wish was that she lay dead, so
that her husband might be free?
She went in TO lunch, and heard
Mrs. Selwyn and Miss Leigh talk OF
their plans on arriving once more in
England. Lord Vivian was not
present; he was engaged On some
business relative to the evening
festiviJy.
II was an opportunity the two ladies
could not resist This fair-faced girl
had indirectly driven them both from
the home they loved. She had con
quered. although the victory had
probably cost her her husbands love
There was no Vivian to interfere now
with grave voice-they had il all their
own way.
Nothing ill-bred or positively dis
courteous was said. Fine ladies know
how TO sting and to stab without one
rude word. They only spoke piryingly