Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-12-18
The Fatal Three
MISS \. :. BRADDoI
CHApTER XIX.
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CHAPTER XIX.
George Greswold succumbed to Fate
He had done all he could do In the WAY
81 resistance. He had appealed agains
his wifs's decision; he had set low
against principle or prejudice, and prin
ciple, as Mildred understood II, had beer
too strong for love so there was moth
ing left for the forsaken husband but
subfhission. He went back to the home In
which he had once been happy, and he sal
down amidst the ruins OF his domestic
life: he sat by his desolatc hearth through
the long, dull wlntry months, and ne made
no effort to bring brightness or variety
into his existence. He made no stand
against unmerited misfortune.
II am too old to forget" he told him
selfs; "that lesson can only be learned in
youth"
A young man might have gone out as
. wanderer-might have sought excite.
ment and distraction amidst strange cities
and strange races Of men might have
found forgetfulness In danger n hard.
ship. the perils Of unexplored deserts, thu
hazards Of untr0dden mountains, the hair.
breadth escapes u avass life, pestilence
famine, warfare. George Greswsid felt
no inclination for any such adventure
The handspring Of life had snapped, and
he admitted to himself that he wa 9
broken man.
He sat by the hearth in his gloomy IL
brary day after day, and night after night,
until the small hours. Sometimes he took
his gun In the early morning and went
out with . leash Of dogs for an hour or
two OF solitary shooting among his own
covers. He tamped his copses in all
weathers and at AL hours, but he rarely
went outside his own domain nor did he
ever visit his c~ottAgcrs or small t%enantry,
with whom he had been once 30 familiar a
friend. All interest in his estate had
gone from him after his daughters death.
He left everything to the nsw steward,
who was happily both competent and
honest. x
Al he At BY his solitary hearth in the
cold March evening. the large reading
gloom George Greswold's mind travelled
q that fatal marriage which had blight
q him IA the morning Of his life. which
blightad him now In lies meridian, when,
6nt for this DARK influence, all the ele-
ments Of happiness were In his hand.
He looked back to the morning Of life
and saw himself full Of ambitious plans
and aspiring dreams, well content to be
the younger SON, to whom it was given to
make his own position in the world, scorn.
Ing the, idle days Of a fox-hEating squire,
r~esolute to become an influence for good
among his fellow men.
II was after his Swiss travels that he
vent to Italy, and established himself in
florence for a quiet winter. He hired IN
apartment on q fourth floor OF a palace
overlooking the Arno, and here, for The
filsr time since he had left England. he
went q little into general society. His
mother had sent him letters Of introduce
lion to old friends Of her own, English
md Florentine; hc wa young, handsome,
md q gentleman, and he was received
with enthusiasm. Had he been fond of
society he might have becn It parties
every night but he wa fonder OF books
d Of solitude, and he took very little
advantage 81 peoples fricndliness.
The few heupss TO which he went were
houses famous fer rood music, aud II
Id one Of these houses that he met
vivien Faux.
IL Mas in the midst OF 4 symphony by
Beethoven, wAils 10 wa standing nm The
" the Mead wh4ch otsf1ts'eadss the
open space given TO the instrumentalists,
that he Arg& Nv the woman who was to
Ibe his wife. She was sitting In the re-
CO. u ! lefty window, quite apart from
The threne-a pale. dark-cyed girl, with
.eoughensd hair carelessly heaped above
Der lev, broad forehead. al
He found lii hostess directly the sym
nhony Wna ever. and asked her to intro