The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-11-24
s1Ps, aRnt Won will, forgive me ?" she pleaded.

YOU to remain in my house--these old ancestral
halls-that will shower diamonds upon you,
and give you velvets to wear, and IN return you
will give me tolerance. But no, will tell you
no. the same house can hold no longer the de-
ceiver and the deceived"
"You turn me into the streets, Roswell; L
have no home but this"
"No, no, madaya, / am not such brute as
that; only take your presence from my house,
and I will pay for your Judgement elsewhere"
Forgive me, and let me stay" pleaded Ke-
gina Sinclair.
II never forgive p was the stern reply.
"Never forgivel' and Regina shuddered;
"God have mercy on those who never forgive,
and turning from her husband, she threw her
self on the couch and wept bitterly.
The next morning when Roswell Sinclair
sought his wife's room, she was gone. She had
taken nothing with her; her rich dresses were
all folded up in the large chest; her jewels were
in the ebony and silver casket where she had
kept them; her desk stood on the rosewood ta-
BILE. and even her work-box remained on the
bureau. He sat down and glanced around at
the deserted apartment that spoke so eloquent
" of its departed occupant. cold chill seemed
to come over him he shuddered as he grasped
nervously at the arms of the chairs. He looked
up at the picture in its glowing colors, which
his wife loved so well-Hagar going forth into
the wilderness. How prophetic it seemed; out
into the wilderness, the great black wilderness
of the world, had gone Regina. He tried to
think that he had acted right, even while con-
science whispered that he had done wrong. He
solaced himself with the idea that he had been
deceived-grossly wronged-and that ne had
rIeted out fitting punishment to the deceiver,
and he was avenged.
seVengeance is mine, and will repay" saith
the Lord and the human hand that snatches
the word of vengeance from the grasp of Di-
vi lity will find that its blade cuts both ways
him at whom it is aimed, and he who aims it.
Forgiveness, like charity, carries double
blessing he is blessed who forgives, and he If
blessed who is forgiven. 1t was years before
the revengeful, naughty spirit Of Roswell Sin.
clair felt this. In the meanwhile, ne wrapped
himself in the mantle of cold reserve, and lived
halls. When some memory of the woman he
had banished intruded itself upon him, he
strove to beat back the unwelcome visit by,
"she basely deceived me-" for he had not yet
learned to forgive.
Thus in bitterness of heart, lived Roswell
Sinclair in his gloomy house, asking no SYM
pathy and receiving none shadow rested
upon his home and upon his heart-a great
darkness that could be felt.
Dark clouds, too, lowered over his country,
which at length assumed the lurid glare of war.
Glad for anything to break the gloomy mono
tony of his life, Roswell Sinclair was among
the first wounded and taken prisoner.
Six years had elapsed since the night he had
with grey, and lines of SORROW were engraven on
his face. As he lay tossing in fevered sleep, on
his little cot in the hospital, Sister Angela, the
nurse, was arrested by the vision. She had not
seen him before, as she was at distant post
when the prisoners had been brought in the
night before. She gazed long and anxiously at
the flushed sleeper; though sadly changed, she
remembered we'll that proud, handsome face.
What bitter memories rushed over her as she
eazed at him; one more look, then she turned
instinctiyely away. But her sympathy soon
over-powered all harsher feelings, and return
ing, she took her seat on her low chair beside
the sufferer.
Then the whole past rushed to her mind.
She remembered how, in her early girlhood,
Robert Arlington had won her love- She had
promised to marry him, and after waiting pa
tiently three years, he proved false to his VOWS,
and married another 1t was terrible blow
blow that seemed to crush out all the sweet
ness from her life. Then her parents died, and
she found herself penniless orphan. Then it
was that she met, for the first time, Roswell
Sinclair. Her beauty attracted him, he pro-
posed, and though she almost shrank from his
fierce love-maklng, she accepted him, and, in
q few months she found herself his wife. He
carried her to his proud home; he surrounded
her with almost Oriental splendor; he loved
her, but it was with that jealous, exacting love
tnat makes woman almost as miserable as
positive Indifference He was passionate, jeal-
Gus, exacting and unforgiving, and she pined
even amid the splendors that surrounded her.
She had guarded the secret of her early love
we'll from the jealous gaze of her husband, but,
in an unlucky moment, he discovered all. She
had been driven from his presence out into the
vast, weary world, and she carried with her on
" the bitter memory of the many years of
harshness and cruelty. The large, hot tears
gathered slowly in the eyes of Sister Angela, as
she reviewed the bitter past, and gazed upon |
the sleeping form of the man she had once |
called husband. Yet no resentment filled her |
heart; she was ready-she even yearned to say |
II forgive"
The night wore on, and Sister Angela kept
her watch beside the wounded man. An angel
"a pitying angel-watched him as he slept |
but he knew it not. The long rows of cots
looked CHASTITY beneath the faint rays of the
lamp, and some of the faces of the occupants
were pallid and wan. The silence was broken
only BY the deep breathing Of the sleepers, and
a half-smothered groan from some sufferer as
he vainly tried to court sleep. Occasionally,
some soldier dreaming of home, would cry out
the loved name of sister or of wife, and laugh |
happily in his sleep. Once only did Roswell
Sinclair wake during that long night. He
asked for water. Sister Angela handed it to
him; he took it from her and drank eagerly, |
then. thanking her, he went to sleep.
But one night, the last night of bis stay as
she walked through the ward to see how her
patients were, she halted for moment beside
the bed of Roswell Sinclair. He opened his
eyes and looked at her, and putting forth his
hand he said
"Reginap