The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1866-07-28
One of Lifels shadows.

She stood at the gate, her face slightly
flushed, and her black eyes aglow. The
young man with pale, handsome face, and
brown hair and eyes, leaning on the fence at
her side, must have been two years her
elder.
"Well, Alice" he said at length, with a
sudden change In his voice, must bid
you good-by, / suppose You won't forget
me, hope he added, taking her hand
mo, indeed" replied Alice, smilingly.
I'm afraid you will be the first to forget
Good-by."
She went into the house with a curious
smile on her lips. Forget indeed said
she. " / almost hate myself that cannot.
l wonder" looking into the mirror opposite
her, if | shall be handsome some day "
then, with a sudden proud lifting of her
head, she added, 81 shall be handsome
enough for even him If my cheeks were
only red, my face and form rounded little
more. Perhaps"
She broke off suddenly, and the old sad,
hopeless look came over her face What
mattered it if she was beautiful Philip
Burdell was going to study the law, and his
profession would place him far above her,
for her parents were comparatively poor,
and all the education she had ever received
came from q small school in the village and
the few books that had fallen in her way.
So she lived on, loving hopelessly, but
well, until two years after, her father, by a
successful railroad speculation, raised him
self from comparative poverty to indepen-
dence, and from thence by rapid strides to
wealth.
Alice was sent away to fashionable
boarding-schOol, and for a year after her life
seemed wholly composed of sunshine; the
first she had ever known, poor child
She studied eagerly, though not enough to
prevent her becoming more and more each
day what she had once prOphesied-a beau
tiful girl. This, combined with an exquisite
taste in dress, might have given her more
power over hearts than she ever dreamed OF
possessing; but she studiously withdrew
herself from almost all society in the school
knowing but one or two intimately, and
living in dreams of the future.
At the end of the year she met Philip
Burdell, now admitted to the bar; but her
seclusion had made her shy, and she found
it impossible to throw it off, even in his
presence. he construed this reticence as
an indication of her changed feelings to-
ward him, and met her with a GOODNESS thai
chilled her to the heart She went away
sadder and colder, shutting up the pain In
her heart with a firm hand, shedding nc
tears, and taking up her changed life AGAR
in much the same way as before, so that nc
one dreamed of the cruel shadows that dark
ened her soul.
It was the old tale-a misunderstanding
and an estrangement It was wears before
they met At last, urged by her friends
and plying the sutton, Alice married Sh,
knew she did not love this man as she ough
TO love husband; yet the shielding tender
ness in his manner, the love In his ouie
eyes, were so new and so sweet to her. tina
sometimes in his presence she almost forgot
the past. None who saw her married woult
have dreamed that the blossoms of her hopt
were dead, and her life henceforth a weari
some desert, forever staring her in the fac
with its shadowy, desolate waste
She fulfilled her duties as a wife unaincb
ingly She tried to love her husband. an,
could not help respecting him. He be
heved the slight restraint which Away
characterized her manner toward him to b.
only the natural result Of her peculiar TEN
permanent Thus she lived on, sternly self
reliant, giving her confidence to no one, an
waiting patiently yet more sadly each da,
for the forgetfulness that never came
Once only she met her old lover On
evening at the house of a friend, she caugh
his eyes as he stood Watching lher. Sh
looked surprisingly beautiful, and his eve
showed that he felt it She came forward
extending her hand with a smile of reeogn
ton, yet so different from her old smile
that it haunted him long afterward-a smil
which hid her Utmost emotions secured
from his gaze. He went away more blinc
ed, if possible, than before, believing he
happy, believing she had never, even as
girl, loved him.
The years went on Her husband dice
leaving her at thirty unfettered again. he
life henceforth, she thought, would be sac
der than ever, more desolate, more forsake1
In the months Of her widowhood, the sol
row and regret for her husband were sue
that she never admitted TO herself the pot
sibility Of ever marrying again.