The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-01-02

49, oSS<'oio13 S0AS ~Auo WAASpeI'
ing them softly in a contested sentence
unlike the disjointed spelling manner
of her first attempt, and this time she
was more successful; she comprehend
ed it now, for she gave a sudden start,
the paper again fell to the ground, and
she clasped her hands tishtly over her
heart as Il TO- keep it ia its place; her
lips were htlly.==apartt;~her eyes were
closed, and her, face was very white, =
asietly, gh.e.l11 txhiteqsss:ass & y of one in
The portion Of the paper she had
been looking at contained the births,
deaths, and marriages; it was only an
announcement Of a marriage that she
had seen. .,
The same thing is continually hap
peniDg. What does it matter people
get accustomed to it. A marriage is
not always just what has been expect
ed; sometimes it is, sometimes it is not F.;
sometimes it is surprise. sometimes it
is shock. Who can tell how many
faces have turned pale, and how many
hearts turned faint aud stricken,. on
looking over the marriage list in the
Times? 1t is a secret too we'll kept
to be known by the world at large, but
the world sometimes makes good guess.
es, though, fortunately for human weak
ness, it has no microscope powerful
enough to masspity those guesses into
fertaintiea; 5 ! - '-'.'3 -.
The marriage in the present case was
not altogether surprise it lad been
carefully searched for in tho paper for
many weeks, therefore it ought to have
been no shock. Not exactly-suspense
often increases instead Of crushing it.
The girl was evidently undergoing a
severe :, mental struggle, dnd, there were
several elements d. work striving for
the mastery. Now she started up, and
paced the room hurriedly, like pam
ther measuring, tho ,aarrow limits Of his
cage, then again she flung herself into
aohair, and her head fell back-all pow
er seemed gone, and but for the quick
moving Of the nostrils, and. the working
ofthe hands, she might have been ta-
ken for q statue of marble. ~*>
Once more sue reused herself, sho
sat up straight in the chair, she pushed
back the long fair hair that had fallen
loose in her energetic pacing of the
apartment, and walking to the mantel
piece, quietly rolled back the hair that
was out Of place, and gazing earnestly
at the reflection Of her face, thought
how much older it looked than the last
time she had seen it there.
Once more she took up the newspa-
per, and looked at those twenty words !;
they were not flashing out so brightly
asthey had done they were quite clear
and plain now, much more distinct than
any other words in the paper; she
could read them easily, she understood
their meaning, she knew that Charles
Cunningham had i wife named Marga-
ret, and that she must leave of think
ing about him, and about tho time
SIN could do it, so pride said; but
pride had several rivals to put down.
She was going to tear up tho paper,
but the words flashed out again she
would not destroy them; she should
not remember; sho should not believe
in the fact they announced, If she de.
stroyed that evidence. So she took Nm
pair Of scissors, and cutting the para.
grsph OUT Of tkeS paper, placed it in an
envelope, and locked it in her desk,
throwing the paper on the floor g.:
Tho dccupation, slight sns it was,
seemed to have revived her. She drew
herself up proudly, glanced at the slight
figure 10 the mirror opposite, with the
sunlight glittering on tho soft silken
hair that no had compared Is thread.
Of gold.~, II do, not care z. :, and 4 mo.
mentary' flush" came Into the white
checks, aud a sparkle into the languid
eyes; but flush and sparkle died ava,
the next moment, and as she sank bacl
in her chair, q sharp, bitter cry, arose
"Oh, God! my life is gone."