The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-06-13

of those condolences which sometimes
/ come to us, she had been helped to
1 her decision by the reception of let
ter from Gilbert, that very morning.
1t was a kind letter; one of its pas
sages touched her peculiarly: Ruth
-wife''-he said, there have been
things hard, / know, for you to en-
dure; but in thought or deed have
never wronged you Will you come
to me?"
/ Yes, she would go to him. There
had been things hard, as he said, to
endure, but he told her he had new
er wronged her, land that was enough
for her to know. She would not wait
| to write, nor to arrange about this
going to him. She wanted him. She
would find him at once. 1t was. near
| nightfall when she reached Washing
ton. She went to the hotel where he
had his address, and they gave her the
number, in a street, of the house
where she would find him. It was
fine house, this, TO which she was di-
rected; a fine servant opened the
door, and looked rather wonderingly
at the little Quakeress who inquired
IF Gilbert Harley was within?"
" Mr.. Harley is up stairs, madam,
he answered, and pointing to the
broad fight, left her to pursue her
way alone. gga s7of a8e
It was quite still through the house;
her feet fell without sound on the
thick carpet Somehow. she heard
the drip Of water into the marble ba-
sin of fountain. and subdued
sound of voices; that was all. The
rooms she passed through were
empty; there was mating on the
floors and bamboo furniture. Lace
nets were fitted in the large open
windows, and the light was quite dim.
She was confused and kept on, with
an uneasy embarrassment. Presently
she came to a. door which was
ajar- all the others she had
passed through were open. She
pushed this, softly. It : led to
q yerandah. This S,verandah was
screened with lace netting, like the
fully wrought, were hung in it. There
was nothing else to hinder the sweep
of the light westerly breeze. In one
of the hammocks lay a man, asleep.
Ruth paused, and was about to turn
back. In the dusk she sag nothing
very clearly. just IL she heard the
slight rustic of a woman's skirts. The
woman stepped out on, the verandah
and through a side door. She was
large and blonde, and carried paper
in one of her hands. She stepped.
in quick. stately way, toward the
hammock in which che man was
asleep. A short, excited smile went
over her face. As if with a sudden
impulse, she stopped over the ham,
mock, touched the laan's forehead
lightly with her lips, and said,
Harley Reuetllez roust -
He sprang up with the start of
man who is haunted.
was dreaming" he said with a
kind of shudder. g
She had the CLEAN of her excited
smile still on her face.
:" You have dreamed long enough"
Her voice riprled pleasantly. Your
dream has come true. Wake upl"
He stammered to speak . Auro-
RAJ! he said, brokenly, you are not
deceiving me?"
She answered him as one does a
child" See what l have brought
you"
" What? cannot see."
Your patentr"
He caught her hands and bent over
them. A hysterIcal sob was in his
words. This is right" he said slow
ly. . You alone have trusted me and
believed in me, and now you bring
me my successl Aurora, what should
| have been without your"
|" EnJaat terribleF' she laughed
back, in an exultant sort of way.
: You are positively getting pathet-
icf' But she let him hold her hand
some white hands. and cling to her
and calm himself.
The woman who stood In the door
way and saw this scene, was not much
used to demonstrations of any sort
least of all to demonstrations like
these. She could put but one interpre-
tation upon the scene. Step by step,
her eyes fixed upon the two, yet seeing
nothing, she retreated noiselessly
from where she had stood. She
CROPPED her way through the vacant
rooms. down the broad stairs, out
into the sultry, crowded, moonlit
street Her heart was all alive now
it quivered 1t was hard to find,
after all, that he was false to her.
During the night she got back to
Refuge. Next morning. as usual, she
opened her little shop, and was busy
all day counting off buttons and meas
uring calicoes. She had no chance
to give it up; no chance either for
hoping. The future did not promise
her much
She could think of Gilbert as sue
.caSsfal and Dist nn,aishnd and &c hor