work, and rested upon the canvas.

"Dear, dear old Brookside! how I long to see you once again, and yet I
dare not go, even though I should have to beg my bread.

"Not one word in all these long, weary, wretched years have I heard from
those whom I love so dearly, and deserted to become the wife of--_a
scoundrel_!

"Heaven forgive me that rash act; and forgive me for bringing sorrow
upon my parents and poor Kent; but I was fascinated by that wretch--yes,
fascinated, as though by a snake, for it was not love I felt, as now I
hate him--no, no, I should not say that of the dead, of the father of my
children," and she dropped her face in her hands and burst into tears.

Thirteen years have passed away since the readerold lover.

It cut Dick Ivey to the heart, but he nursed his sorrow in silence,
uttered no complaint, and went to the border with his regiment, to soon
win distinction as a daring officer.

The fickle maiden meanwhile married the successful rival, and two years
after died, it was said, of a broken heart.

The news came to Dick Ivey that his sister was to marry, and when he
heard whom it was that was to be her husband, he obtained a furlough and
started for his home to warn her against the man who had broken the
heart of his old lady-love.

But, wounded on the way, in a fight with Indians, he was laid up for
weeks, and arrived too late, for his sister had married the man whom he
now hated with all his soul.

Soon after