The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-11-18
THE GOVERNORS STORY.

saw hard times. My father had died
when. was sixteen years old leaving us
nothing but an honest reputation; and,
although gh l was stout and healthy, my
wages were very low, and I had to toll
late and early to provide the necessaries
of life. But l suppose [ would have been
happy and contented enough, that is, as
much as we unsatis6ed mortals are, If 1t
hadn't been for women. | don't know
why it was that Helen Linton made such
an impression on me, for she had by no
means those great and noble qualities by
which men as general thing are attrac-
ted towards the opposite sex. On the
contrary she was proud, arrogant and
overbearing, and was confident that ifshe
thought of me at all, it was with feelings
of contempt and disdain alone. Not OF
my personal appearance it is true, al
though I was rough and uncultivated,
and my hands were hard with excessive
toll. and my face brown with exposure to
the sun, still 1 had great strength and
wonderful agility, and my hair and eyes
were as dark as midnight, and many
said I was handsome. But [ was poor
and she was wealthy; l was General
Linton's hired man; she was General
Linton's daughter, and it was the old
story. 1t must have been her bewilder-
ing beauty that drew me more and more
towards her, for she was q queenly look
ing girl, with flashing eyes and magniti-
cent brown hair, and form tall, majestic
and stately. But whatever it might have
been, / am certain of one thing, and that
is. 1 learned to love her with a madden
ing, painful, consuming passion, that
seemed about to devour my whole being.
tried very hard to smother it, and to
drive her from my heart. knew | ought
as we'll to think of plueking down the
moon or the stars, as to aspire to her
hand. But it was of no avail, and the
more struggled the more l came en-
tangled, until at length, morning, noon
and night, there was but one face that l
saw, one voice that heard, and that was
the face and voice of Helen Linton. What
was the worst of all to me, in some way
she discovered my secret. How. | can
hardly tell They say murder will out,
and the same can most assurcdly De said
about love. had never spoken about it
10 any one, not even my mother, and rs to
Helen, l had scarcely spoken to her on
any subject. It's true that she would
give Instructions in regard to the flower
garden which General Linton had selec-
tcd me TO manage, having, as he said,
more opinion of my taste in such matters
than any OF the workmcn but she never
condescended further. 1 worshppcd her
like star afar off and knew the distance
between us to be as wide and as impassi-
be
Que day she camo into the garden
when was at work there, and impelled
by some unknown power, as it were, L
gathered and presented to her choice
boquct of flowers-and whether it was
from my guilty looks that she discovered
all, and determined to check me in the
beginning, or whether she had already
probed to the depths of my heart and
thought was ;prcsumptuous Iknew not;
but certain it is, she never spoke TO me
after that. She had been in the habit OF
giving me nod of recognition whenever
she met me before this, but ever after
that she passed me without even a glance;
disdain within her naughty eye, and con-
tempt upon her scornfll lip. You may
we'll know that my life was wretched as
it well could be. l used to sit down by
the fire in the little cabin after my hard
days work was done, and curse my
wretchcd fate, and call God unjust in
what l considered The distinctions he
made in the human race; but | little
knew then what the sequel would be.
Crowds of company, gay ladies and
gentlemen, came every summer from the
city to spend the season at Linton Hall,
and it so happened that when summer
came, among the rest was young man
named Arthur st. John. He was report
ed to be wealthy, and handsome he GER
tainly was, and it wasn't very long before
he began to pay devoted attention to
General Lnton's daughter, and it was
easy to see that she was as much infatu-
ated as he was. They used to ride out
by our little cottage in the bright summer
evenings, on the forest road, as it was
called, on their prancing horses, he bended
fondly above her, whispering words of
love and tenderness, and she listened to
them with flush on her check and q
smile on her lip. l remember that one
evening l stood watching them MS they
rode down from the wild glen, batted in
the golden halo that the gorgeous fires OF
sunset threw upon the scene, while the
summer zephyrs, loaded with the perfume
of wild flowers, blew back Der massive
hair from her qucenly brow, until the
scene seemed to me celestial and she an
inhabitant Of celestial regions. Just then
she caught sight Of me, as looked at her
almost entranced, and spoke somethingi in
low tone to her companion. What it
was l never knew, but they both looked
at me in an instant, and then the air rang
with their laughter, and heard them say
something about its presumption, and l