The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1865-11-29

+
he whispered You must not take II to heart
that could not do what you asked me.
/ When you think it over you will see was
right but there is one bit Of gold you may
give me, and here it ISL he added, gently
| touching her bright hair. "Now go and got
ready. God bless you, darling" and he bent
down and kissed her lips.
The next day The story had been told, and
had met with tho reception Mr.. Reeve ex-
pected. That he, gentleman BORN and bred
| though he was, should have ventured to make
| love to Mildred Grant, the half sister Of the
boy to whom he was tutor, was crime Of
such magnitude rs never to have been mag
| ined orprovided against by her mother, Mrs.
Carlton No words could express her indig-
nation and diamay, and few were wasted in
the attempt. Mildred had pleaded head
ache and gone to bed Immediately after din
ncr, and on the news of Mr.. Reeves pre-
sumption being communicated to Mrs Carl
ton, that lady ielt herself totally incapable
of doing justice to her feelings, that she
spared her daughter for that night an inter-
view which Mildred had exceedingly dread
| cd. But Mr.. Carlton, Mildred's stcp-father
and guardian. was sensible man, aud
withal gentleman, and although he disliked
the ldea vi the marriage as much as his wife
could do, yet he did not refuse TO meet Mr..
Reeve upon equal terms, and was willing to
waive the breach Of confidence on which his
wife insisted 50 strongly, in consideration Of
| their own imprudence in having allowed
Mildred to be 20 much with her brother
tutor. But he represented frankly to Mr.
Reeve that if be remained in the house long
enough to see Mrs. Carlton again lie would
not be safe from insult, and appealed to him
a Of at ha M
time on the fact Of Mildreds being n great
heircss to give his promise not to attempt
to communicate in any way with her until
she should be of age Appealed to in this
way, Mr.. Reeve felt that he could not do
otherwise than assent. Perhaps he had
some faint hope of an opposition violent and
| unreasonable enough to justify him in refus-
ing all terms; as it was, however, he gave the
required promise with II heavy heart, sub
joining tho words s'after Tomorrow though
he scarcely hoped to be allowed to take leave
of Mildred
The dog cart was at the door at six o'clock
next morning to convey him to the station,
and he was passing through the hall, when a
soft whisper reached him through the green
baized door OF the schoolroom, ..Mr. Keeve!a
lie turned back, aud Mildred slipped into
his hand q bit of tia, gold. He took her in
his arms for a moment and kissed her, as he
did SO she whispered, sir four years." "In
feur years, my darling, on your birthday,
you shall hear from me. God bless and keep
YOU" and he was gone before she had time
to answer. How Mildred loved that man!
In spite Of what he had said, when Edward
Reeve reached London it was to prepare for
sharp struggle with poverty. During the
few years that had elapsed since he left the
University, he had been charged with the
maintenance of his mother and in part with
that of his sister, and although he had been
recently relieved Of that burden by the death
of the one and The marriage Of the other, yet
he had very little cash wherewith to fill Mil
dred's purse. lie arrived at Kings Cross
station at noon, thoroughly tired, for lie had
been up nearly all night. The first thing he
did after securing very small lodging ooh,
Mildred, if you could have seen it y was to
go to bed, and to sleep, and when he awoke.
TO his great establishment il was six o'clock
in the afternoon His landlady, having
satisfied herself by various peeps, that he
had not disgraced her lodgings by hiring
thona for suicidal purposes. had prepared
some mutton chops To which lie sat down
with good appetite. Afterwards he open
cd his desk and looked over Il manuscript
volume hidden there no, he would no, take
another situation us tutor, he would give les
SONS ii he could find pupils, and, il neces-
sary, he would dine upon bread and cheese,
but he would devote himself to his literary
work, and strive to earn for himself a name
that even Mlldrcd,s friends should not be
ashamed to have her bear. lie lighted his
pipe upon this determination, and actually
awokc faithful to il the next morning, a great
thing to say for human resolution.
Four years had nearly passed. Itwas Oc-
tober, and the following Christmas eve would
be Mldrcd's twenty first birthday. Mr..
Reeve sat by the fire i'll the identical lodging
he had taken On first arriving in London.
As he expected, he had seen nothing of the
Carlton family. They did not come to town,
and he was debarred by his promise from
seeking intercourse with Mildred. Now and
then he read Miss Grants name as having
been present ut such and such county bali
archery meeting, and his trust in her was
SO Implicit chat these announcements simply
interested him without costing him pang.
Considering Alildrcd's youth, such confidence
may seem strange, but Edward Reeve was SO
little used to the ways OF the world and the
ways of women, rs to be still, III such mat
tcrs, rs unsophisticated as a boy. lie had
grown sparer anu graver in these years.
How hard had been his struggle with pow
erty he alone knew, but he had fought brave
", and his luck seemed just on the turn. In
the first place the book was actually pub
lished, and, although as yet it met with no
special welcome from the public, ii had been
very fsyorably reviewed by several leading
periodicals. One of these critiques he was
now about, pipe in mouth, to read. lie felt
very proud and glad, and as he took the pa
per in his hand lie faneied how Mildred might
be reading it, with tears Of pleasure in her
bright eyes, perhaps at that very time. lie
toyed for minute or two with his impa-
tiencc, glancing up and down the paper;
suddenly he changed color, u marriage an
nouuccment caught his eye:
ION the 18th instant the Parish Church. chsl.y
Bridge Yorkshire Sir Edward Liiord, Haronet, a. Mill
dred, only daughter of the late Richard Grant, Esq Of
Chaey Hail'
Amist passed across Edward Reeves 81 chit.
his face was very WHITE. and he sat quite
motionlcss. Presently he quietly laid aside
the paper, and shielded his eyes with his
hand; low "God help me' escaped from
his lips: had it been shrek it would no.
have told more plainly of acute pain. lie
sat so, in thought or prayer, or perhaps only
in suffering, for about half an hours then he
rose aud fetched his desk. lie took cut first
a little paper packet, opened it, and let Mill
dred's bright hair curl round his finger II
he had put his thoughts into words he would
have said that she who had been the star of
his life was indeed too bright for him, that
was perhaps we'll for her that she had been
untrue He raised the hair for an instant
to his lips, and then dropped it gently into
the fire, where the flames sprung up crack
ling to meet it, next he burnt the few scraps