Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-02-09

considered pleasures; for mel hardly found
them pleasures at all, The passing days
brought with them no acute pain; there
was only dull aching at my heart--a void
that nothing was likely to fill. supposed
| had forgotten Ethel.
But found that had not; and found
1t out on the morning that we sat at break
fast together Marian and las | said at
the beginning of these words am writing.
Marian knew nothing about her; she had
scarcely heard her name; and If by chance
che should hear 1t, she knew of no reason
for keeping it from me. My wife reads the
NoiNiPg Post daily at breakfast time; and
she tells me some of its contents, as
dLwdle over my coffee. On the morning |
am speaking Of, she read two or three para
graphs to me. The last she read happened
to be the first that caught my attention. II
was the following:
I'VE understand that a marriage has been
arranged between Capt. Cecil, Of the 10th
regiment, son of Bernard Cecil. Esq. OF
Boddington Park, Bucks, and Miss Ethel
Webhe, only daughter Of AlgernOn Webbe,
Esq, of Inverness Terrace, Hyde Park"
The sudden mention of her name, and
the intelligence that accompanied it, made
my heart stop beating at first. and set 1t
thrObbing with a rush of blood to my
cheek and brow. My wife looked Mt me,
and afterward | looked at my wife. She
must have read the story in the expression
of my face at that moment. | felt that my
old love for Ethel was confessed, obvious,
undcniable.
But what was there to desire to deny !?
A man seldom marrios the first woman for
whom he cares. mans wife will think
no worse of him when she knows he has
hn1 oil aNk oh, k,, I-,E hon,
tachments should not be lasting. Your
wife will scarcely care even to pity your
queen dethroned; but if, in your inmost
heart, that queen reigns still, your wife
in discovering the fact-Will waste no love
upon her.
So thought--if / thought at all-as
Marian looked at me across the breakfast
table. And l thought, also, what wretch
cd failure this had been, this jOiuing of
hands--for Marian and for me--when the
hearts could never be jOiDedl Our lives
had been different from the beginning and
in reality, if not in appearance, they must
be different to the end. True union we
might look for, seek after, but in vain.
Where two lives join there is often ascar"
Where our lives were patched together
the scar was broad and deep; and now and
again the old wound was touched, pierced
to the ugly core of it, by the stirring of
such a memory as had been stirred to-day.
And Ethel. Was she fit for Captain Ce-
ell? Scarcely the sort of a woman 20
suit him, thought /. And was he tiJ for
her? No, indeed, for he could not know
her worth and would never value justly
how could any one?-her fresh young heart,
her thoughtful mind, her face composed
of flowers. He would never know the
worth of her-she, who was as pure of
soul as sound of body.
Nevertheless he must have her. The fact
remained. For me there was 10 chance
whatever now. | was too late by year or
so of welded life (and happiness) with
Marian. To-day there was the paragraph
in the Morning Post and there would be
the church ceremonial, the breakfast, che
departure. 1t was too awful a thought to
bear in silence. Marian saw that. 1t was
too awful thought, say, to bear in slerce;
and whether mOaned or shrleked or -
Whatever l did, jumped out of bed the
moment | was thoroughly awake, and
Thanked God that that evil dream was not
true yet, at all events. And Ethel--she
was yet 70 be won. 1t was possible to guard
against the future; whatever obstacles the
future presented might be meta and crushed.
l will meet them-that is resolved. They
may take long to crush, but they-or, in
default of them, my own life-shall be
crushed at last, There can be no Welding
the point have striven for of old. 1t is |
only TO strain the nerves once more; and |
baffled, TO fight it over again. Ethel, my
lite's prize, must be won sooner or later. |
Until get her for my own, let me work |
and strive and dare continually !-OnCe-a-
meek.