Year: 1873

TO breathe, ana he qua so SallantlY ana
sincerely"


"Shall believe all you say?


Lady, let me prove it by any test
you may put upon me-.


"Know, then, that the feelings you
avow are mutual Nay, unloose your
arm from my waist l have something
more to say


"Talk on forever, lady Your voice
is music to my heart and ears


Would you marry me, knowing no
more of me than you now do ?"


" Yes, if you were to go to the very
altar masked y he replied.


"Then I will test you"


How, lady?"


For one year be faithful to the love
you have professed and will be yours
as truly as heaven shall spare my
life"


ooh, cruel suspense!"


"You demur ?'


"Nay, lady, I shall fulfill your in
functions as L promised


eff at the expiration of year you
do not hear from me, then the contract
shall be null and void. Take this half
ring" she continued, "and when l sup
ply the broken portion l will be
yours.


He kissed the little emblem, swore
again and again to be faithful, and
pressing her hand to his lips bade her
adieu.


He was conducted away as mysterious
ly as he had been brought thither nor
could he by any possible means discover
where he Lad been, his companion re-
jecting all bribes, and even refusing to
answer the simplest questions.


Months roll on. Col. Merville is true
to his vow, and happy i'll the anticipa-
ton of love. Suddenly he was ordered
on an embassy to Vienna, the gayest of
all the European capitals, about the
time that Napoleon was planning to
marry the Archduchess Maria Louisa
The young colonel is handsome manly
and already distinguished in arms, and
becomes at once great favorite at
court, every effort being made by the
women to captivate him-but i'll vain
he is constant and true to his VOW
But his heart is not made of stone
the very fact that he had entertained
such tender feelings for the white
domino had doubtless made him more
susceptible than before.


At last he met the young Baroness
Caroline Won Waldrof, and in spite of
his VOWS she captivated him, and he Sc
cretly curses the engagement he had so
blindly made at Paris. She seems to
wonder at what she believes to be his
devotion-and yet the distance he main
tains The truth was, that his sense of
honor was so great that, though he felt
he loved the young baroness, and even
she returned his affection, still he had
given his word and it was sacred


The satin domino is no longer the
| ideal of his heart, but assumes the most
repulsive form in his imagination, and
becomes, in place of his good angel, his
evil genius !


Well, time rolls on he is to return
in a few days-it is once more the car
nival season; and in Vienna, too, that
gay city. He joins in the festivities of
the masked ball, and wonder fills his
brain, when, about the middle of the
evening, the white domino steals before
him in the same white satin dress he
had seen her wear year before at the
French Opera House in Paris. Was it
not fancy?


" l come, Col. Eugene Merville, to
hold you to your PROMISE laying her
hand lightly upon his arm.


" Is this a reality, or dream %
asked the amazed soldier.


"Come, follow me, and you shall see
that it is reality" continued the mask,
pleasantly.


81 will"


"Have you been faithful to your
promise ?" asked the domino as they re-
tired into saloon.


Most truly in act; but, alas, I fear
not in heart p


"Indeed."


"It is too true, lady, that l have
seen and loved another; though my
vow to you has kept me from saying so
to her."


"And who is it that you love?"


81 will be frank with you, and you
will keep my secret ?"
| Most religiously."