Betrothed for a day: Or, Queenie Trevalyn's love test

“Her lips were silent--scarcely beat her heart, Her eyes alone proclaimed, ‘we must not part;’ Thy hope may perish, or thy friends may flee, Farewell to life, but not adieu to t...

“I have two lovers, both brave and gay; And they both have spoken their minds to-day; They both seem dying for love of me; Well, if I choose one of them, which shall it be? One...

“Then let the inheritance go if it be mine only on condition that I take a wife with it,” exclaimed John Dinsmore, proudly. “I will have none of it. Never mention it to me again...

The conflict is over, the struggle is past-- I have looked, I have loved, I have worshiped my last-- And now back to the world, and let fate do her worst On the heart that for t...

“The eagle suffers little birds to sing, And is not careful what they mean thereby, Knowing that with the shadow of his wing He can at pleasure stint their melody.”

“Do not, as some ungracious rascals do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; While like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.”

“He said, ‘I never can forgive A wrong so darkly done; Nor will I ever, as I live, Regard the faithless one As erst mine own familiar friend, Whose fealty was my boast. Yes, tho...

“How does a woman love? Once, no more, Though life forever its loss deplore. Deep in sorrow, or want, or sin, One king reigneth her heart within; One alone by night and day, Mov...

“If love should come again, I ask my heart, In tender tremors not unmixed with pain, Couldst thou be calm, nor feel the past mad smart, If love should come again?

“It is so wide, this great world vaulted o’er By the blue sky clasping dark shore to shore, It is too wide--it is too wide for me! Would God that it were narrowed to a grave, An...

At this critical point of our story it is necessary that we should return for a brief space to Raymond Challoner, whom we left still at Newport, though the Ocean House was just...

“But at last there came a day when she gave her heart away-- If that rightly be called giving which is neither choice nor will, But a charm, a fascination, a wild, sweet exultat...

“A philosopher tells us that free from all care Is the man who is penniless, homeless and bare; Unbound by ties of relation or friend, No position to hold, no rights to defend;...

It was with evident satisfaction that the false John Dinsmore looked about the elegantly appointed suite of rooms when he found himself alone in them. The open windows looked ou...

The hour which followed in the old garden sealed the fate of the false heir--he was hopelessly head over heels in love with the girl whom he had come to Blackheath Hall determin...

Once only, love, may love’s sweet song be sung; But once, love, at our feet, love’s flower is flung; Once, love--only once--can we be young; Say, shall we love, dear love, or sh...

“Mark well, who wed should give the hand With undivided heart, and stand In single purpose true to one; Or else the loving soul’s undone, And, like the curse which blights the l...

“I am really glad if I was the cause of preventing you from committing so terrible an act as suicide,” said the girl, solemnly, “for that would have been very wicked.”

“It is not much the world can give, With all its subtle art; And gold and gems are not the thing To satisfy the heart. But gentle words and a loving heart, And hands to clasp my...

“If love should come again, I ask my heart, In tender tremors, not unmixed with pain, Couldst thou be calm, nor feel thy ancient smart, If love should come again?

For the first time in her young life, Jess lies awake through all the long, dark, cool hours of the night. As a rule, her senses droop swiftly into the lands of dreams quite as...

“The dream is over, and I stand Alone upon the sun-kissed shore; My heart is lone--empty each hand; My love comes here no more. Oh, hush! ye waves; dance not in play When I am w...

“Ah, they know not heart Of man or woman who declare That love needs time to do or dare. His altars wait--not day nor name-- Only the touch of sacred flame.”

“Because I like you so much,” answered the girl, unconscious of what her words implied. “I should not be quite happy unless you were happy, too.” And she looked up, with those f...

“Ne’er with laurel wreath around me, Have I wreathed my weary brow, Since to serve thy fame I bound me-- Bound me with a solemn vow. Evermore in grief I languish-- All my youth...

“From whence does he come, and whither he goes, There is not a mortal in all the world knows. He comes in a smile, and goes in a kiss, He dies in the birth of a maiden’s bliss;...

“Down deep in my heart, in its last calm sleep, A dear, dead love lies buried deep; I clasped it once in a long embrace, And closed the eyes that veiled the face I never again m...

“Ah, cruel as the grave, Go, go, and come no more! But canst thou set my heart Just where it was before? Go, go, and come no more! Go, leave me with my tears, The only gift of t...

“So he has bidden you turn me from his door in case I ever have the temerity to present myself?” repeated Challoner, dryly, his thin lips under his mustache curling into an unmi...

The shock of finding Queenie Trevalyn the bride of his aged uncle can better be imagined than described. Raymond Challoner was fairly dumfounded at it. He could almost have beli...

“O’er her brow a change has passed; In the darkness of her eyes, Deep and still a mystery lies; In her voice there thrills a tone Never in her girlhood known.”

“I do not understand you in the least, my dear,” exclaimed Mrs. Trevalyn, as Queenie still continued to wring her hands, weeping bitterly the while. “Your eyes will be in the ba...

“Dreams, we have spent full many a lingering hour Of heaven-sweet rest Together. Wrapped in your most secret bower, With vision blest, I’ve seen the budding of Love’s fairy flow...

“I know not now, nor never knew, Why lives so linked were rent apart! But this I know, that only you, Can claim a place within my heart; It may be that you do forget, And think...

But the truth of the matter was that Jess had described John Dinsmore so accurately, just as she had seen him when she had parted from him on the golden sands at Newport, that n...

“If fate should let us meet, what should we do? Would each our hearts their olden love renew? Or would the clouds that o’er us loom Remain unmoved, with all their gloom, If we s...

“Like some lone bird, without a mate, My weary heart is desolate; I look around, and cannot trace One friendly smile, one welcoming face; And e’en in crowds, I’m still alone, Be...

“Can I behold thee, and not speak my love? E’en now, thus sadly, as thou standst before me, Thus desolate, dejected, and forlorn, Thy softness steals upon my yielding senses, Un...

Queenie bowed her head eagerly. Like him, words seemed to fail her. She sank into the nearest chair, pointing to one opposite her, but he declined the proffered seat, remarking...

“Oh, Love, poor Love, avail Thee nothing now thy faiths, thy braveries? There is no sun, no bloom; a cold wind strips The bitter foam from off the wave where dips No more thy pr...

It had been an exciting day to her, being brought face to face with her old lover whom she had mourned as dead, and more exciting still to learn of the barrier which fate had ra...

“I believe love, pure and true Is to the soul a sweet, immortal dew That gem life’s petals in its hours of dusk. The waiting angels see and recognize The rich crown-jewels, love...

“Oh, answer, love, my pleading! The precious moments pass; And I long these waters o’er May come no more, alas! Ah, while to-night is left us, It should not fly in vain. Come fo...

There was another thing of which Queenie was equally convinced, and that was that the safest place for Jess, for the present, was beneath her own roof. John Dinsmore would, of c...

“How shall I ever go down to the drawing-room to see him!” cried Jess, distractedly, as she clung to her false friend with death-cold hands; “if he speaks to me of love, or marr...

When John Dinsmore had left the home of Queenie, after learning of the supposed flight of Jess, his bride, his avowed intention was to shake the dust of New York from his feet f...

The first question that John Dinsmore asked of them, when they met at the restaurant an hour later, was what success they had met with, adding that he could hardly contain himse...

The latter bit her lips fiercely, to keep back the sneering retort that sprang to them. She concluded, however, that discretion was the better part of valor, and that it would n...