“If you had known this you would not have asked me to be your wife,”
she said sadly.
But she was mistaken, for he reiterated his offer, declaring that he
admired her frankness and believed in her repentance.
“I will help you to forget your bitter past,” he said; then Juliette
gave him a blushing yes.
The betrothal was a month old when, one day, as Pansy sat alone in the
drawing-room of her beautiful home, some visitors were announced, and
Mrs. Wylde, with her daughter and a beautiful little boy, entered the
room.
Pansy sprang up with a little startled cry, and was immediately half
smothered in kisses and embraces from all three.
“Forgive me for my share in your past unhappiness. I had never seen
you, and believed you to be a coarse, ignorant girl, unsuited to my son
in every way,” murmured Mrs. Wylde regretfully.
“Let us forget the past,” answered the noble girl she had injured, as
she drew her child to her breast, wondering, yet not daring to ask,
about his father.
Juliette came in presently, and they met her with the cordiality of old
friends. Then she looked at Pansy.
“Norman is here, too,” she said smilingly, “but I think he was doubtful
of a welcome, and he stopped in the summerhouse. Will you meet him
halfway, Pansy?”
The blush that rose to her face betrayed her heart without words, and
Mrs. Wylde said tenderly:
“Go, dear; we will excuse you.”
Juliette took her trembling hand and led her to the door. Then she
kissed her fondly.
“Bless you both, dear!” she said earnestly, and went back to the guests.
But little Charley, now almost five years old, followed his newfound
mother.
Norman was waiting in the flower-wreathed summerhouse, and at one
glance into each other’s eyes the two read each other’s heart.
“You will not send me away again, my darling!” he murmured, as he
clasped her to his heart in passionate love.
A few weeks sufficed for their second courtship. They were married on
the same day with Arthur Osborne and Juliette Ives. Both the brides
looked wonderfully beautiful, and both the bridegrooms handsome and
happy.
In the spring they all went back to America. Juliette’s home was to be
in New York, but not the least of Pansy’s pleasures was the fact that
she would spend the rest of her life among the dear friends and old
familiar scenes of her beloved Richmond.
THE END.
No. 1165 of the NEW EAGLE SERIES, entitled “His Unbounded Faith,”
by Charlotte M. Stanley, is a fascinating story. The reader will
sympathize with the heroine in the storms of hate and jealousy that
rage around her, but they will breathe a sigh of relief when she finds
a secure haven in her husband’s love and faith.
* * * * *
Love Stories
There is a great deal of difference between love stories and sex
stories. There is something about _love_ which commands respect and
reverence.