The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1864-05-04

lime, during which the young people had
had frequent surrepitious meetings and
correspondence. The young man un-
= derstood and appealed most skilfully to
e an that was finest and most generous in
: the nature of the young girl; and Marga-
a gret fnIliips was at last persuaded into
: promising her hand TO Stephen Keith.
i The Young girl was not used 10 decep-
r ton. Her high, sensitive nature scorned
) 1t as mean and unworthy She could
: not live under her fathers roof with that
secret weighing down her heart and con-
science, and one night, without even dis
: closing her intention to her bethrothed.
she rallied all her courage and told
him of her engagement. Mr. Philips
, was astonishcd, really shocked, so deep
iy that for a moment this feeling gained
the mastery of his anger
II said little that evening to Margaret,
and dismissed the girl in great fear and
perpiexity as to the effect her communi-
cation had had on her parent, bat the next
morning she was left in no doubt on the
subject
During the night Mr. Phillips's indigna-
ton had had time to kindle itself, as he
revolved the matter over in his mind. He
had little fear now of Margaret's per
sistent disobedience. The fact that she
bad discovered it to him, was sufficient
/ proof in his mind of her repentance.
! 30, the inexorable man psesented his
ultimatum to his daughter. And Mar
garet Phillips went up to her room, and
her soul rebelled against her father as it
had never done before If there had
been any mother now to come with her
tender voice and loving conncils betwixt
the father and daughter, it might all have
been different but there was none. It
was natural that the young girl. driven
TO desperation by her parent, should turn
10 MN Tor whose sake she would have
sacrificed everything but her sense of
right
Stephen Keith was not long in learn
ing the true state of things Some de
sire of revenge on his former master
certainly stimulated his purpose to make
Margaret Phillips his wife. Her father
could not have aided the young mans
suit any other way halfso efficiently as he
had done by his unl1indng.s.
50, stephen Keith proposed to Marga-
ret to marry him surrepitiously He had
never dared do this before, and he forti- ,
led ms appeal with SO many specious ar I
he painted with all bright col $
'rs of speech, so fair and beautiful /
'icture of their lives together, when he $
ould shelter her from all fear or harm b
n the warmth ofhis heart, by the mi ght of v
rs love; and life away from him looked 4
o s..aefirtss seTfr ts A trf.tr rai riaii.rrrrnve rrr
ssent--half under her breath-tn-- hY ~
onAicting feelings; and the wrong ana
he sin Law at the threshold of the cold,
tern pride of her father Richard Phillips. {
Stephen Keith did not give her long to b
vait. There are always rash impulsive L
riends to lend their influence to step
ike this Margaret had two of these; a
nd the elopement was easily arranged
She packed her trunk next day, and t
nee her heart failed her. The Old sweet /
of childhood-all the tender l
les and blessed influences of home come
,ver her soul She bowed down her I
read and wept; aud sitting there by her
,pen trunk, an impulse seized her to re I
inquish her flight, to wait patiently Tor
,ears to change her infaNible father.
But wears look long, and patience is hard
'or the warm, fervid heart of youth; and
hen there rose in the path of the girls
doubts and perplexities, the cold, hard {
voice of her father, CHOOSE now, betwiXt {
is. Margaret
If he could have stood there at that
moment and reached out his arms and
said to her softly, Come back TO me, my
lauohter.n not all her love for Stephen
Keith could have drawn Margaret Phillips
from her fathers door.
But her fair face settled down into
white, deadly resolve now. Il have
chosen" muttered the young girl, and
that night she went out from her home
and become the wife of Stephen Keith,
Great was the surprise and wrath of
Mr. Phillips on learning this. lie had
not entertained the rcmotcst suspicion
that his daughter would dare thus TO
defy his authority. If he had he would
probably have acted somewhat different
iv. But his infexible pride would not
hermit him to admit this to himself for
one moment i believe, however. the
feeling Law unrecognized under all his
and stung and gnawed him
sometimes But he was relentless he
M2ad nG 7ee hiTr da4Ehfak az hp er oi hes srhtHpsf rhtps
to be so much as spoken in his presence,
and. to all outward observation. Marga-
ret. the eldest and fairest of the daugh-
ters of Richard Phillips, was to him rs
though she had never been.
Ten years had passed. They had !
made great havoc in the household of
Mr. Phillips. One of his daughters had
died. The other, the heiress of all the
wealth which he had given the prime of
his years and the might of his will to
amiss. was confirmed invalid now She
inherited her mothers gentleness with i
ou, her strength of character.
The wears had sanded over Mr.. Phil
lipss hair afresh. The large. stately
home, with its great, silent rooms, was
in some sense like its owners heart. The
rooms were silent and barren there, too
The old man carried with him. the
wears gathered heavier about him, some
sense of loss and pain and dreariness.
His money was burden and perplexity
to him. and he felt that his life was in
anv true sense failure. Of Margaret,
his daughter, he had not heard for years
She had married villain. he knew that
well enough. but she had chosen her own
lot and must take the consequences.
Still, he did not say this 70 himself so
often as he used TO. There were times
when the rich. lonely oil man had felt
the fierce sting OF 6 remorse he crushed
down steadily in his soul, for he re