Evening star., 1926-10-09
E Mysterious Sweetheart
--| BY ELLA WISTER HAINES
Copy1gh
BY ELLA WISTER HAINES
Copyright. 1895,

| cret He had O dozen excellent rea-
sons for this move. too long to be here
! explained. and I was SO young and in
experienced, SO deeply In love. that l
| allowed myself to be overpersuaded,
and in the end only my sister and
! Ramon's brother Mario, a man knew
| slightly, attended our wedding, which.
because of religious differences. took
place before a justice OF the peace IN
| New York CITY. This marriage GER
tificate Is filed in Mr.. Reynolds letter,
together with other papers OF impor-
tance.'
Mr.. Burns paused a minute, taking
| a. SIP OF water. while an intense still
| ness reigned in the office, all eyes
| fixed upon Ramon Milana, now white
! but calm, who listened as attentively
as the others.
| After the wedding we took an
| other room in the house l already
! boarded in, Ramon saying that he
| could not yet afford a home. No one
| knew of our marriage. Ramon was
| Just a new boarder My sister and I
| lived much as before and / continued
pto work, for a time.
1.-Two months, three, four went by,
still we continued living in the same
way l began to be restless and wor-
ried l wanted to announce our mar
riage, to take Mr.. Reynolds into my
! confidence. Ramon was kind and
| thoughtful, a devoted husband in
every other way. My sister and l
questioned and argued and threaten
ed. He would not permit US to speak.
Then, one day. he left the boarding
house and l never saw him again un-
hI1t I
story.
AFTER Ramon had been gone two
days there came a letter. the gist Of
which was that he was in great f1nan-
cial difficulty and must leave New
York for the time being--did not know
| when he could return.
LAS long as no one knows of our
| marriage" he wrote, "just go back to
your old life. No one will be the
| wiser. Forget that l ever came into
your life, and If ever get on my feet
again l will come back" I received
| this letter upon the day the doctor
parents of q child.
THAT day my sister and I went to
Mr.. Reynolds with the whole story.
/ He Immediately started a search for
| Ramon, a search undertaken by a
young detective, Myron 7. Gaines.
| Ramon had vanished into space. All
| that was left to me was the ring he
had given me, my wedding ring, a
priceless antique gem he had won in
| a gambling debt from a prince Of
France. This ring contained a single
stone. huge ruby in the shape of d
half heart. There was a mate to this
ring, the mans half, and I;amon had
our initials engraved in the large ring,
which he kept, while in the one he
gave me he placed the name Cynthia.
He instructed me never to part with
| my ring. that 1t had a long history,
being the gift of Ferdinand to his
Queen, Isabella, long years ago, and
sold at the time the royal jewels were
| staked upon the discovery of America
| Ramon always called these the sweet.
| heart rings.
Now comes the part Of the story
| most difficult to believe. Mr.. Reynolds
was SO shocked and dumfounded with
my story that he disclosed to me his
own feelings He had fallen in love
with me himself and had kept his feel
ings a secret fearing that the dispar-
ity in our ages was too great to be
overcome. To a man of his intense
sympathieS and strong emotional ma
ture my plight was a crushing one,
and 10 make long story short, he de.
cided, when all effort to locate Ramon
had failed to marry me himself.
AS YOU all know, he was a man
of great position and influence. In
some manner he secured for ME a di-
H0rce from Ramon, keeping the whole
affair so quiet that even my aunt did
not hear of it. Mr.. Reynolds and I
Here then quietly married, leaving in-
ediately for Europe. where we RS
aimed year, and bringing home
.th us baby daughter. The world
| naturally accepted this child as Ed
.Mund RcynOl1s' daughter. and in a