Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1870-03-03

"Colonel Edgar Mansfield, mother.
Have you not seen it in print?"
"Yes, often but tell me how,
when and where you met him."
Anna Marston gave an account OF
the danger which she had escaped,
and enthusiastically described the
heroic conduct of her preserver.
5"Mother," she said, at the close of
her narration, ''I looked down into
his blue eyes while 1 faltered be
tween life and death, and in their
soulful depths I read nlyJdte. In an
instant loved him with n love that
will know no change but in'death."
"Anna, my child, this is folly ! To
give your love before it is sought, is
unmaideniy to say the 1east"-
"Mother, it is the voice of Nature,
and who shall still its pleadings
Till now / have been as ice to all who
have sought my smiles-tiu now
distrustful, believing that the heiress,
and not the woman, being wooed,
should meier be won. He will come
to see me-he will wool shall &C
cept, and / pray Heaven W. shall be
happy J" 81
At a later hour, when Mrs. Mars
ton was alone in the drawing-room,
a servant entered and said :
Colonel Mansfield has called to
see Miss Anna.n
'tRequest him to walk in and /
will gladly welcome him ; then you
may inform my daughter of his ar
rivalu
The colonel entered, was received
with n courtesy, a grateful kindness,
which made that queenly matron no.
blysprepossessiHg in his sight.
The Conversation, Ringing much
on the service he had been so happy
as to render, continued until the
rustic of her dress announced beauti-
full Anna Marston, our heroine. As
he rose, she glided forward and with
hands extended to grasp his, ex-
claimed I: rur.a
"I am so glad you have come so
soon, that my dear mother may with
myself join in a renewal of grateful
| expressions Tor"
IA service which fortune threw in
my way, and to which I hope my
kind friend will make no further al
lusions, for by the honor of her &C
quaintance / am more than reward
ed. / hope you feel no evil effect
from the startling incident of the
day = nd ran now, ex-
plain to you how it occurred
The reader, who has noted all the
! incidents of the plot laid by Belphor,
needs no repetition of them here.
Colonel Mansfield listened, and
with the keen perception ola man of
the world, read the entire plot in all
its dark "details. And while. he re-
ljoiced at its failure, he warned the
lady that bad men seldom give up a
wicked plan because foiled at first,
and that she must yet guard against
| peril from these men.
Urged on, they could not say why,
or, cared not to ask, each IN turn
copfided to the other knowledge of
| their respective positions.
The colonel, who had gained his
rank in the volunteer service, was
now about to enter the regular army
as a captain Of cavalry. He intend
led to do SO, for in frontier and gar
rison duty he could find leisure to
use his pen, and the income from
that, added to his regular pay, would
enable him to continue to support
and educate an orphan siSter-his
dear little Pearl, then at the Rutgers
Female College. irta ,.. ...t-aa
| 9 Heinformed Miss Marston thathis
sister would graduate during the fol-
lowing week, and that it was his in
tention to then take her to the West
| with him: sai. v74E q
"For, he added, f'she is too young,
too pure, to go out alone In contact
with the World.u
"When your dear sister graduates,
I would like to have her here to live
with me. :;Her room shall be next
my own. Birds shall sing in every
window, and flowers greet her eye
on every side. Promise me, my
~preserver, that youEwin let her live
with me, at least for a time ?"
ST would be- unjust to both you
and her to refuse, andif you will, to-
gether we will visit her tomorrow,
for it is Saturday, and she will be all
day at home"
Anna, noble hearted, far above
the selfishness of. too many of the
wealthy daughters of America, now
revealed her soulful nature, as well
as a part of her history. II
"Do not think me bold, Colonel
Mansfield" she said. 81 do not
mean to be. But 1 am, L fear, a
widow when I was very young, with
an immense fortune in her hands,
a large part of which mine q
year ago, when I became of age.
She has had me educated at home,
but has allowed me always. to have
my own way in, everything. 1t has
made me independent and wiiifuI,
apt to speak just as I feel, and to act
as I believe right. I'll err, forgive
me-" -F
"Dear Miss Anna, your faults are
the faults of IN angel, and I can
never see them. Were I wealthy,
placed above the Influences of that
tide which, ebbing and flowing,
carries poor humanity whittier it
wills, I would feel independent, and
say more to you now than honor will
permit. For to tell you that I love
you, to ask you to give yourlove and
hand to one unable to do more than
to keep himself out of debt. and to
raise and educate one sweet sister, |
would indeed be dishonorable.U n
edgar Mansfield,I drop all titles,
I scorn all cold ceremony, L hate
conVentionalities. 81 acknowledged
that L loVe you-that nature .whis-l
pers to me you are the one, the only
one to whom I can conflde the hap
piness of my life"
"Oh, Anna, is not this q dream Pr
"No, Edgar. Mansfield, it is real,
and every word that IEhave uttered
comes from my heart. The world,
too cold to read hearts as hearts are,
may not understand me, but you
will. Love springs into existence
even as volcanic fires leap from the
snow-crowned mountains, and I
-1H@ + v5EOa =5ts:-e.-a ii l
8 This outburst of affection was sue
ceeded by q cry of alarm. Anna
Marston, raising her eyes to the cur
tain - khorlorno fronfinoJ