New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-25
skls Uslkans 3spablitai.
THE UNCONSCIOUS CONFESSION.


THE UNCONSCIOUS CONFESSION.
-fs.fsM rsTt As4t-- a 20 s-safu ~
"Hurry up, gentlemen! the coach is wait
in9," cried the voice Of the stage driver IN
front Of the Metropolitan Hotel, at Long
Branch. Totteresus sF5 - .sAecl 1
Nv story goes back to the days when rail-
roads to the Branch were as yet unknown,
and when the transit to New York was
achieved by coaches that ran toward Sandy
Hook. where . steamer awaited the pas
tan. handsome young man, at the sum
mons, came down the atair-case, two steps
.t . time, and almost ran over a matrOnly
woman q few years his senior who was
crossing the hall. laf - 90 1s,f =
sWWhat! Going to leave us 7" said the
LADY, in some surprise, and with more mean
ing in her look than in her words even. =
Eyes! Its 10 luse," was the reply.
,ssThsnks for your good wishes, which l can
nee IN your looks, Mrs. Maxwell. But I'm
tired If playing the fool" fn~5s~f efT
g" Pshawr said the lady, putting her arm
familiarly into his, and Leading him into the
A~rawingaroom, which at that honr was de-
serted. "Faint heart never won fair lady,
Ar. Hastings. Listen to me. The coach
will waits momsnt" sls 9 sl +ft
ats not q question of faint heart an
swered the gentleman. But Kate won't
have me: Sec here,l Mr.. Maxwell-it's
hardly fair Of you to corner me-but she re-
fused me, point blank, last night ''. ,.
"And what If she dide 1 refused Mr..
!. Maxwell the first time myself. It's q way
some of our eex have. Come, stay, and try
again. .eHgseess e. 3f%~FsH 10 ss7tE-
20 I'm . proud man, {" was the reply, and
apnst like being trifled with. But I'd stay,
# / thought it would do any good. But 1t
won't. She is not anywhere about, you see,
though 1 told her / would go' away to-day;
When l said it she actually laughed. And
yet, confound her, l can't help loving her.,
Mrs, Maxwell would liked to have laughed
aloo. But she knew better than to do so
just vet.
"She wa . little hysterical, or she
wouldn't have laughed" she said. The
truth h Herbert you are . pair OF fools.
Yea arc proud, ~ you say, and don't brook
refusals. Kate is perhaps q bit OF q firt,
but ! sincerely helicvc she loves you. All
abe needs is q little more urging. o must
otpsn the fortress till it suTrenders. Give
her no quarter, that ~ my advice and
now Mrs. Maxwell, seeing his face brighten,
veatured 10 laugh. q rn.ss-N =
It was Q clear, musical laugh, and it
eheered Herbert still more He hesitated.
If another FIVE minutes could have been
granted to Mrs.. Maxwell, she would have
veoyailed. But at that moment q voice
cried:
NHere he il. Hurry up, Hastings. We've
been looking for you everywhere. The
& stnee driver saws he vent wait another mo
ment, All! Mrs. Maxwell. Our holiday
is over YOU see Goodbye" II
That interruption decided Herbert. He
shook his head in reply TO Mrs. Maxwellis
imploring look, wrung her hand, and
dashed out Of the d~raw1ngsfoOm. Tho next
minute the crowded coach was rolling heav-
81 Al~~>.-h <1n rord NTH thu Surf fhuvl-
1ering on its right. |.
It was six miles, or 20, to the steamboat
landing. For the first two miles the pas
bengers. al of whom were gentlemen. chat
ted gayly; after that they gradually grew
silent, the a6onoten0eas afsg Of the wheels
in the sand acting q kind OF soporitic. One
o. two, in fact, fell asleep. And now Her
hart began half 70 repent Of what he had
done. Perhaps ! nave beer too hasfy,'
= han e.: i 1;s * hinself' What # Mrs; Max
BE mnsed thus for quite half a mile.
ssI've q great mind to 60 back" he thought.
ssHold on, driver" he cried, ''I've changed
my mind. Stop till / jump out. III walk
BEFORE his sleepy companions could ask
what he meant, he had left the coach, had
Lit q cigar, and was plOdding through the
heavy sands on his return. .
His mood SION changed again. .
asWhat 4 precious fool l am making of
myself." he reflected, and he turned to hail
the coach, but it was q quarter OF a mile
of.
dives befSre I count iHftf;;n he said, "IM go
hack to the Metropolitan; if not, I'll walk
q the landing and take the afternoon boat"
The fish-hawk dove almost immediately.
ssFate has decided for me" he said des-
perately. "Now let us see how wisely"
~ Meantime where was the offending Kate.
To do her justice, she was not aware
. how much she loved Hastings until
ahe refused him. 1t was not altogether
coouetrv that led her to say, Ano." The an
ever had been given in the first surprise
and embarassnent of the proposal. She
was frightened to find, almost immediately,
how much she misunderstood herself. She
grew more and more embarrassed i'll cOnse-
1uence; and her manner afterward, at which
Hastings took euch ~offense, was, as
Mr.: Maxwell had suggested
f6ro BE lsfE hef che utterly repented what
she Had sd. q Had he persevered a little
longer. she would have confessed the truth.
She did. not, however, think he would leave
the Branch even after he had said so.
q Hence, early in the morning, she had started
: for . walk on the beach, hoping to meet him
sthere a. usual for hardly q day had passed
within the last fortnight hat these two had
There was an old wreck, at that time
about q mile or more, above the MetropOli-
tan, which had been a favOrite haunt Of
theirs, and thither she repaired. She tried
to read till Herbert should appear, but her
thoughts wandered from her book cOntinu
ally. Meantime the hours passed without
Herbert appearing. Her heart began to fail
her. She spent the time examining her real
foa1snro onA tho r,aordf o1,o ccprvf.piyn6 Thorn
the more she felt her love had gone from
her for ever. BY and by the hot tears be-
gan to come. She knew how proud Hast
ings was, and she said to herself that he
would never come back.
The sea rolled heavily in; the fish-hawks
sailed overhead; the breeze blew fresh from
the eastward: the sun shone dazzlingly
bright. 1t was getting toward noon. She
gave up all hope at last, and, rising, began
to walk back toward the hotel. But after "a
while she sat down on a boulder, under
shelter of q bank, for she had been all this
time upon the beach below it. She would
not vet abandon the chance of seeing him.
Gradually she fell into d sort.of ~revcrie, and
began, half uncOnsciOusly, to trace Her
bert's name in the sand with the point OF
her paEasolsl kAE-EGF-F@YE
1t was at this ,~juncture that Herbert, walk.
ing along the top of the bank above,
discerned her. He had already passed her
and would not lave seen her at all but tina,
his attention was suddenly directed to a
1ish.hawk that. diving for a victim, had
zone sailing off ~northward with its prey
His heart began to beat fast. Here was the
chance he had wished, yet not dared tt
hope for it surely was a favorable sign thai
she had gone to the usual rendezvous. HI
hastily sprang down the bank, and began
hurriedly rctracing his steps toward her.
He thought she would hear him as he up
rroached: but she did not. She was evi