Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1846-09-09


/ ssTell me-" again she whispered.
81 caunot yet. Bear with me-"
''ThenI will guess
SAY, do
"With shudder as she put each fearful question
she began-"Have you shed human blood, protected
by the laws of honor and feel that now you are MUIR
dererf'
81 never raised my in anger against aught that
has breath. never so much as kicked snarling
cur from my path"
sHave you been false friend, decciving where you
were trustedr' >er4F
rI cannot recall to mind lie l ever told.''
| Once more Heen's hand sought that OF her lover;
but she withdrew it as terrible thought rushed to
her mind. She paused ere she could give it words.
AT last she said, 'ave you been guided by the code
of mans moralities, and won heart only to fling it
from you?-or been guilty of the DEEPER dark wrong
stlllr'
"My conscience is singularly free from all such
stains They who do these things speak not of them
as crime" And he looked up and met the fearful
gaze of Helen Travers, without his own lids droop
ing.
Then will wed YOU; she exclaimed, after mo-
ment's pause, and only as your wife will learn this
dreadful secret.
sYou willr and William Johnson started to his
feet as one who had received an electric shock.
WILL
'For moment she yielded to his embrace, but he
released her quickly. sYou would SO wed me- he
cxlaimed, 'but you shall not. The dear memory of
your words is happiness, Fate cannot take from me;
it gives me strength to complete the tragedy. Lis
ten. These limbs have borne the manacles the law
furnishes to the convicted thief this form has qualed
in the feons dock beneath the stare of the stranger
crowd; but even then did not lie. Iowned that
had stolen the to procure food Cor furnishing
mother. The name which have dared to ask you
to BEAR forever enrolled in the chronicles ofcrme.
The convict crossed the seas, and slave for the
seven brightest years of his youth. Helen-Miss
Travers, you do not scream or faint, or wither me
with look.-Only tears, quiet common tears! Are
you woman or Angelo
BE calm, and tell me ALL
you will believe meant to replace the note /
I-stole, though the Judge would not credit my sto-
ry. This is all have to tell; for why should.T pic
turc the haunting presence Of a memory, and the
worthlessness of that wealth which descends to me
| III
ton, and left my mother to perishP
The future; the happy future. May it make you
forget the past!-Williamp
.Helen.'
At her feet once more; but with childlike
sobs and breathing passionate EXPLANATIONS and fer
vent blessings.
TWAS the next day; and the burst of Wild tumul-
tuous Joy had given place to serene happiness on
the part of William Johnson, while softer and
more thoughtful expression regned on the face of
Helen.
Il have compact to PROPOSE said she, laying her
hand upon his arm, and looking up calmly yet afiec
tonatey in his face 4et for the future speak not
of this dark thing, except indeed there be just
sity and occasion for renewing the subject Let it
be secret deposte. of which each has the key, but
do not suffer it to belong to lives by frequent dis
course or thought of it. Thus may time heap bright
realities to hide and stife these smouldering ashes
You tell me that your common name has been to
you shelter from suspicion; that your secret rests
with tried and trusted friend and that the world
among its common blunders deems your love of re-
tirement the spirit of pride and exclusveness. Twill
look at the result of the leisure that retirement has
afforded, the cultivated intellect and the habits of
simple enjoyment. Yet whence came your enlarged
sympathles with humanitys These are not fostered
by hermit-like retirement.
Gan you ask! You are silent. / need not tell
you how much is known intuitlvely by one who has
erred and suffered
sAnd expatatedr
All, deep the meaning of that word which burst
spontaneously from the heart ,chich felt aright.-I
Deeper and higher, more world embracing such wis
dom than aught that ever extracted by the casu
stry of the schools. The merciful God, by his in
struments, the mysteries of inexhausta BILE nature,
heals the wounds and lesser ills of the body until it
becomes whole again. And must the wounds OF the
soul tester forever1 What is man that he dares to
pluck hope from the breast of his fellow? And is not
the punishment he inflicts for crime but Satan
work earth, except so far as it prevents, amends
and-through the suffering and amendment-expi-
ates? The poet paints what should be, rather than
what u.s. when he declares 'sthere is future for all
who have the virtue to repent and the energy to |
atone. May he prove the poet prophet.
Of the myriads of real tragedies which are hidden
behind the veil of conventional life, not few are there
in which woman plays minstering angel and builds
amid the wreck of happiness, saving ark by the
spell of her trusting faith, and wisdom that is OF
the heart.
A Jusr REpRooF.-A lady who had married man
Of great good nature, but little deficient in point
Of UNDERSTANDING was reproached by her brother-n-