Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-06-21

SdllS airy StdNSt piSSSitttJ SSihS cAS
near the duke mentions a familiar
Iame.
Where is LetchfceI tonight?" 1t is
far beyond night. but no matter.
Vane smIles ana shruss MS shout
dyrs. Il don't know--he ought to be
here by this time His mother is in
town. perhaps he is there.
Il hope he'll come" says the young
duke, that's the extraordinary part Of
it. You can ever take rise out of
Letcaford Win or lose it seems the
same to him. What's the matter with
him. Vane?"
Don't Know says Vane. shutting
cousin. yes; but he's a mystery, all
! the same
3 me love affair, l suppose" says
the duke. with smile Don't believe
in love affairs myself; make you I'M
fit for the cards, Sorry for Letchford.
he used to be such Jolly good fellow.
! Hellod, here he comes"
Notwithstanding their natural alb
straction, there is an undercurrent Of
! interest among the card players, as a
tall figure enters the room, and stands
/ looking from one table to the other
ana as he stands men look up with
| curious giances.
! For Sir Heron Letchford's name has
been on many lips during the last
month, as the name of one who, un-
like the prodigal, had returned tG the
world, which, after ringing with his
exploits. had been prepared to lose
and forget him
! 1t is not often that the prodZal
| Toes return, but when he does return,
1t may safely be affirmed that the last
state is worse than the first, and with
this difference: that Whereas he used
, to take his Wild pleasure with enjoy
mcnt, he now takes it YEARLY and
bitterly.
For the last month Sir Heron has
been, as Vane puts it, going it," Not
going it with the old huoyant hilar-
itv, with the old keen sense of enjoy
ment, but with steady intensity that
Is, Yaue SAYS again, "feroeious"
with a candid unconcealed earnest
ness he has plunged lAto all the
/ various moles of dissipation which
our modern fashionable world sup
plies us. There is, perhaps, one form
hch he avoids. and that is the in
toxicaticn of the flowing bowl lie
drinks Ettle-it would be better.
! thinks Vane. if he would drink more.
/ for if the flowing bowl does no othcr
good, it certainly does drown the sor-
r,w of the moment. let the after cost
! be what it may
Sir Heron doesn't drink but he is
ready for anything else. and more
especially for the green tables in the
/ comfortable cari-room of the 'Rook-
cry"
Five weeks Of bitter sorrow and cruel
/ disappointment have passed over
Nays head-ani heart-and left her
/ hut little changed; but the same can
rot be said Tor Sir Heron
! AS he stands. tall ana stalwart i'll
! his evening dress. the car Giully-toned
| lights fall upon his face and show how
hard the time has gone with him,
He is thinner he looks almost
gaunt, in fact his dark eyes, some
what stern at the best Of times CLEAN
with a fierce though suppressed FIRE;
his face Is pale and set. his lips, under
the heavy mustache. are fixed in {
hard inpassibility. ard there is abou
the whole man that indescrbable ali
C. hopeless WEAKNESS which is SO elo
0uent of the restless. dissatisfied soul
Tonight. or rather this morning, he
has Just come up by the mail from
Melton, has snatched a couple OF
:, hours sleep in the railway carriage
which ne has literally won by a days
hart riding; II is only by sheer eX
haustion that he can sleep at all; il
is culy by incessant movement-ir
change Of scene-that he can render
life bearable.
Sometimes he finds himself, In the
rare intervals when he allows himself
to thin unwillingly at the change
which has come over him, wondering
with amazement, at the effect which {
girls--a simple girls treachery ant
falseness have wrought upon HIM,
There are times when he is inclinet
10 believe that he is actually anG
veritahly bewitched. or why shoult
this thing cling TO him so stubbornly
why, when he sleeps, does he dream
that the soft warm arms are AROUND
his neck-the sweet voice murmur
ing lovingly in his ear-why, in his
waking moments. do the girls eyes
follow him about. accusingly. plead
ingly?
No man could make a harder figh
for fl than ne has done. lie hai
plunged into every form Of excitemen
without avail He may succeed II
forgetting this bit Of a girl" as HI
calls her. bitterly, for the time, but a.
surely as he sits down quietly sbf
comes back to haunt and madden him
Sometimes the wild, unsatsfied love
gives place to a fierce seif-reproach
He calls himself fool for acting al
he did. why did hes not step in up
on those two as they stood in the darl
woOd-why did he not step in anC
wreak mis- vengeance upon the man
He was a fool to let aim 90 without I
word cr-a low Besides-besides
who snows il ne mad 50 interferet
. that May would not have turned Il
him and sent the other adrtft. It Il
true that the son go - her treaCherJ
wOuld have always cen with him, bu
atm no wouII have Kent her. .nt