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

self" And regardless of her efforts to
stop him, he dashed through the door,
went up the steps, three at time, and be-
fore she had accomplished half the dis
tance, he was kneeling by the side of AIMS
chair, and her head was reclining upon his
shoulder. Seeing that she was not hurt
by the shock, and not wishing to ihtrude
upon the interview, Helen quietly went
below. In the hall, she met Mr.. Lee, on
his way upstairs, and invited him to take
seat in the parlor, telling him. at the
same time, that MIR. Motley had just gone
up to see Ann, and as they had mutual
explanations to make, they ought not to
be interrupted.-I am sure" the continued,
chat the interest you feel in your sister S
happiness will cause you to rejoice at the
reconciliation that has followed their mis-
understanding" e
"Certainly;" he replied, ''it is a source
of happiness to me because the high
opinion I have Of Mr.. Motley's worth gives
me the assurance that marriage with him
will be, for Ann, an enviable lot. And,
Helen, may not hope that the happy re-
conciliation between our friends may be a
type of my own destinyP Can not we,
too, be reconciled--agree to forget and
forgiven"
ITO forget, Mr.. Lee, is not an act of voli-
ton, and that it is not, is one reason for
the adoption of the course have deemed
it advisable to pursue. have nothing to
forgive, and believing that you have acted
according to the best lights before you,
and in conformity with the convictions
which circumstances have forced upon
you, have not censured you But whilst
j do not blame, may not hesitate to trust
you? A man may act honestly, and yet
so far err in judgment us to make him a
dangerous companion"
"That is all true;" he replied "but,
Helen, will you not coDcede that mans
errors may prove lessons from which he
shall gather wisdom? have erred great
ly,-not Intentionally, 1 am sure you will
believe-and from those errors have
emenated truths to which | was blind,
until forced to investigate the relations
between motives and actions, and the con-
victions which followed that investigation
have made me better man, and enabled
me to regulate my actions by fixed princi-
pies of right and wrong rather than by
the prejudices of defective education.-
And at the very moment, Helen, when l
seem less worthy of your confidence and
affection, am, in truth, far worthier than
when you first gave me both. Since we
parted at the Springs, have been a most
unhappy man; and though l believed,
then, that you were legally the wife Of
another, you were ever present to my
thoughts, aud without selfish motive to
prompt it, my mind has been engaged with
the enquiry-how far l have misappre-
hended your character. The result has
been that you have risen higher, whilst l
have sunk lower, in my own estimation" "
"Your good opinion 1 hrve earnestly
coveted, Mr.. Lee, and it gives me pleasure
to learn that l possess it in a higher de-
gree than had anticipated. Like your
self, l have learned that wisdom may be
taught by error, and charity enlarged by
the reflection, that we all nave our weak
points; and could we forget-as you have
just requested me to do-our destiny might
be widely different from what it now
promises to be- But memory is sometimes
the deadly foe to happiness, when its
tablets are inscribed with incidents and
suspicious not easily erased, but too easily
recalled in moment of unguarded dis
pleasure"
"You surely do not, can not think,
Helen, that / am SO weak as to suffer my
future conduct to be influenced by i'm
pressions and suspicious which l hava dis
carded, as unfounded-as unjust to you
and unworthy Of me Is it that con-
sideration which makes you treat me with
studied formality, if not coldness2 If So
! entrcat you to discard it as unjust, and
believe the earnest declaration that am
henceforth, of so wronging you
again. But perhaps you are aotuated by
another motive. 1t may be that my own
conduct has alicnated your affections, and
that they have been transferred TO worthier
object. If so, do not hesitate to confess
it--l ask it as an act of simple justice,
and shall hear it as sentence which /
richly merit-with unspeakable main, il is