Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-03-16

at an unusually early hour in the dull
looking church, in which she selected TO
be married to Edgar. And besides these
there was one elegant and disconsolate
woman who, in may costume of white
lace and pale gold siiken draperies, knelt
dissolved in tears throughout the cere-
many. They were tears drawn from
the very bottom of her miserable heart,
And there was a tall parsonage, with
a red beard, at her elbow, who grinned
unfeelingly over these heart-broken wall
ings.
Talks as if l was going to murder
her, don't she, Mrs. RaikesT said this
monster.
And so the friends parted. Felicia to
take up a new life of perfect promise
and happiness with the man she loved,
and Gertrude Talbot to go, as she had
termed it, Into exile" And assuredly
no punishment for her many failings
could have been awarded to her more
severe or more bitter than to be wrench
ed away by her legitimate lord and mas
ter and carried off from the world of
life and fashion which she loved SO de-
votedly, and which had been so long as
the very breath of her nostrils to her.
Il am sick of paying through the nose
for lot of things never get any pleas
ure out Of" her husband had said to
her. I've kept you in your little box
in Mayfair quite long enough, Gerty,
and you've had your fun and your firta
tions, and your frocks and your jewelry,
till l am sure you must be getting tired
or it all. You are no longer so young
as you were," continued her spouse, with
that unpleasant outspokenness which only
husband dare use to a woman who
is still handsome and attractive; Hand
it's time, | think, that you should con-
slider my comfort and settle down bit;
and l can't live where it's all dress and
show and keeping up OF appearances
Give me free life in a fine, open coun-
try and plenty of sport; that's what
want. And that is why | have bought
the incest little property in South Caro-
lima for mere song, snug house and
all included; and I'm going to take you
there, right away; so pack up your traps
and make no more fuss about it."
So, amidst torrents of angry but to-
tally unavailing tears, Gertrude did
pack up her traps" The tall footman
was sent away, the smart lady's maid
handed on to another situation, and the
little bijou-house IN Mayfair let as it
stood, furniture and all, to an enterpris
ing young widow in search of suitable
number two. And the very day after
Felicia's wedding Mr.. and Mrs. Talbot
set sail from the shores of England; and
her bold, handsome face and free tongue
and mischief-loving eyes were seen no
more in her familiar haunts.
But Sir Roy Grantley never married.
AS the years went on he stayed more
and more at the White Cottage with his
sister, going over to Frierly daily, super
intending the shooting, looking after the
keepers and keeping his hunters up at the
big house. He is on the best of terms
with his tenants, and a very strong and
solid friendship has grown up between
himself and his Cousins husband. But
he will never marry; he is still faithful
to the love of his youth, and when he
dies the name and property will pass
away to a distant cousin, who is a stran-
ger to him.
The lesson of his young wife's death
was not entirely thrown away upon
Brian Desmond; love for him was over,
but he schooled himself to believe that
there was something in life still left
for him to do. He never saw Rosa
mond Trefusis again. their lives ran far
apart. Nevertheless her parting words
were often in his mind, and her parting
injunction in time bore its fruit in his
life.
To live for others, and to learn un-
selfshness, that had been Rosamond's
lesson; and Brian did not forget it.
He went into Parliament, where he
soon made for himself an honorable
name for the deep interest he took in
all schemes of philanthropy. He was
an ardent champion of the wrongs of
seamen, an advocate for the improved
dwellings of the poor. A Jealous reform
er of all abuses that weigh hardly upon
the weak and friendless. His whole soul
after a time, became absorbed in these
matters, so that new interests, new occu-
pations, a new life arose out of them
from the ruins of his past and a nobler,
better existence opened out by degrees
to him. But love never touched him
again. In Kittens grave, in the last
sad touch of Rosamond's hand, and the
last glance of her compassionate eyes,
lay all the withered romance of Brian
Desmond's Dead Past.
CThe end)