They Looked and Loved; Or Won by Faith

I would sell my soul to Satan for a chest of gold! cried a despairing voice.. It was a young girl who uttered the words. She was standing under a tree in Central Park watching the equipages that rolled past in a constant stream. A handsome victoria in which sat a golden-haired beauty one of the famed Four Hundred of New York had just whirled past and the dust from the wheels had blown into the speaker's face drawing those reckless words from her lips:. I would sell my soul to Satan for a chest of gold!. Of a truth the girl was fair enough to have exchanged places with the regal woman in the carriage for her face and form had been shaped in beauty's fairest mold though the cheek was wan and pale from the pangs of grief and hunger and the peerless form was draped in worn and shabby garments.. But the fires of pride and ambition burned brightly in the large Spanish-looking dark eyes as the girl clasped her small ungloved hands together.. Would you marry me? asked a low sneering voice in her ear.. She turned with a start of terror and it appeared to her as if her reckless words had summoned the arch-fiend himself to her side.. The person who had addressed her was a horribly ugly and grotesque-looking old man.. He was at least sixty-five years of age bent and stoop-shouldered with features that were homely to the point of grotesqueness. His nose was large his mouth wide his small malevolent gray eyes peered beneath bushy red eyebrows supplemented by grizzled hair and whiskers of the same lurid color. His clothing was scrupulously neat but well-worn and of cheap material.. Would you marry me? repeated this old man and the beautiful girl gave a start of surprise not unmixed with fear.. You—you—why you are as poor as I am! she gasped her eyes roving over his shabby attire.. Appearances are often deceitful young lady. I look like a beggar I know and truth to tell I live like one but I am rich enough to give you your heart's desire—a chest of gold. Did you ever hear of Charles Farnham the miser?. Yes.. I am Farnham the miser young lady and for once I have a generous impulse. You are young beautiful and poor. I am old ugly and rich. In the world of fashion such marriages are not uncommon. Will you marry me?. She gazed into his repulsive features and shuddered.