Viola's vanity

In the early spring of 1896, the morning papers of Washington, and afterwards every journal of any consequence in the United States, one day contained the following news item un...

“He is a simpleton, and nothing would please me better than to break his heart!” exclaimed Viola, scornfully; but whether the young congressman ever heard of this wicked speech...

Florian, hurrying away with sad heart and dejected mien from the parting with Viola, stopped short at meeting Professor Desha strolling leisurely toward him. He stared at him in...

Viola did not lose much sleep over Florian’s going that night, for a pleasant excitement had been mixed with her thoughts by Philip Desha’s unexpected call, and her engagement w...

Sudden as a thunderbolt from a clear sky was the change that came over the gay party of skaters and the applauding spectators as they echoed the loud, horrified shriek of Viola...

“Since I must love thee--since a weird, wild fate Impels me to thy heart against my will-- Do thou this justice to the soul I yield: _Be its ideal_. Let it not blush to love. *...

“What a cold-hearted wretch! I thought he was getting fond of me! And I--I--thought a great deal of him--more than Florian would like, perhaps, if he knew; but now I believe I h...

Philip Desha had a will as firm as iron when he made up his mind, and he carried out to the letter his plan for avoiding beautiful Viola, and breaking his heart loose from her c...

Judge Van Lew was a fine looking man about fifty years old, whose life had been prematurely saddened by the loss of two beautiful sons in their early childhood, and afterward of...

“Oh, I am so sorry, so sorry!” she cried, remorsefully. “Indeed I did not realize that I was causing real pain to any one. But now I will never flirt again!”

Viola and her aunt were receiving, assisted by a bevy of handsome matrons and fair young girls. When she saw Desha bowing before her, she gave him a courteous welcome, just ting...

“Is it worth while to love, to waken chords Of deepest feeling--rapture, doubt, and pain-- And for the chance of joy that love affords, To part with peace that may not come agai...

She saw that a few drops of blood had started from a small cut on his white temple, and guessed that in falling he had struck his head against the corner of the flower-stand, th...

“I will be your wife, dear Philip, but no one must know of our engagement just yet. You must keep it a secret until I give you leave to tell.”

She replied at once, saying that she had been too busy to write, and knew that he would excuse her when he received her next letter, in which she would have something important...

“It is the last token of love and of thee, Thy once faith is broken, thou false one to me! I think on the letters with which I must part-- Too dear are the fetters that wind rou...

Silently he took the offered hands and led her to a large easy-chair. Then allowing the cold little fingers to drop from his chilly hold, he stepped back a pace and stood with h...

“Was ever any beautiful, thoughtless young girl more cruelly punished for the fault of coquetry?” thought Viola, as she buried her hot, burning face in her hands, her heart swel...

She sighed heavily, and walked along by his side in silence a few minutes, without thinking how strange her position was--walking at this time of night with Rolfe Maxwell, her f...

“I have heard--or dreamed it, maybe-- What love is when true; How to test and how to try it Is the gift of few. Only a true heart can find it, True as it is true; Only eyes so c...

“Give me but thy love, and I Envy none beneath the sky; Pains and perils I defy If thy presence cheer me. Give me but thy love, my sweet; Joy shall bless us when we meet; Pleasu...

“And will she love thee as well as I? Will she do for thee what I have done? See all the pomps of the world pass by, And look only for thee--beloved one?

Mrs. Maxwell and Rolfe soon had the tiny spare room bright and cozy for Viola, and while the young girl still slept on wearily in the parlor, he made a bungling explanation of h...

“Viola is taking a protracted beauty-sleep this morning,” observed Mrs. Herman at breakfast, next day, seeing her brother glance impatiently at his daughter’s empty chair. Judge...

“Farewell! I shall not be to thee More than a passing thought, But every time and place will be With thy remembrance fraught. Fruitless as constancy may be, No chance, no change...

“I was afraid of your just wrath, when you should find out how I had played fast and loose with Philip and Florian. The future looked as black as a stormy night without a star....

“The lady whom I spake of rose again From the red fever’s couch, to careless eyes Perchance the same as she had ever been; But, oh, how altered to herself! She felt That wearine...

“What lacks my heart, what makes it So weary and full of pain? That trembling hope forsakes it Never to come again! Only another heart, Tender and all mine own, In the still gra...

How sad it is to see the waning of a beautiful friendship between two noble hearts--friendship that should have lasted unbroken till death--to see the cold blight of alienation...

Philip Desha, dawdling behind the curtain, caught the sound of that musical voice, and his heart leaped violently with blended pain and pleasure as he thrust aside a slight fold...

“Oh, auntie, how surprised you will be when I tell you that I have found out who saved my life that day on the ice when I came so near being drowned!” proudly.

She could guess but too easily how they wondered and gossiped over her affairs, blaming her for jilting Desha, asking each other what sensational freak she would indulge in next.

Florian had quite as gracefully disclaimed the intention of receiving any reward for his work, save the longed for guerdon of her forgiveness for the madness of an hour that he...

“Florian is a splendid match for sweet Mae--young, rich, talented, and good. She will be very happy, I am sure,” cried Viola; adding: “He says he wants to be married in May, so...

The light-hearted gayety of other days had faded from her brow, and a pensive shadow replaced it. She cared no more for society, declining all invitations on the score of her mo...

Viola paused with quivering lips, the tears hanging heavily on the curling fringe of her long black lashes. How beautiful, how unattainable, she looked to the man who had loved...

Viola’s eyes were so dim with the tears she had copiously shed out of sympathy with Philip Desha that at first she could scarcely see the lines, they wavered so before her gaze....

Then, weary and impatient, they took quarters at the best hotel, and the judge, leaving his daughter to rest in her rooms, went out at once in search of news of Maxwell.

His delighted eyes fell upon the most rarely beautiful girl he had ever seen, her great eyes starry with joy, her cheeks and lips abloom with excitement that set all her lovely...

“I will hasten, for I know all the anguish of suspense myself too well to inflict it on another, so will go back to the time in April, 1896, when I first made the acquaintance o...

Viola did not cry out in despair and faint and fall as they foreboded--she simply bowed her face upon her father’s arm in a silence more terrible and fatal than the wildest grie...