Quasqueton guardian. (Quasqueton, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1856-1858, 1857-02-14

health will not admit of his going, and /
had not the heart to refuse his solicita-
tons, when joined with my mothers,
though they were complied with at a
great cost to myself
And you have done just what my
own heart approves, Edward, said my
sister, as she choked down the sob which
was rising to her throat. /" am heartily
ashamed of myself for betraying this
weakness, but, somehow, foolish, un-
detinable fear has been haunting my
spirit for the last week. and / have look
ed forward to this parting with strange
dread"
"And it has written itself so legibly
| on your sweet face, my beloved, taking
away all the brightness of your old time
smile. Do let me see it cnce more be-
fore l go. Can it be possible the clock
is striking eight! When the spring
time clothes with her green the trees that
are now browning in the autumn breath,
l will return to you; and then for we
shall never part more. Goodbye for a
little time, my Nellie"
"Good bye, Edward and may God,
whose blue sky will still be aheve us,
keep you from all evil !"
|
Edward Preston drew the fair, uplifted
brow very tenderly to his lips, and the
next moment he was gone.
Ay, Nellie Grab.ss. well may you
stand under that old e.ne girdled portico,
with the tears dripping hotly through
your small fingers, and the shadow that
has been tracking you for this many a
day, lying down to sleep heavily on your
heart, for the darkness will soon be clos
ing around you, and the waters going
over your head.
No letter yet, papa ?" and Nellie
stole out of the room, in the sombre late
autumn twilight, to weep all alone, for
Edward had been absent month, and
Nellie had not heard from him during
all that time.
"No letter yet, papa 90 Another
month had passed the snow lay white
upon the ground, but it was not whittier
than Nellie's cheek, as she slowly left the
room, and mamma fs.ilowed her with sad
tear-filled eyes.
"There a letter for you at last, my
child" spoke the glad, hearty tones of
my father; and he laid it in Nelly's eag-
er hands. Another month had pissed,
and she was lying on the lounge in NAM
mas bedroom but her cheeks wore the
hue of the pillow no longer.
How the white fingers trembled as
they tore away the seal. A moment af-
ter, the roses hue died out in Nellie's
cheek, and the shrek arose 1.-THE memory
of whose exceeding anguish, though six
long years lie between the hour of its
birth and the present, well nigh palsies
the hand that now seeks to record it) from
my sisters lips, and she lay senseless on
the floor. cannot paint you picture
of those dark, dark hours, readers; for
the tears blind my eyes SO, my hand for
gets its cunning, and my pen refuses to
do its work
Very brief and very bitter was the
letter that came to Nellie, telling her in a
few cold sentences that the dream of his
youth had passed; that the heart Of Ed
ward Preston now quickened with love
for another, far, far above the beautiful
cottage girl, and he asked her to cl@aiA
him from the engagement he had rashly
made, and the vows he had cursed HIM
self for speaking.
"Mr Preston,-Give yourself no fur
ther uneasiness with regard to the en-
gagement formerly existing between us.
| cancel it this moment, and am greatly
obliged to you (since you have proved
thus inconstant) for affording me an op-
portunity of doing so.
Yours, ELLEN GRAHAM.
In that brief note, written the next day,
my sister Nellie "slayed all the hopes of
her faturc." l remember how she pres
I
scd down her small throbbing fingers on
the paper, SO that Edward Preston should
never dream that the hand which wrote
those cold words quiyered, or that the
| heart whose pride dictated them was
breaking, breaking.
Annie, my little pet sister, as l used
to call you, you at least will not look coldly
on me; tell me what it is that troubles
you?" had gone out in the woods a
little way from our house that fair MAY
afternoon to have cry ali by myself, for
sister Nellie had been telling me, that