The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-11-03

aHe Just told them frankly that the only
woman he ever loved Tilted him years be-
fore, and married another man. After that
no one ever mentioned the subject to him
again, except me-"
Mrs. Cobb laid her knitting aside and
looked thoughtfully into the fire.
SHE was another Of the class Of m en-
was speaking of. have seen him face
death score of times as quietly as l face
the fire. 1t matters very little what takes
me off, he used to say ; 'Pve nothing to
live for, and there's no one who will shed
q tear for me when ON gone It's sad
thought for man to have, isn't it
Mrs, Cobb sighed as she said she thought
it was. sl, ;-.-T. ia r41t,
"But did he ever tell you the name Of
the lady who, Tilted him 7"
st knew her first name.'
"What was it ?"
Maria
The plump little widow almost started
ont of her chair. Her name WAS spoken
exactly as Sam would have said it.
90 Did you know her, tooR" he asked,
booking at her.
E" Yes"
Intimately"
eyes" .Het
"And where is she now? Still happy
with her husband, suppose, and never
giving o thought to the poor fellow she drove
ont into the world" -
"No," said Mrs. Cobb, shading her face
with her hand and speaking unsteadily.
"No; her husband is dead"
"Ah! but still she never thinks of
SAM" -..om-. q 77,T .l...f. ri
There was dead silence. sr.,. &.
"Does she 7" .....4 boo .=:r..s,i
Chow can tell ?"
So, Are yeu still friends f'' ~ III 80
"Tken you ought to know, and you do.
Tell me-" f#.1
81 am sure Idon't know: why,I should.
But if do you must promise me, on your
honor, never to tell him if you ever happen
to meet him again." Lid 49,
"Madam, what you say to me never
shall be repeated to any mortal man, upon
my honor"
"Well, then, she does remember him."
"But howl"
GAS kindly, I think, as he could wish"
81 am glad to hear it for his sake. You
can rejoice with each other"
He drew his chair much nearer hers, and
took her hand. One moment the widow re-
sisted, but it was q magnetic touch; the
rosy palm lay quietly in his, and the dark
beard bent so low that it nearly touched
her shoulder. It did not matter much.
Was he not Samuel's dear friend If ne
was not the rose, had he not dwelt near it
for long, long time?
"It was foolish quarrel that parted
them" said the stranger softly. .r
"Did he tell you about it?"
eyes, on board the whaler.''
"Did he blame her much?"
"Not so much as himself. He said that
his jealousy and ill-temper drove her to
break off the match but he thought some
times if he had only. gone back and spoken
kindly to her she would have married him
after ALL
"Ia am sure she would" said the widow,
piteously. She has owned it to me more
than hundred times"
"She was not happy, then, with an
other? 2" = ...
"Mr.-that was to say, her husband
was very good and kind" said the woman,
thinking of the lonely grave on the hill
side rather penitently, "and they lived
together. There never was q
harsh word between them"
'tStill, might she not have been happier
with Sam? BE honest and say just what
you think" ~ -.a@
eyes e.. e.. .s.
"Bravo !. that is what I wanted to come
at. And now | have q secret to tell you,
and you must break it to herr,
Mrs. Cobb looked rather scared 60
"What is p"
g G / want you to 90 and see her, wherever
she may be, and say to her: Maria -
What makes you start 80 ?"
Nothing, only you speak so like some
one used to know" '@
IDOL? Well, take the rest Of the mes
sage. Tell her that Sam loved her through
the whole; that is, when he heard she was
free he began to work hard at making q
fortune he has go it, and he's coming to
share it with her, if she will let him. Will
you tell her this ?" a.... .
The widow did not answer. She freed
her hand from his, and covered her face
with it. By-and-by she looked up again.
lie was Hd1lluS
"Well 2" --.-r
81 will tell her." n r
He rose from his seat and walked up and
down the room. Then he came back, and
leaning on the mantel-piece, stroked the
yellow hair of Bowse with his slipper.
"Make her quite understand that he
wants her for his wife. She may live
where she likes, only it must be with him"
" l will tell her"
Sand what do you think she will say ?"
he said in altered tone.
"What can she say, but-come?
"Hurrahl" go,
The stranger caught her out of her chair
as if she had been child, and kissed her.
Don't-don't! !" she cried out; Z" I am
Sans Maria"
"Well, am Maria's Sam! -
Off went the dark wig and the black
whiskers; there smiled the dear face she
had not forgotten. l leave you to imagine
the tableau. Even the cat got up to look,
and Bowse sat on his stump Of tail, and
wondered if he was on his heels or head.
The widow gave one little scream, and
then she ...--sg. ... ..'
But stop Quiet people like you and me,
dear reader, who have got over all these
follies, and can do nothing but turn up our
noses at them, have no business here. /
will only add that two hearts were very
happy; that Bowse concluded after while
that all was right, and so laid down again,
and that one week after there was we'd
ding at the house that made the neighbor-
ing farmers stare. The widow had mar
ried her " first love.''
sEEDsRIEN, FLORISTS, DC.