Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 1.djvu/157

 ETHEL'S PRIDE.

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��room, when Mrs. Lee approached her, saying gently—

'*I thank you, Ethel. I wish you would play for us every day."

To the surprise of them all, Ethel an- swered quietly, "I am very much out of practice, but will play for you any time you may wish," and without another word left the room.

The fare, pale face flushed and the brown eyes flashed as she made answer, but her face was turned away and none saw it. From that time she was ever pleasant, and when, at length, the ex- pected visitor arrived, it was Ethel who gave him the kindest welcome. Her father saw the change, and wondered greatly. She was too kind, too pleasant and too affable for one of her proud, sen- sitive nature, and Mr. Lee felt a strange misgiving whenever he listened to her voice, so gentle and kind.

The days passed into weeks, and the weeks into months, and still Elwyn Lan- delle lingered at Elm House.

Ethel's life seemed full of sunshine. Nothing could be more pleasant than the walks and drives through the valleys, with Elwyn as a companion.

Lily seldom accompanied them, and thus the weeks passed on.

Mrs. Lee watched them with a sad- dened heart. She knew that her brother loved Ethel, and surely she seemed to re- turn that love.

At length, Elwyn resolved to learn his fate. Life held nothing so sweet and fair as this beautiful girl, and one even- ing he sought her as she lingered on the piazza, watching the beautiful moon, which shone so brightly throwing a silver mantle over the pleasant grounds around Elm House. Never had Ethel seemed more lovely. Although late in the sea- son, she was attired in pure white, with flowers twined in her hair and resting upon her bosom. Never, as long as she lived, did Ethel forget that night. Elwyn sought her with a heart full of hope ; he left her with every hope shattered, and his dark, handsome face convulsed with keenest anguish. And Ethel? She sought her room, and, kneeling by her window, she raised her death-white face toward heaven and thought over the past. She

��little thought, when she resolved to bring sorrow upon her beautiful step-mother, that it would recoil upon herself. She had lured Elwyn Landelle on, hardly knowing whither she was drifting, until she was awakened by his earnest, loving words, asking her to be his wife. Then she realized how dear he was to her, but she resolutely turned a deaf ear to his words of love, and now she was alone with her agony. All night long she stood there, realizing nothing but her own misery. Morning dawned, and then she roused herself, carefully arranged her toilet, and no one could have seen aught of the storm raging within her heart as she entered the breakfast room.

Mr. Landelle and his sister were not present. Mr. Lee wondered greatly at their non-appearance, but Ethel knew the reason why they were absent. El- wyn had told her, ere he had left her the night before, that he would never gaze upon her fair, false face again, and he spoke the truth.

As they arose from the table. Ethel heard the sound of carriage wdieels rolling away from the house, and she knew he had gone.

Through all the long, hopeless days that followed, Ethel never forgot Elwyn as she saw him last. His handsome face, so full of anguish, seemed ever before her, and when, on the day after his de- parture, news came that there had been a terrible railroad disaster, she knew at once that in sending him away she had literally sent him to his death. When the telegram announcing the sad news reached Elm House, she sank fainting into her father's arms.

I pass over those days so full of agony to those two who had loved him so well. Ethel's grief was terrible, and her pun- ishment seemed more than she could bear. The body of the young man was carried to Elm House, and Ethel stole into the room alone to gaze her last upon his dead face. There was a look of sweet peace upon it which told how gladly he had met his fate.

Many .years have passed and gone. At Elm House one can see at any time a slender, black-robed figure, the silken brown hair heavily streaked with silver,

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