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10 A DREADFUL TEMPTATION.
“May Lask if you are friends with Mr. Templeton, now
Mrs, St. John?” ae Cs
Xenie lifted her dark eyes and looked at the gentle girl foo,
‘*Should you love a man that won your heart and threw
it away like a broken toy?” she asked, slowly. 9 oo
‘‘T donot believe that I could ever forgive him,” said/ _
Edith, frankly. ; .
‘‘Nor can I,” answered Xenie, in alow voice of repressed
passion. ‘‘No, I am not friends with him, Edith, and
never shall be; I am not the kind of woman who could for-
give such a cruel slight.” , _ ‘|
Neither of them said another word on the subject, but —
Edith knew quite well from that moment why Xenie had-
married Mr. St. John. .
‘It was not for the sake of the money, but simply to re-
venge herself on Howard Templeton,” she said ‘to herself,
with a woman's ready wit. ha,
And when Mr. Templeton, according to his uncle’s desire,
offered her his hand and heart, a few days later, expecting
to have her for the asking, he was surprised to receive a
cold, almost contemptuous refusal,
But she dropped a few words before they parted by which
. he knew plainly that his deadly foe had been working
against him, and that her revengeful hand had struck a
sore from his grasp for the second time in the space of a _
week. /
CHAPTER IV.
SEVERAL months of irksome quiet to Mrs. St. John suc-
ceeded the festivities that followed upon her marriage. . .
Her elderly bridegroom found that protracted gayeties |
did not agree with his age and health, and with the obsti-.—
nacy common to a selfish old age, he prohibited his wife
from participation in those scenes of pleasure in which, by _
reason of her youth and beauty, she was.so pre-eminently |
fitted to shine. ne
He could not stand such excitement himself, he said, and
he wanted his wife at home to cheer and solace his declin-
mg years. . . oy oo
o,the beautiful bridal dresses hung in the wardrobe un-_
worn, and the costly. jewels hid their brightness locked
away in their caskets. , me
Xenie had small need for these things in the lonely life
to which she found herself condemned by her foolish, dot-
ing old husband.
Loving pleasure and excitement with allthe ardor of a
‘passionate, impulsive temperament like hers, it is quite
possible that Mrs. St. John mighthave rebelled against her