The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1906-09-27

| strange sensation II ls when one real.zes
one is not quite alone!'
| She stretched out her hand as she spoke,
and laid it in Gerald's.
why should / not get him in my
hands, work him as / will, and so learn
the TRUTH" she thought.
Il want to ask you to listen to me, to
try and forgive me if you can," Gerald
said Il understand that you are sep
| arated from your father; that there has
been terrible quarrel between you, and
| that you have left your uncle's house."
Antonia bent hel head, but said moth.
ing. She waited, and she had not long
| to wait.
"All this is a grief to me-" Gerald Ten
by said. perhaps l ought not to broach
the subject to you; but l wanted you
to know from my own lips that l would
sooner have sacrificed my own wishes all
| my life than have been the cause of such
quarrel as this"
Then it was that Antonia awakened
from her dreams and looked at him.
Il don't understand you, Sir Gerald"
she said, coldly. What have you to do
with the quarrel between my father and
myself?"
Il fear i am treading, on delicate
ground" he said, 'but l hope you will
forgive me. Were it not for my earnest
desire to see you restored to your father,
l would never venture to bring up the sub
ject myself. l knew even when l spoke
to Lord Marchmont that l was a fool:
that though he might, as he did, entertain
my proposal, you would never listen to
any declaration from me yet we are not
always strong or WISE"
you are telling me something that I
learn for the first time Sir Gerald she
said. "My father never spoke to me of
the-the honor you have done me. We
quarreled on another subject entirely, in
a sense, a trivial one"
Gerald Tenby's heart beat so quickly
that for moment he found it impossible
to speak. Before he had framed sen
tence Antonia had spoken again.
I'm afraid l must leave you, Sir Ger
aid. l am little late already. Lady
Charlotte Singleton will be expecting me.
She is good enough to let me stay with
her for a little while. Will you call a
hansomw
II thought she would have said some
bitter words" he said to himself, but she
seemed almost touched when she heard
that l had made a proposal to her faith
er. Were she any other woman, l should
quickly set down her past treatment Of
me to cleverness but Antonia is honest;
she meted out to me the treatment she
considered l deserved. What can have
changed her l have not the slightest idea;
but certainly she is changed. l cannot
help feeling that she told me where she
was staying in order that we should meet
again."
For an instant smile played on Ger
aid Tenby's lips.
"If this should be-" he said to himself
between his teeth, 'if / should win An
tonia for my wife, then all the rest might
go, for that would be the real triumph"
He rose restlessly and walked from
the park, again.
Sylvia Castella was a bold woman, and
a strong one. She had laid the secret Of
her great success to the fact that she
had never allowed her heart to interfere
with her head. She and Stanton stood
together in the little drawing room, and
the lamp light fell upon Sylvia almost
ruthlessly.
She looked, as she could not help look
ing, most beautiful woman, but a wom-
an of her years, woman who could be
haggard as we'll as hard.
IL have changed my mind,' she said
to him, abruptly. Il don't want your
money; l only wish to remain free"
''That won't do, Sylvia" he said.
There must be no going back. l have
fulfilled my share of the bargain, and
shall keep you to yours. You said you
would be my wife if could give you a
hundred thousand pounds. Here is the
money!
Sylvia Castella drew a deep breath.
She recoiled suddenly from the large en-
velope held out to her-she, whose very
god was money, shrunk from this vast
sum as ti,u3gh she was afraid of it.
"Where does 1t come from?' she asked
him, hoarsely. "What price have you
paid for this?" :,
ASK no questions me said. and HIS
tone was strangely rough. LET it be
enough for you that the money you ask
Is there"
II will not have it, Sylvia said, In
choked sort of way. II only joked with
you. Take it away and leave me!'
TOO late, Sylvia, my girl he said.
"You should have reckoned with the cost
when you joked with me. Men like l am
are not made to be joked with. You set
price upon yourself, you gave me your
word, and there must be no going back.
Take this money, and listen to what
h,, TO 70 ,n,r iS MI nj
that you leave the stage. l do not wish
my wife to earn her bread, nor to let her
self be gazed upon by any creature who
can pay few shillings for doing so. You
have had splendid success, you have
tasted the delight of power to its fullest
extent. You are no longer very young,
Sylvia, but love you all the more for
that. AS a wife, ! can give you place
lin the world that you could never climb
70 by yourself