forest, and the maiden's face grew sad and tearful as she gazed. Hugh started at the first glance of that graceful, womanly form. At the second he cried in wonder tones, "Great God! it is Stella, my darling, my beloved!" The next instant he was rushing frantically and joyfully toward the French encamp ment. A WOMAN'S SENTIMENTS. E is richer than Croesus, they say: H' But his gold us as dross in my sight; For I know that he loves not the day, BY R. JORDAN. There are some that would sell all they have,- When he speaks of his wonderful wealth, ST. LOUIS, MO., DECEMBER, 1880. And they say that he 's witty and smart! That he 's learned in rich, classical lore; "He's exceedingly fond of fine art; And he 's read all the poets of yore." But, in case he is pushed to the wall For the pleasure of man she was made." Oh! he thinks that I'll marry him gladly, HIS CARELESS WORDS. CHAPTER I. BY JOHN A. PETERS. CREENED from observation by the um SCREENED from observation by the lim tree, the fragments of a conversation floated to Faith Whitney's ears. Only a few carelessly spoken words, but enough to ring a death-knell to the hopes of the young girl who heard them; to convince her that the man to whom she had given her heart, whom she had exalted above ordinary mortals, was simply a heartless villain, a mercenary fortune-hunter, nothing more! Crushing the handful of early summer roses in her lap till they sent up a fragrance that made her faint, she listened with every nerve on the qui vive, with hearing preternaturally acute, to hear what followed. But she was not rewarded. Only those stinging words that congealed the life-blood in her veins, roused her from her dolce far niente dream of happiness, and shattered the brightest hopes of her life; and then, his work completed, the speaker disappeared from view. 66 Starting up from her seat at the foot of the tree, letting the scented, crushed roses lie unheeded on the ground, Faith Whitney, with the calm of her nature broken up, restlessly disappeared in the depths of the wood, not daring to be seen in her present perturbed state. A lovely girl, with the face of a flower, the daintily cut features of an Athene. To think," she murmured, traversing the serpentine winding of a forest-path, where the tangled branches of the trees met above, that Homer Gilbert, whom I deemed a very Sir Galahad of honor, should stoop to marry a girl merely to win her fortune. Thank Heaven! it is in my power to balk his schemes; that I have found him out ere it is too late." 'T was a beautiful summer day. The sun shone; the birds sang; wildwood-violets cuddled in their nests of moss, nodded their pretty heads as the girl passed; but oblivious to all else save her own sorrow, Faith hurried on till she came to the place she sought, -a pretty, picturesque spot on the edge of a chasm, where a huge, gray boulder | uplifted itself out of a mass of gnarled roots, and chaotic bodies of water seethed below. Gathering her drapery about her, the girl seated herself on the brink of the cavernous rock, and with face buried in her hands gave herself up to thought. The sound of a man's footstep — his footstep aroused her; but she did not stir, did not attempt to flee; her heart seemed to cease its beating and stand still. "Faith?" How could she bear to look into his mesmeric eyes? She shivered, and drew the warm-tinted scarf she wore closer about her throat and waist: then, she lifted her head proudly, and fearlessly met his glance. What a dainty, high-bred creature she was! The man's eyes fastened admiringly upon her face. Was there a fairer under the sun? So pure, so sweet, with the merest suspicion of pink flushing either cheek; an exquisitely cut mouth, red as the sun-kissed strawberries; eyes dark as purple pansies, with heavily fringed lids partially veiling them; and her hair! how rich and warm, as if it had caught and entangled in its clustering waves a rain of golden sunshine. What is your will, sir? I expected to be free from intrusion in this secluded nook." How strangely she spoke. Did she regard him as an intruder, the man who was about to woo her for his own? He hastened to say, I caught the glimpse of a woman's shape whilst penetrating the depths of the wildwood, and aware of your mania for this spot, hurried hither. Are you sorry I came?" "As your movements are of no moment to me whatever, Mr. Gilbert, it is immaterial whether you came or staid away. However, as your presence is not particularly agreeable this morning, I will, with your permission, withdraw.” She rose from the rock, made him a defiant little courtesy, and was passing him with the most perfect nochalance imaginable; but he put out his strong, white hand, stayed her footsteps, and said, in a tone so stern that Faith failed to recognize it as the one which ever sounded so mellifluously to her ear, 66 voice had the ring of truth in it, but she dared not trust it; his eyes were ablaze with an all-devouring love, but she knew it to be simulated. What a consummate hypocrite the man was! If she had not heard with her own ears, an angel from heaven could not have made her believe him false. She would then have gathered in his words as greedily as the sodden-brown grass in the spring drinks in the falling rain. Even now she longed to be clasped in his strong arms, held to his warm breast, and have him rain kisses on her trembling lips. Such a weak, silly creature as she felt herself to be! What should she say? how convince him that she would suffer torture, death even, rather than wed him when she knew why he sought her? Dared she trust her voice? would it betray her? It did not. Chill and sweet, it reminded the passionate man of a subterranean streamlet, whose crystalline waters once babbled music to his ear. "A man is not apt to consider a girl in love with him, who peremptorily declares that she would rather die than become his wife. Now, sir, you have my answer. If you are a gentleman, you 'll stand aside and let me pass. Not being sentimentally inclined, I do not care to listen to any more nonsense. I never did fancy melodramas.” "No matter what you fancy, Faith Whitney. You shall not coquette with me, - put me off so! Hitherto I have deemed you as innocent of coquetry as a religieuse. Do you realize that I love you, girl, that I want you to be my wife? Have you no heart? Is that organ of your mechanism nothing more than a valve to circulate your blood and keep you alive? Revoke your decision. Tell me that you will be my wife, Faith." A thrill of the keenest anxiety pervaded his voice; his face was the embodiment of passion; his eyes blazed with such insuffer able splendor as they peered into the girl's that she grew mortally frightened and tried to hide her face in her hands. Abortive attempt! He imprisoned in his great palm her fluttering hands and compelled her to look into his eyes. Entranced as a lark under the spell of the serpent's orbs, he could not move her gaze. His glance intoxicated her; his grasp hurt her hand; she grew more and more afraid. All the dainty coloring fled from her cheeks and lips, and, pallid unto ghastliness, she looked no more re-like life than a creature carved from marble save for her strained, tortured eyes, which could not look away from his. Oh, if he would but remove his gaze! It mastered her, frightened her, nearly took away her breath. Was he a psychologist, peering through her eyes into her soul, and reading aright her innermost thoughts? Doubtless, and Oh the feeling of relief that swept over Nay, you cannot go till you have settled my fate. Girl, I love you! deeper, truer love man never felt for woman than that which surges in my heart for you. Is it turned? Tell me, Faith, do you love me?" No reply; the maiden had resumed her seat, and, with averted face, listened to the play of the waters below. Imperceptibly she felt rather than saw his eyes riveted to her face. She dared not look up for fear her eyes would reveal what she desired to conceal. Ah! if he were but sincere. His No longer oppressed by his glance, her aching hands at liberty, she was perfectly willing to do as he bade; only, being a woman, she felt a bit curious as to why he uttered those singular words. Of course, she stood in no jeopardy. What around but him could hurt her? And, Eve-like, she looked down, and if she had encountered the fabled Medusa-head, she could not have been more appalled. Her very vitals seemed frozen with terror, but she attempted no outcry. What good would it do? And, even if Homer Gilbert were a stranger instead of the man she loved, a cursory glance at his well-knit, muscular figure, his swelling chest, his bronze, stern face, with the lips tightly compressed, would have inspired her with faith in his prowess, assured her he was the reverse of a coward, a truly brave man. What did she see? There, on the lichen-draped rock, at her very feet, with part of its graceful, rounded body touching her dress, coiled up, with head erect, as if to spring, was an enormous reptile. She closed her eyes and awaited the pressure of its poisoned fangs, the terror of death creeping over her, overwhelming her, an unsyllabled prayer quivering on her lips. Brave as Homer Gilbert was, he could not deliver her from the danger menacing her! But she was mistaken. The girl he loved should never feel the touch of that slimy, repulsive thing. and full of thankfulness, she opened her eyes. The venomous reptile no longer swayed its body in the air; instead, the eyes of the man she loved met hers with a wistful glance. "The danger is past, darling. You must have had a terrible fright. If you had minded what I said." "Yes, yes." She shuddered violently, and twisted the glowing-tinted scarf round her throat and shoulders, though the day was oppressively warm, and a broad gleam of sunlight was bathing her in its amber light. "But I am a woman, and have inherited the fatal gift of curiosity from Mother Eve. Ugh! the accursed, beguiling thing! Bewildering circlets of flame seemed to shoot from its tiny orbs, and — Oh, what would have happened if you had not got rid of it, Homer Gilbert? How did you dispatch it? By what act of sorcery did you make it flee your presence?" “I caught it in the act of springing, and hurled it into the abysmal gulf of waters below. Think no more of it, Faith." "I cannot help it. My nerves are all unstrung. Do you know, Homer Gilbert, that your eyes, when they looked into mine and held me spell-bound, were like those of a hooded basilisk? And your hand - it fairly crushed mine in its pitiless grasp. Physically you are very brave; morally "I am somewhat deficient, eh?" he interpolated, as she hesitated. "Is that the view you would advance? Upon what do you base it, pray? Perhaps 't is an erroneous one, and can be explained away." Nay," with slow intonation," that is impossible. But let us leave this place. It reminds me of Gehenna since the serpent entered it." She cast one lingering glance at the mossshrouded boulder, around which grew straggling medicinal herbs that emitted a power His movements were instantaneous, quick as lightning. There was no time to delib-ful erate; the danger was too great, too imminent. No weapon of defence, no bar within reach to slay the satanic thing. Only one way, and at the thought, strong man that he was, he shuddered; but he made up his mind, as he saw it gliding along the lichenstudded boulder in its silent, undulating way, how to act; and with unflinching hand he caught it by the body, as it reared up its crested head and sprang, and whirled it writhing in the air. Its bright colors flashed gloriously in the sunlight as it described a circle; then it disappeared forever in the gulf of waters below. Thank God! Faith, his darling, was ununtouched. Down on the rock he baring his regal head, and touched the pallid girl. "Faith!" odor, and daintily gathering up her dress, with the waters babbling musically in her ear, left the place, Homer Gilbert walking at her side. Silence reigned between them till they came to a meadow whose lush rank grass, stirring slightly in the caressing breeze, looked not unlike the waves of an emerald-green sea. Clusters of bourgeoning buttercups lurked here and there. With the denuded branch of an ash the rather distrait man decapitated a dozen of them more or less unconsciously. Faith, not relishing this savage slaughter of blossoms, gave him an admonitory tap on the arm, and said, "What are you doing, Mr. Gilbert? Posknelt,itively it is a shame to ill treat the poor things so. They'll soon set this meadow all aglow with their yellow faces. By the way," a malicious thought striking her, are you aware that, botanically interpreted, At the sound of his voice, soft, persuasive, แ the buttercup means riches? Pluck a nosegay of them, please, and wear it next your heart. If I were to embroider you a pair of slippers, as Lulu Hill is doing, I should sprinkle them plentifully with the gaudy yellow blooms. Indeed they should be emblazoned on the escutcheon of the Gilberts, for they are ardent worshipers of the god riches, you know. Is it not so, monsieur?" "I am at a loss to understand you today, Faith Whitney. You are about as clear as one of Lempriere's oracles! Sarcastically inclined, your words convey some occult meaning which I cannot make out. That they leave their sting behind I do not deny. You know I am no mammon worshiper! I enjoy the luxuries money can buy, but I would not be guilty of a mean, injurious act for the wealth of the Rothschilds." A chill, contemptuous curve of contempt marred the sweet, exquisite.y cut lips of the girl for a second, but she did not contradict his assertion. Mentally she asked herself, 66 How dared he tell such a falsehood?' With her own ears had she not heard him express himself just contrarily only a short while before? cool, caressing touch, the soft, sunshiny rings of hair that strayed over it, and said quietly, "What an importunate person you are! Not one man in a hundred would detain a girl thus, after she had given him emphatically to understand that she had no desire to become his wife. Why do you care for my reasons? An insuperable objection bars our union; it cannot be explained away." How passing fair she was! How indifferently cool her manner toward him! Did she not care for him the least bit? He flung himself impetuously at her feet. "Why do I care for your reasons? Because, Faith, I love you so, and dare not think of the future unshared by you. The first time my eyes rested on your face my heart gave a tumultuous leap and belonged to me no more. Don't smile so unbelievingly. I swear I mean it. You stood on the porch, a net-work of vines framing you in, cool and dainty and inexpressibly lovely, your robe the color of the leaves in early spring, -a pale, tender green; at your throat a knot of lilies-of-the-valley; in the warm waves of your sunshiny hair a similar knot. Your dark eyes looked into mine, and O Faith, is there no hope? Is your decision irrevocable?” The smile of scorn did not pass undetected by Homer Gilbert. What ailed the girl today? He would have sworn that he had read her character perfectly; that she was Was the man in earnest? Could she a simple, gracious lady, incapable of coquet- put faith in his impassioned words after lisry or deceit. Now he began to alter histening to the stinging ones uttered so short opinion, vowing that she was not clear of either fault, and was as unreadable as a Sphinx. Could it be that his attentions were growing irksome and unacceptable? | In his trepidation he caught her by the arm, and forced her to a stand-still. "Faith Whitney, you can go no further till you have clearly defined your feelings for me. Answer me! Will you be my wife?" She flung his hand off her shoulder as if it contaminated her, and meeting his gaze proudly, said, "Indeed I will not, sir. No power on earth could force me to surrender my happiness into your keeping. I do not trust you." | a while before? He was fascinating enough to make her forget them, this man with the beauty of an Alcibiades, the strength and muscle of a young Ajax. His handsome, swarthy face was close to hers; she could see the fierce pain in his splendid gray eyes, the trembling of his expressive, bearded lips. So unnerved was she that if she did not terminate the interview at once she felt she must betray her ardent feelings for him. She turned away her face lest his eyes should ferret out her secret, as she said, 66 Listen, and be convinced. I overhead a fragment of conversation between you and our host, Mr. Ransom, this morning." "Well?" innocently, as she paused. "How does that affect my suit with you?" Nevertheless, girl, you love me; you "Most unpleasantly, sir, if I had ever dedare not deny it! Such all-potent love as liberated the possibility of becoming Mrs. mine must beget love in return, must be Gilbert. I see I shall have to repeat your reciprocated. Stay, you cannot go till you words. You simulate ignorance so faithfulgive me your reasons for refusing me,- tillly, that you almost persuade me to have faith you satisfy me as to your singular conduct today. Be seated. Here is a place cool enough for a mermaid. Billows of fragrant green grass, gemmed with white strawberry blows, o'ershadowed by a long-tressed wil low." She seated herself gracefully on a mass of twisted roots, tossed off her pretty sun-hat, garlanded with an ivy vine, in order to let the breeze lift from her forehead, with its in you. Homer Gilbert, the sentence that fell from your lips is indelibly engraved on my memory. It is this: If she were as ug ly and unnatural as a kelpie, and I loathed her, I would marry her for the fortune that accompanies her hand.' You cannot refute the assertion." This then was the reason she repulsed his suit, and not because she did not care for him, as he was afraid. A radiant flash of hope leaped to his eyes. 66 cent of his property. I do not care for it. I never meant to take it. I intended, after 'Surely, Faith, for those few careless he grew to like me and respect me thoroughwords, uttered merely in jest and not in early, to make him do justice to his nephew. nest, as you believe, you will not wreck our I am not as poor as Belisarius. Forget happiness for life. If you had heard the those words, and be my wife, -ail my whole interview you would not deem me the own.' perfidious wretch that could wantonly destroy your future by marrying you simply for a fortune. I want to marry you for love, not money. I love you, girl! I love you!" His hand of bronze sought hers. She dexterously moved it beyond his reach, and rose to her feet, her dress falling in soft, clinging folds about her pliant shape, the silver-green hair of the willow touching her uncovered head. 'Say no more, please. If you were to exhaust the English language I would put no faith in your protestations. A word or two, and then let the harassing subject never be resumed. Strongly attached to your father as well as to mine, I understand from the conversation I am glad I accidentally overheard this morning why Mr. Ransom summoned us, with other guests, to his country seat. He is an aged man, childless, unmarried, and out of spite does not wish to leave his property to his only relatve, his sister's son, to whom it rightly belongs. Partially on account of his friendship for our parents, partially to satiate his malice toward his nephew, he proposes to make us joint heirs of his vast estate on condition that we favor his pet project by marrying. I will not become a party to his tyrannical plan. I am poor, but can sustain myself by teaching, as I have done for the past two years. I have a most excellent situation as governess offered me, which I shall accept at once. I leave Linden-wood tomorrow. Transfer your unwelcome attentions to Lulu Hill. Mr. Ransom will evidently be delighted with the change, for Lulu is a dashing girl, and he is fond of her. Now let's move toward the house." Was he to be silenced thus by this taunting girl? How she maddened him with her passionless eyes and quiet ways! He felt as if he could shake her with a right good will. He loved her so, and she would not be convinced. What did he care for Mr. Ransom's money when he had more of it than he could use! Foolish Faith! How had she derived the impression that he was poor? If those careless words had not been spoken! She was hurrying across the green meadow, swinging her sun-hat in her hand, and occasionally stooping down to pluck a wild flower. He caught up with her, and said, — Round and round she swung her ivy-garlanded hat, regardless of the fiery lances of heat Apollo was hurling down from his home on high. Would he never let her alone? What more could she say to convince him that she was in earnest ? Would he prevail upon her in spite of herself to become his wife, this man seemingly as sincere as a St. John? Again she found herself compelled to speak. She did so icily enough. 66 Impossible, sir. Tersely as you word your sentences, cloquently as you utter them, you do not impress me with a sense of truthfulness. Of course, to satisfy me, you will go to Mr. Ransom and say, 'I cannot accept what is justly your nephew's,' knowing in your heart that if we marry he will make us his heirs, willy-nilly. No danger of your refusing such a magnificent estate as Linden-wood. Dear me how the sun does pour down! The heat is actually overpowering!" An angry expletive rushed to his lips, fell therefrom, but in such a smothered way, that Faith could not make it out. She wondered what it was. Then as she accelerated her speed, he jeered, "Faith Whitney, you are the most provoking, most unfeeling woman extant. With all your nun-like demureness you are a coquette! a downright coquette ! Apollo's glances can have no more effect on you than if you were a piece of quarried marble. You look like a piece of marble now, by Jove! if you don't, -a dainty piece, that people of puritanical notions would like to look at. Sober, steadfast, and demure,' like the men of Il Penseroso one would think, but There's no use talking to you," he muttered, as she sped along with the fleet steps of a deer, and he had to take enormous strides to keep up with her:" you don't hear a word I say." As they came to the terraced walk leading to the palatial mansion of brick, half-buried in a forest of lindens, she moderated her pace, and said, "After tomorrow we may never meet. I bear you no ill-will; au contraire, Mr. Gilbert, I wish you all possible earthly hap piness. Do not think harshly of me, and do not term me a coquette, for I am not one. Barring one thing I have never known you to be guilty of an ungentlemanly action, and the many delightful walks and rides we have had shall be treasured up in my memory as something too pleasant to forget. Oh, |