The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-03-04
BY Alfred ~ Horsley.
love with all the fervor and intepsity


love with all the fervor and intensity
of her nature, Il ~
We have known each other from
childhood-we have always been like
brother and sister, and oh! Ben it does
make me wonder and sgrieve to think
that you should now"
"Hush ~ he said, hOarsely, "I do
not care to hear about wonder or grief
Il asked you for your love-you refuse
it to me, it is enough. See how calm
ly can part with yeu," and with a
harsh, ironical laugh, he held out his
right hand, which was quivering like
that of one suddenly palsied. ~
i Her warm white fingers closed
around it. Z
"It is hard for me to give you pain.
/ shall never know a friendship dearer
or sweeter than yours has been to me,
and for your love-I shall live to see it
given to one more worthy than my
self"
He did not respond to her words. The
white silence of anguish rested upon
his face as he lifted her hand to his lips,
and went out from her bright, beauti-
full presence, leaving with her the sun
shine of life, and taking with him the
brooding shadow of an unrequited
love. .-r...,s sf;..-l -.sr -
Two hours later, and Mabel still sat
alone in her boudoir, and now her face
was very, very sOrrowful, for il seemed
to her as if she should never again be-
hold the face of her rejected lover, and
the thought was so exquisitely painful
to her that her heart began to throb
with strange doubt, seeming. to ask
| itselEis it true that do not care for
him-is it true that / really lore the
osher-may mot have mistaken feet
ing passion for that divine feeling so
much calmer, yet so much more beau
tiful and true?'
"Garth Clarendon"
Again her revery has been broken,
and this time by servant bearing a
card with the above name traced there
on in firm, clear characters. -sE
will see him presently" she said,
| and the servant left the room.
There was no question in her heart
in regard to her relative feeling toward
her two lovers. Every fibre in her
body slonded to the magic of that
penciled name-fancy or love, it was
all the same to her-Garth Clarendon
was the man to marry.
| She went down to meet him, striving
hard to keep up the semblance of the
outward frigidity which had disguised
her jealousy of the night previous
striving hard to remember that, with
the exception of the last three hours,
she had spent the day in nursing her
anger against him, feeding its flames
with the recollection of the tender
glances she had seen him bestow upon
another.
In vain! Mabel, strong and proud in
all things else, was very weak in her
love for this man. -,,-s.s E..
The first clasp Of his hand brought
back the wild, sweet idolatry which it
| was his triumph to read in her great
flashing eyes.
"You are not we'll this morning, Ma
| bel"
All! the subtle tenderness of the
words, it thrilled her whole being with
a rapturous joy.
81 am quite we'll, Mr.. Clarendon"
How calmly she tried to speak, but
T Garth Clarendon smiled as her eyes
dropped shyly beneath his.
He knelt beside her playfully.
1--WE were not friends last night,
were we?'' ~ ..-....
at was your fault and not mine"
"My bright Queen Nab, 1 only
! wanted to see if you cared for me suffi-
ciently to be Jealous of my attentions to
la belle blonde. Your 6,sOucidhce stung
r1e to the quick-was it real or assum-
ed-tell me-"
at was real"
Pride prompted her to speak the I'M
truth. Of course, Clarendon did not
believe her. He determined that she
should confess the truth-he was very
proud of his power over the beautiful
woman. .-
az will ask you again, Mabel and
this time you will tell me what will
make me very happy-that the indif
| ference ,cns assumed" + -
He laid his hand lightly upon hers,
and she quivered beneath the electric
touch.
A subtle dreamy splendor came into
his eyes as he looked up at her beseech-
ingly. .,,o ,,,,,,, u.,,., . Won, ~, -,
| angry at my apparent neglect of you,
last nights it not sO?"
"Yes,n and the tears would come as
she remembered the long night o. ma
| tyrdom-for what is it but martyr
dom to q woman to behold the man
she loves paying homage to another?
Clarendon arose to his feet, and draw
| ing a chair near Mabel, sat down upon
it with the air of man who is about
| to say something of importance.
The time had come when he felt that
he must speak the all important II love
you,u and it was with the serenest sat-
! isfaction that the utterance of these
three words, with the cOmmitant-
"Will YOU become my wife ~ would
secure to him the joint prOprietOrship
of fortune of sixty thousand dollars,
which Mabel already held in her own
right. ~ .t+. p
Nature had given Garth Clarendon q
face and form that a prince might have
envied, but his mind had nOught to
distinguish it, save q certain craftiness
and a genius for plotting which had
served him well in his many affairs
du cOeur. s H.
He was scientific lOve-maker. Ma
bel Colchester was q beauty and heir,
ess: the last word claimed his regard
1 i'm a worldly point of view-the first
touched his heart through the senses,
/ the only manner in which it was pos
sible TO reach that organ. @
He would never have asked her to be
his wife, did he not remember constant
Iy that he counted hers by ten thou
sands. He was, to come down to dots,
a fortune hunter-a hard epithet to he
applied to such noble looking fellow,
but nevertheless, true one.
| In Mable he had found hts prize, but
had not gained it, as the sequel will
show.
He had sat beside her like young
! Apollo pleading hisisuit, and neverwas
the old, old story told with a sweeter
eloauence, but alas just rs the ques-
ton had been asked, which required
the "yes," which SO many women
have rpoken, and 50 many men jOyed
to hear, Mabel raised her dropping eyes
to her lovers face-what did she see
there to cause her to start back with
white face and wrathfab giittering
ewes? \ smile, and such a smile as
few women would have failed to inter
pret it was one which seemed to say,
ssBah. what farce this making love
is after all As didn't already know
that this woman adores the very ground
upon which walk. As if any woman
could say mo- to such . splendid, fas-
cinating fellow as myself" A con-
ceited self.satisfied smile-it made the
blood boil i'm Mabers veins-a torrent
of loathing and disgust seemed to rush
over her-in one instant it seemed as If
the mans nature were revealed to her.
"He seeks my fortune, !" she said in