The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1869-09-02

business, and did not hear Of her 90.
ing till We met in the evening". He
turned pale; and leaned on tho table
beside him, as if needing support, on
first understanding that she was actual.
ly gone; but this was only for a mo-
ment. Voice and face were both firm,
as he answcrcd, tsShe has made her
bed, and she must lie in it." From
this time he asked no questions. Had
be done so, there was little I could
have told him Of Lily. One letter
without post-mark or date, 1 received
about week after she vas safe with
friends, and in correspondence with
her husband; that I must love der,
and believe all was we'll with her till l
heard again. Then weeks passed.
Afraid Of losing letter from her, I cr-
couraged my fathers wish to remain
in the city late that summer, and We
were still there when the news came
Of the battle OF Gettysburg. The city
was jubllant, aud my heart was full, al
most to bursting, with dread. Elliot
Forester, where was he? sud where
was she who lived now only for him !?
I questioned, but, alas no answer
came. But'the darkness passed, and
light davned at last!
Peace was declared, and soon after I
received few liues from Lily, dated at
asmall town in Virginia. She tod me
little Of herself, except that she had
been ever since our separation With a
lady, relative Of the Forresters, who
lived near Baltimore, and that she had
joined her husband at the place from
which she wrote at the cessation of the
war. What was to be their next step
seemed yet undecided, MI. Forresters
place in Georgia had been on the line
Of Sherman 's'u.reh, and, though the
house had not been destroyed, it was 10
SO dilapidated a condition that no one
could live IN it, except Philip Forres-
ter and few workmen, who were en-
deavoring to make it habitable for his
father and mother. In this letter was
enclosed one from Lily to my father.
He did not show me its contents, but
his mouth assumed risidity as be
read it, from which I augured i'll A
few days after, he handed me check
for five: hundred dollars, saying, "You
may enclose that to Elliot Fo!rcstcr's
wife, and say, at the same time, that,
when she left my house, she ceased to
have any claim on me, but that, as I
would not have her mothers child
atarve, I will send her that sum yearly.
Her gentleman husband will have 70
aiok his gentility and do the rest. Let
hin show his good blood now by work
ing rather than depend on another
T declined conveying such a mes
sage, and my father wrote himself. A
week after, lie received the check, and
with It, in Elliot Forrester's hand,
these words :5"Your daughter shall not
starve while I live, and, while I live,
my vito cannot receive aims even from
her father. She asked for your affec-
ton, not your money, which she re-
quests me to say is valueless without
love-"
Enclosed in this was short but lov-
ing note of farewell from Lily to me.
My father tried to be scernful over this
note from Elliot Forester; but I saw
that it touched him, and that, even
while it made him angry, he vas better
pleased with it than he would have
been with a more submissive commuui-
cation. Still he thought and said : "He
can talk bravely, let US see what he will
do when he comes to act" e.;
It was not easy for us to. see, for a
cloud, through which came neither
sight nor sound, seemed from this time
to envelop Elliot Forester and his
wife. I think my father saw at last
how, with my Lily, my lite had gone
out. I went with him wherever he de-
sired ) to Saratoga or Newport in sum-
mer, to city gaieties in winter; Tut I
knew by the. expression, L ::sometimea
caught in bis eyes as they rested on
me, that the sad heart looked out
through the cheerful mask / tried to
wear. He grew gentle to me: One
day, however, I made him angry, BY
refusing an offer Of marriage from John
Melville, an acquaintance Of my girl.
hood, whom 1 had missed very much
when he went to Chin.: about twelve
years before. He had now :returned a
rich man, and told me that he loved
me always, and that his hours Of toll
had been frightened by the hope that
he might find me still Olive Raymond,
and persuade me to become Olive NIL.
VILE. He was good man, and l had
always liked him, as I told my father
but could not wake my heart to new
life, or carry the saddened old one into
a good mans home
! "I see lost both my children vher
Lily deserted me-" said my father, ani
from that time an imralpable something
interposcd itself between him and me
and our home grew yet colder aud sad
der.
It must not be thought that I hat