Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-03-31

once her heart failed her. The ole
sweet memories OF cbildhood-al III
tender ties and blessed influence of HON
came over her soul. She bowed be
head and wept; and sitting there by he
open trunk, an impulse seized her to pa
iently wait for years TO change her 10
flexible father. But years lock long
and patience is hard for the warm, fervit
heart of youth and then there rose ii
the path of the girls doubts and parplex
tiles, the cold, hard voice of her father
l"Choose now betwiYt us, Margaret !"
II he had stood there at that momen
and reached out his arms and said to hel
softly, "Come back to me, my daughter,
not all her love for Stephen Keith could
have drawn Margaret Phillips from her
fathers door.
But her fair face settled down into a
white deadly resolve now. 81 have
chosen" muttered the young girl, and
that night she went out from her home
and became the wife Of Stephen Keith.
Great was the surprise and wrath Of
Mr.. Phillips on learning this. He had
not entertained the remotest suspicion
that his daughter would dare defy his
authority. If be had, he would probably
have acted somewhat differently. But
his infexible pride would not permit him
to admit this 10 himself for one moment.
believe, however, the feeling lay unrec-
ognized under all his evaporation, and
otung and gnawed him sometimes. But
he was relentless. He forbade the names
of either to be so much as spoken in his
presence, and, to all outward observation,
Margaret, the eldest and fairest Of the
daughters Of Richard Phillips, was to
him as though she had never been.
Ten years had passed. They had
made great havoc in the household of Mr..
Phillips. One of his daugters had died.
The other, the heiress of all the wealth
which he had given the prime of bis
years and the might of his will TO amass,
was a confirmed invalid now. She in
herited her mothers gentleness without
her strength of character.
The years had sanded over Mr.. Phil
lips hair atresh. The large, stately
home, with its great, silent rooms, was
in some sense like the owners heart
The rooms were silent and barren there,
90. The old man carried with him, as
he years gathered heavier about him
iome sense of loss and pain and dreari-
Tess. His money was a burden and |
to him, and he felt that his
Ife was in any true sense a failure. Of
his daughter, he had not heard
or years. She had married a villain, he
new that well enough, but she had
hosen her own lot and must take the
Still, be did not say this to himself so
ften as he used to. There were times
when the rich, old man had felt the fierce
ting of remorse be crushed down
teadily in his soul, for he remembered
bat morning with his motberless daugh-
sr. He would not acknowledge it to
imself-he would sternly have denied
nd defed it if another had said it to his
ice but he knew in his innermost heart
lat his own harshness had driven his
aughter to that rash marriage.
Margaret Phillips had sowed the whirl-
ind. In less than year after her mar.
age, she discovered the true moral
neaments of the man for whose sake she
ld sacrificed home, family and fortune.
When Stephen Keith found of GER j
inty that his wife's father would persist .
his displeasure, and that he could g
,uut neither favor nor fortune from the
l.
ch man whose child he had welded. then a
d he meanly and cowardy wreak his n
rath on the helpless girl~woman whom a
, had sworn to protect and cherish. p
Poor Margaret She clung to him II
rough misfortune and poverty-clung ia
him after his persistent unkindness and
uelty had robbed her of both tender 1
IS and respect for her husband. She p
llowed him West, where Stephen Keith o
ent in hopes Of obtaining employment Ii
d he did SO, bnt he was indolent, prodi- Al
i, luxurious in his tastes, and squander- Il
his salary. Two children--a boy and S
girl-were born to them, and the deli p
tie, luxuriously-reared and finely-culti-
ted woman had long road of hard z
ips, and privation, and bitter trial to IL
,lk, during those six years Of her resi- al
nee in Wisconsin. in
At the end of this time her husband OF
:. .o.l IL III t. IL, la -. L =. h.