The Lambertville press. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1858-1???, 1861-01-30

I
the knowledge of grief? Do not be
afraid that I shall chide you. Alas T!
alas I have seen too much bitter sor-
row in my own life to desire to embit-
ter yours !" and the handsome face
! bending over the fair girl was convuls-
ed with anguish such as she dreamed
not of.
You are too good, dear father"
she said at length, when she had re-
covered her voice. {" will not try
to deceive you. / have formed new
friendship since you were here, AMI it
has become so much a part of my be-
ing that it seems it would be like the
parting body and spirit to sunder them.
Do not blame him, father, I loved him
before he sought me. There seemed
such sadness .shrouding him I could
not from the first forbear plying him
even before | knew the cause, and pity
is akin to love, poets say. Then when
I learned his history, and found him
all innocent though he was, his whole
life had been darkened by a wicked
fathers misdoings, pitied him the
more; and I have promised with your
permission to make his future, so far
as lies in my power, a contrast to the
miserable past y
The low voice was silent, and for a
few moments the stiffness was un-
broken; then the father spoke
"You have not told me his name,
my child y
"Jerome Leclerk," was the low
hesitating answer.
Raising her up so that the blushing
face was opposite his own, the gent}e-
man said, Look me in the eye,
Blanche, and tell me truly, what you
would doif | were to tell you you must
forget this Jerome Leclerk l would
sooner see you in your coffin than his,
wife"
"You will not say SO, father, I can
not believe You would be so cruel"
said Blanche, in a choking voice, sink
ing upon her knees before him, and
clasping his hands in hers, while the
sweet face, devoid of every particle of
color, was raised to his.
"You tell me am like my mother
by the love you bore her, forbear.
What would you have thought of him
who, when she was as young, and her
promise of life as bright as mine, could
by one act have darkened it forever ?"
blanche, listen to me. Jerome
Leclerk is not the only one whose life |
has been embittered by the misdeeds
of another. Sixteen long years ago |
the iron entered the soul of your own
father, child, and do not wonder that |
the cankering of all those years have |
left him scared and hardened and mis-
anthropical
Your mother was an angel, Blanche.
Oh how l worshipped her. She was
to me the very impersonn alton of per-
fiction the very spirit and essence of
all that was good and holy. Ny baser
nature bowed at the shrine of her !
purity with an intense idolatry of |
which the idol worshippers Of the
East know not an approximation. |
would sooner have believed it possible
for a star to descend from its high |
sphere to enlighten the orgies of the
bacchanals, than that my pure. my |
spiritual wife could cundescend to
aught that was unholy or ignoble.
After time you were born to us, and |
then our nome was a very Eden IN
beauty, in fragrance and purity. But,
Blanche, a serpent entered, and the
Eden became a blackened, shoulder
ing ruin. 1t would weaken me too
much to recall that terrible sorrow
now, and / have need of strength.
There was no blame attached to the
poor victim, Blanche, there is some
comfort in that, but the ruin was not
the less certain. Lean your head
nearer while I whisper one word in
your ear, ] could not endure to hear
the hated name aloud even though my
own voice spoke it.m
He bent forward till his black locks
rested among the silken ringlets that
beautifed the fair head resting upon
his knee, and whispered a moment.
There was quick CONFUSION of the
kneeling figure, q short gasping sob.
and then the clinging hands unclasped,
and Blanche lay fainting at his feet
Placing her tenderly on the sofa he
sent for Mrs. Henderson.
II have been telling my daughter
the sad fate Of her mother, dear ma
dam, and her sensitive little heart has
been more affected by the recital than
| imagined possible. Will you do me
the favor to remain with her till she
RECEIVERS, and if she chooses to make
you acquainted with the secret sorrow
which is just revealed to her, advise
her as you would your own child in
l1ike circnt1octancns T would iike tn he