Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-01-03
THE AMERICAN COUNTESS
By ETA w. PIERCE.

this moment turn traitor to the school
in which she had been so carefully
reared?
Speak" implored the count; do not
keep me in suspense. lay my heart
at your feet, and with 1t my ancient
name, my ancestral estates, my hotel in
Paris. my honors. my wealth, my all!
Speak! Tell me that I am the most
blessed of men-say that you will mar
ry met"
For a moment the little salon seemed
whirling before her eyes. A face came
between her own and the count's-a
brown, handsome, clear-cut face, full Of
stern anger and reproach. And then 1t
was over: her fate. for evil or for good.
was sealed. She held out her hand, and
the count seized and carried 1t to his
lips.
"You are mine!" he cried,
Her eyes did not droop before his.
nor her cheek redden, In a sweet. even
voice that had in it neither tremor nor
embarrassment. she. answered. II am
yours! ">-->r' -'''-a-'.
That night, when the placid moon
was shining over the Righi, the lake
and the two spires of the old Cathedral,
Ethel sat alone in her own chamber,
and wrote as follows to Beatrix Sardis:
!T am engaged to Count Stahl, and
mamma is very, very happy. Does not
your prophetic heart already hear her
talking grandly to her dear five hun
dred friends of My daughter the coun-
tess? And think Of all those bellies with
whom / disputed laurels at Saratoga
and Newport last season-how piqued
they will be, ma chere, at my good
fortune. Shall like to be a countess,
do you ask? Yes, yerily!-what girl
would not? am no better than the rest
Of my kind. II one does not live for
society, mamma says, one may as we'll
be out Of the world; and she ought to
know. Ielike distinction and homage
Il like to fill people with envy and ad-
miration. Think of NE as the wife Of
a poor mani Would not you pity the
man, Bee? Moreover 1t would not be
safe for mammals daughter to make an
imprudent marriage. Often she has
frankly declared that she would leave
me to starve without remorse or COM
passion-that she would direct papa to
bequeath his wealth 10 charities, and
oh
disgrace her in that way. Ugh, it was
no Idle threat, either, for she Is a wo-
man Of character-capable OF many
hard and unpleasant things. Now, how
ever, my future is settled to her entire
satisfaction. She Is absorbed, heart
and soul, in the thought of my pros
pective honors, my trousseau, and the
splendor with which she means to SOL
emnize my wedding Congratulate me,
darling Bee How can fail to be hap
py in the possession Of a title, hotel
in Paris, and old castles and estates In
Saxony? Of course, you are now at
Newport with Miss Vann, catching
your first glimpse of fashionable life,
and waiting impatiently for your de-
but. Unsophisticated darling! Take
care that you do not lose your little.
warm heart to any Of Charlotte Vann's
male friends, for she particularly af-
fects poor young men of genius, and
papa has full control Of your person
and your fortune till you are twenty
one, you know. warn you, mamma
would oppose a mesalliance in your
case quite as determinedly as in mine.
A marriage de raison, Bee, is the prop
er thing, the only thing, for both Of US.
Ethel.