The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-10-07
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manor house. Nor did he feel the re-
strictions or monotony that such Sc
clusion imposed on him, as he might
at another time when his mind was
less occupied, his life less full. For it
seemed, at this period. as if a new era
was opening before him. giving Gimp
ses or happiness which he had not ven-
tured to expect.
Dunstan had nothing in him Of that
sterner stuff which forces Il man to
continue living in the face of despair.
On the contrary, his need Of affection,
his longing sympathy for his happiness
on responsive nature: and, therefore,
within little time of Ediths engage
ment to Godfrey, Dunstan began to
turn to Roma.
And like Il man whose eyes are newly
opened, he noticed the surprising
charm of her candid, trustful face, the
beauty of her leaf-brown hair with its
undertints of gold. the sea-blue depths
Of her heavy fringed eyes. until he
wondered how he could so long have
remained blind to such attractiveness
as hers.
Nor was Roma long in discovering
his awakening. His eNpectant glance
as she entered the room, the brightness
of his face when they met unexpected
~, the tones of his voice when he spoke
to her, all told her that the love she
had once desired was hers.
el that gray October afternoon when
she had stood at the window of her
own room, looking with inward eyes
upon herself, she had resolved to over
come her infatuation for one whose
love was given TO another. Bitter as
the task had been it was gradually ac-
complished.
For to give her affection where it
was not desired, or sought seemed to
her painful humiliation. And Roma
1nt hn11 CHI 1,n-
gan to pity and despise herself for
having misplaced her devotion, and to
hope that the man to whom is WAS Of
fered had been unconscious of her gift.
BY way of solacing her wounded and
lonely heart, she recalled how patiently.
how faithfully, another man had loved
and waited for her Count Sasari was
OF her own race, her fathers friend
and benefactor, her ill-recomprnSed
lover.
Roma reproached herself With the
thought that his loneliness was borne
for her sake. He had often assured
her he would never marry If she did
not become his wife. She felt sure
that he must be attractive to many
women, and she wondered what it was
he saw in her to keep him faithful to
herself. She wished she had been kind
er, more considerate to him, and she
sincerely pitied him. From pity to
fectual in killing her love for Dunstan
was his weakness. Most women love
strength in men. and she was no eX-
ception to the rule. His easy submits
sion to the fate that left him under a
cloud; his want of courage and deter
mination to track and discover the
murderer of Richard Goffe. helped to
show her his infirmity and to strip him
of the idealizatiOn with which she had
formerly clothed him.
One afternoon, when his work for the
day was finished earlier than usual, he
came down from the laboratory and
| found Roma in the small oak panelled
room with it's curtains of faded green
damask, it's figure of the dancing faun
and its portraits of Dante and Savon-
arola.
DO l disturb you?' he ask ed, as she
| looked up.
Pray come in," she said invitingly
When he seated himself at the OPP
posite side of the fire, he inquired wha
was the book she had been reading
and on hearing it was Tasso's poems
he reminded her how long it was since
she had given him Il lesson in Italian
Il had supposed you were very busy
she told him.
Never too busy to hear you read
Dunstan replied quickly.
| Shall we get Dante?" she asked
| looking toward the bookshelf.
why not continue Tasso?" he sug-
gested; for he longed to hear her speak
the burning lines of this poet of lovers
the poet she had selected for her COM
panion this afternoon.
She began in q low voice, full OF
flute-like music, q voice whose delici-
GUS softness could never fail to touch
him, but which, uttering such meodi-
Gus words, such heart-firing images
lulled him to ecstasy.
By degrees, as she recovered her shy
ness, her tones became clearer. firmer
vibrating with the expression Of the
poets fervor. until at the end of a
stanza, overcome by the passionate
rapture of the line. she suddenly laid
down the book and abandoned herself
to- her thoughts
AS she did so, Dunstan, leaning for