Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1858-10-08

4
faced it with an honest confession Of the
great wrong l have done you; but my at.
tiude is not that of a suppliant. You
would despise me we're to beg you to be-
stow upon me heart that may not be
yours to give, or that is indifferent to me
and should despise myself could covet,
or accept hand without heart, and both
freely given. / ask you, then, to answer
me candidly."
II had hoped, sir" she replied, with
out looking up, chat you would adhere to
your determination never again to men,
ton this subject. Bitter experience has
taught me that there are considerations of
sufficient weight to forbid the connection
you seek to form and under the influence
of those considerations, / have seriously
deliberated whether it would not be wise,
in me, to marry a man whose character
can thoroughly study, unbiased by pas
sion, and whether it would not be wiser
still to devote myself to my fathers hap
piness, and avoid the hazards of matri-
mony altogether. To marry without love,
is repugnant to my feelings; but to marry
with love, accompanied by sad misgivings
of compatibility, is even worse, and if
forced to choose between the two, should
prefer the former; but being free to reject
both, my inclination is to be my fathers
companion-the comfort of his declining
years, and should he be taken from me, to
seek happiness in the faithful discharge
of the manifold duties incumbent upon
me as a member Of society,""
us it, then, true, Helen, that 1 have
forfeited both your confidence and love,
and beyond all hope of rcgaining both {?
You have, more than once, plead guilty to
the charge of grave faults, yet my con-
fdence in you, though once shaken, is
fully restored, and my love, if possible,
more ardent. l, too, have confessed that
have wronged you deeply, and claim to
be more worthy of your confidence be-
cause the commission of the error has
taught me how to avoid it for the future
the knowledge of my weakness has given
me strength, yet you still distrust me, and
withhold all faith in the uprightness of
my future department"
"Our cases are not parallel, Mr.. Lee
When you first offered me your hand, l
was sincere penitent for past follies, and
believing myself unworthy of your con-
fidence, made full confession, prefcring
to forfeit your esteem rather than practice
upon you an objectionable fraud. For a
time, labored under your displeasure, if
not contempt; but again you offered your
hand, and again refused to commit you,
fearing that your confidence would again
be shaken, and the result proved that l
was right. During this period of vacilla-
tion on your part, and caution on mine,
did |, by word or deed, give you cause to
believe that my repentance was not sincere.
and my reformation pretence?"
"No, Helen and never knew woman
who could conduct herself with such per-
feet propriety under such trying circum-
stances. Your conduct was in striking
contrast with my own; but in my case,
repentance comes too late, and not till |
feared you were lost to me forever, did /
learn 20 appreciate your incalculable worth.
The fault is my own, and | trust that
mine, alone, will be the punishment, The
connection you are about to form, am
sure will be happy one, and it gives me
pleasure to know that the impression 1
had made upon your heart was not deep
enough to give you any lasting pain"
"To the last, Mr.. Lee" she remarked,
looking up and encountering his gaze,
"you misunderstood me. l have not the
remotest intention of forming a matri-
monial connection, at this time, and the
passing visit of Mr.. Hart constitutes a
slender foundation for such an inference
as you have drawn from it, And to pre-,
vent any further mistake on that point,
permit me to say to you, that he has never
been lover of mine; that he is engaged
to one of my dearest friends, and that his
visit had no other purpose than to invite
me to his wedding At the Springs, he
was much with me, but it was to talk of
his betrOthed, and not to make love to me,
as you and many others supposed"
In spite of his efforts, Mr.. Lee could
not suppress look of exultation at this
announcement, and Helen saw it, but
seemed to pass it over as unObservod, when
he said