Dainty's Cruel Rivals; Or, The Fatal Birthday

"A SWEET GIRL GRADUATE." "Her eyes Would match the southern skies When southern skies are bluest; Her heart Will alwa...

"THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE ROOM!" Golden curls, a snare for Cupid. Eyes of blue, a treacherous sea, Where Love's votaries sink drowning, Wrecked on hidden reef...

THE HAPPIEST DAY SHE HAD EVER KNOWN. Olive and Ela sighed with relief, hoping something had happened after all, to keep Dainty at home; but they would have been horrified if they ...

THE OLD MONK. The ill-looking maid flounced away, thinking resentfully that the pretty young lady was afraid to trust her with her keys, while Dainty, whose only reason had been a...

"ONLY A DREAM." "Ah, sweet, thou little knowest how I wake and passionate watches keep; And yet while I address thee now, Methinks thou smilest in thy sleep. ...

LOVE'S ROSY DAWN. It's an era strange, yet sweet, Which every woman's heart has known, When first her young heart learns to beat To the soft music of a tone-- ...

"THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT." "Your roses are fading in the hot sunshine, dear. Let us get some fresh ones," said Love to Dainty, anxious to draw her out of sight of the others, tha...

THE ELLSWORTH HONOR. "Of all that life can teach us, There's naught so true as this: The winds of Fate blow ever, But ever blow amiss." Since the world began ...

"ALL THAT'S BRIGHT MUST FADE." "I believe my faith in thee Strong as my life, so nobly placed to be; I would as soon expect to see the sun Fall like a dead king ...

"THE GRIM FATES." "I know a maiden fair to see, Take care! She can both false and friendly be, Beware! Beware! Trust her not, She is foolin...

LOVE'S PRESENTIMENTS. "Oh, friendships falter when misfortunes frown, The blossoms vanish when the leaves turn brown, The shells lie stranded when the tide goes down, ...

A MADDENED LOVER. "What is there that I should turn to, Lighting upon days like these? Every door is barred with gold, And opens but to golden keys. Every ...

SAD FOREBODINGS. When Love and Dainty were parting in the hall that night, he detained her a few moments, saying: "I must start early in the morning for Lewisburg, our county sea...

DAINTY WOULD NEVER FORGET THAT DAY. Lovelace Ellsworth was delighted when he saw Dainty's bright, happy face next morning, showing that nothing had marred her calm repose. Black ...

BLACK MAMMY'S STORY. In the dead waste and middle of the night, the sleeping household of Ellsworth was startled from repose by long, loud, wailing cries that rang through the wid...

THE GHOST ALARM. Mrs. Ellsworth turned from her task of chafing Dainty's cold hands, and glared scornfully at the black mammy, exclaiming: "How can you listen to such silly lies,...

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING. Apparently the Ellsworth ghost became disgusted with the prosaic means adapted to secure its identification. From that horror-haunted night it cease...

THE WEDDING MORN. Love retired into his room and sat down beside the window to brood over his great happiness. Something like humility blended with his grateful thoughts. Who wa...

A MADMAN'S DEED. When he came back to life presently, with a strangling gasp of pain, he met the anxious gaze of Doctor Platt, who was kneeling beside him. "Good! You are better!...

THE END OF THE DAY. Ah, how terrible a _finale_ to a birthday wedding that had dawned so fairly and been anticipated with such happiness. The bride mysteriously vanished, the bri...

WOULD HEAVEN TURN AWAY FROM HER WILD APPEAL? "Oh, Thou to whom my thoughts are known, Calm, oh, calm these trembling fears; Oh, turn away the world's cold frown, ...

UNMASKED. Dainty fell back, sobbing, on her hard couch, her frame shaking as with an ague chill. The horror of her position was enough to drive her mad. It seemed to her that sh...

AH! THE PITY OF IT! The oaken door clanged heavily to, and the massive bolt, as it shot into place, sounded in Dainty's ears like the trump of doom, shutting her into a living gra...

THE DARKEST HOUR. A week had passed since the fatal birthday of Lovelace Ellsworth, and at the quiet twilight hour he lay among his pillows, a pale, breathing image of the splendi...

AMONG STRANGERS. The dark, calm, dewy night closed down presently, and Sheila Kelly promptly finished her wicked work. The reward was immediately paid into her hands, and she dep...

THE MOTHER'S WOE. The experienced eyes of this motherly woman soon saw that the lovely young stranger was ill of fever, and in a very serious condition; but having successfully ra...

IT SEEMED LIKE SOME BEAUTIFUL DREAM WHEN SHE ENTERED THE GATES IN THE CHILLY SUNSET OF A WINDY OCTOBER DAY. "Thank Heaven! the crisis, The danger is past, And the li...

MORE BITTER THAN DEATH. "No--there's nothing left us now But to mourn the past; Vain was every ardent vow-- Never yet did Heaven allow Love so warm, so wil...

AS WE KISS THE DEAD. Alas! nor words, nor tears, nor embraces, nor reproaches could move Love Ellsworth from his statue-like repose. He suffered Dainty's caresses passively, but ...

A TERRIBLE DEED. John Franklin's manly blood had boiled with resentment at seeing poor Dainty driven away in disgrace from the home of which she was virtually the mistress, for he...

LOST! LOST! LOST! "Stop! stranger; may I speak with you?-- Ah, yes, you needn't fear-- While I whisper through the grating, I wouldn't have them hear. Thes...

IT WAS THE OVERFLOWING DROP OF SORROW IN THE CUP THAT ALREADY BRIMMED OVER. "Alone with my hopeless sorrow, No other mate I know! I strive to awake tomorrow, B...

A NEW HOME. Dainty dragged herself slowly along the snowy street, almost exhausted by the weight of the hand-bag; and she wondered pathetically if it might not be best to follow h...

THROWN ON THE WORLD. Poor Dainty was always tired and sad now. She had never been very strong since her illness in the mountains. Her face was always thin and pale, her blue eyes...

GRAND COMPANY. A strange chance, or, perhaps, a kindly Providence, brought Sarah Ann Peters and old black mammy together that spring at the railway station near Ellsworth, where b...

"ONLY TO SEE YOU, MY DARLING." Oh, what a welcome Dainty received from the true hearts in that humble home! They treated her like a queen, but so warm was their devotion, and so ...

A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY. Fortune had indeed seemed to favor Mrs. Ellsworth. Nearly nine months had passed since her step-son's attempted murder; and though his bodily health seemed...

GOOD NEWS. The two personals caught the eyes of Ailsa Scott the eighteenth day of April, as she was tying up a bundle in a copy of _The Richmond Times_ several days old. Her sad ...

"FOR ALL ETERNITY." Ah, what ineffable joy those two letters of Mrs. Middleton and Ailsa Scott carried to the heart of Fidelio in New York!--joy that his darling still lived, and ...

CONCLUSION. The bolt of Fate falls sometimes like a flash of lightning from a clear sky. Thus it came to Mrs. Ellsworth and her scheming nieces in the moment when they felt thems...

"It is not your fault," he added, turning to Olive and Ela, "that you failed to destroy her when you followed to the cabin where she lay unconscious, and fired it like the remorsel...