The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1867-04-04
KENOsHA, WISCONSIN, THURSDAY, APRIL T. 1867

In September it was; one of those glori
GUS autumn days when the year seems at
flood tide, full of ripe glory, which thrills an
imagitat We temperament as does no tender
verdure Of spring, no beauty of summer.
Pauline Colchester, sensitive to all such in
! flueuces as few are was electrified by it
| DIR lluger had never seen her so radiant, so
full of vitality. 1t seemed impossible to
him that she should die If he had her fol
lis own,-if he could make her happy,
could he not guard her from every shock OF
excitement, aud keep her in such charmed
atmosphere Of peace that the WORKOUT heart
might last for many a year?
| IL was the idlest of lovers dreams, the
emptlest and most basoless Of hopes, which
he would have called any other man insane
for cIeri0hing. But he grasped at it eager
| ~, and, before he knew what he was doing,
he had breathed out his longing at the feet
of Miss Colchester.
lis it possible she said, after silent
space, that you have loved me so well
rhat you would have absorbed into your
own the 'or remnant of my life and cher
ished it to the end? ought to be sorry for
your sake, but how can |, when just such a
love is what [ have starved for, all my life !?
| have no right to it now. | am Mrs. not
| Miss Colchester was Pauline Angerean
before Ralph Colchester found me and mar
ried me. had money, and l suppose
beauty; perhaps he coveted them both He
made me believe that he loved me with all
his he art; and theU, when | was once his
wife, he began torturing me to death with
his neglect and cruelty. lie was bad man;
aud don't believe there is a woman on
earth strong enough to have saved him
from himself bore everything for two
years III silence When | found it was
killing nae, aud in one of his frequent alb
sences. came away to die in peace When
it IS all over LSette will write to him. He
will have the fortune he longed for, with
out the lncumbrance of which he tired so
soon You must not see me any more
Bound as am, feeling what you feel there
would be sin III our meeting. Aud yet |
Shall die easier for knowing that, once in
my life, have been loved for myself done
Tben Dr. uuger rose to go. Tomorrow
perhaps, he could combat those scruples OF
hers; but to-day, there was no more to be
said to this woman whom another mIau
owned. 70 morrow, he could tell better
ways Of friendship, whether it would be
possible tor him to tend her, broth
er-lke TO the last as he had meant to do
before he loved her. He took her hand a
moment, and said, in tone which he tried
50 hard to make quiet that it almost sound
ed cold
81 must go now. l dare not stay and
talk to you. | will come again to morrow
Eyes Tomorrow"
Her face kindIed, as she spoke, with a
strange light as Of prophecy What to
morrow" meant to her he did not know
He turned away suddenly, for his heart was
sore; aud, as he went, he heard her say,
speaking very low and tenderIy,-
God b eSs you, Francis Huger."
The next day he went again to Rock Cot
tage. He had fought his battle and CON
qnercd He thought now that he could
stay 10y her to the end, and speak no word,
loo. no look which should wrong her hon
or or his own He asked for her at the
door as usual; and they told him she had
paid her bill that morning, and left She
had come, they said, no one knew from
whence; and 10 one knew where she had
gone. She had left no messages and given
no address
Or Huger understood that this was some
thug she had meant to keep secret from
hun of all others. Was he never to see her
again? When she had said "Yes to-mor
row. could she nave meant the long to-
morrow, when the night of death should be
over? He turned away, making no sign of
dIsapp ontmemt,-h sorrow dumb in his
heart; aud as he went, her voice seemed
again to follow him,-
God bless you. Francis Huger,''
For two months afterwards, he went the
round Of his daily duties in strange alb
se,t, divided fashion He neither forgot
nor omitted anything; yet he as one who
saw not, and heard with hearing which
conveyed to his inward sense no impression
She was with him everywhere All the
time he was living over the brief four
weeks of their acquaintance, in which, it
seemed to him. he had suffered and enjoyed
more than u all the rest Of his lifetime -
Every day, every hour he expected some
message from her. He felt sort Of con
vlcIon that she would not die until he had
seen her a ain He thought, at last, that
his summons to her side had come He
opened, one day, letter directed in hand
with which he was not familiar. He read
in it with hurrying pulses. only these
words -
Madame Pauline Angereau Colchester is
dead. i obey her wish IN sending you these
tidings. ''LIsETTE."
FROM the letter had dropped, as he un-
folded it, a long silky tress of dark hair. He
picked it upand it seemed to cling careless
ly to his fingers. 1t was all he could ever
l,a, cf (OI
Her tomorrow" had come His would
come too, by and by. What then? God
alone knew whether his soul would ever
fluid hers, when both should be immortal.
Will he go back again some day to Amy
Mlnturn? Who can tell. Men have done
such things. 1t will depend upon how
weary the solitary way shall seem-how
much lie may long for his own Preside. At
any rate, he will never tell her the story of
Pauline.