Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-07-28

ishment Somehow 1t seemed to her
that she was face to face with the
perfection OF manhood
Nothing is impossible." he said.
And the words seemed to ring and
pulsate in her ears as no words had
ever done before.
She covered down and hid her face,
trembling before the first divine reye-
Iation which had come to her inner
most heart It was a relief to her
when she heard him leave the room,
but the pitifulness of the story over
came her again. the love, so far be
yond any 1--we of which she herself
was yet capable, had at length touched
her heart, AMI she sobbed for grief
and pity.
"Why-oh why" she thought. with
bitter regret, did not from the first
resist the evil thoughts that came?
1t must have been possible for me,
too"
In the meantime Carlo had locked
himself into his own room, and there,
pacing To and fro, looked his sorrow
in the face like a man. Thousands,
as he was well aware, must have been
called to bear the same thing before,
4 but vet there were circumstances
which made his case doubly hard; the
utter want Of preparation, the dearth
j of all but the most public accounts Of
the marriage, the knowledge that of
his own free-will he had left Francesca
:. ana gone out into the world. For
eight long years he had loved her, and
Il though there had been grief, and
trouble, and separation for them, yet
he had been sure of her love through
l all. and had been free to lavish on
4 her his hearts devotion. But now in
one moment all was ended between
them, and the thought of his love,
which in spite of the separation, had
, been an unfailing solace to him
through those weary years of public
! life, was now only torture. a peril.
/ There would be no beautiful reality,
all his own, to which he could come
| back when the days work was over,
as to some sacred and safe retreat;
she was now the wife OF another, and
he must no logger think of her as
his betrothed. His safe retreat had
, become a place of torment. He saw
!, that life would be one long battle,
and that the best he could hope for,
, after long conflict, was so far to sub
due himself that he should dare to
meet her as a friend; be able, per-
haps to serve her in some faint, far
Off way: be al least able to carry a
brave front, and cast no shadow on
her welded happiness.
But was she happy? Had she, per
haps, been forced to acquiesce, in
obedience to her fathers wishes
Count Carossa might well prove an
importunate sutton, and decline to ac-
cept as final her first refusal. Had
she been forced against her win to ae-
, cept him? Or had he really won her
!, heart; and did she now see that the
past was but a girlish dream, eyanes-
cex. and not wholly sweet? He
, hardly knew which of these posslbili-
, ties panied him most; he glanced now
I at one, now at the other, till the
: misery of ignorance and suspense al
most maddened him. And then,
I with pang of the worst pain he had
' yet felt. a horrible new idea shot
/ through his mind.
q There was that vile Islander which
. had been set on foot two years ago,
and which still inevitably worked its
I poisonous way, growing more danger
. Gus with age, as ISLANDERS do Fran.
r cesea had heard the first rumors, En-
/. rico had told him as much: she her
self at Merlebank had half limited
something to the sort. At first she
had Indignantly refused to credit
p them. but when the tale was in ev-
i cry ones mouth, why then her very
, innocence and ignorance of the world
q would surely make her credit them
the more easily; and how ready the
. captain would be TO believe anything
0 Of the sort touching an operate
. singer. he realized only too bitterly.
\ More and more as he thought of it
I this seemed to him the only exp, ana
. ton of the marriage. He could MOI
n believe that anything else could pos
! sibly have ROBBED him of Francesca's
| love.
y But If all around her believed him
to be not only guilty of such a sin,
n but to be such a contemplate hypo-
critic as TO have sought his own pleas
l. ure under the cover of protecting his
S sister, might she not possibly have
been induced to believe the Islander
a too? And, once believed, such a story
. must inevitably kill love. For a
while he sat rapt in the miserable
e contemplation of this thought. then
I suddenly his mind revolted from the
I idea of any kind of distrust in Fran.
. eesea. No. ii was not POSSIBLE She
, would believe In him against the
$ whole world, would love him forever,
not for any merit in himself. but be-
2 cause OF the truth and purity and
beauty Of her own nature she had
4 been coerced into the marriage with
/. Count Carossa Again he fell back
I into the weary round of surmises, re.
jecting each in turn, but always con-
fronted by the terrible realization
that, however the marriage had been
| hrpnUbt about 3 ~ of