Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-08-03

gave her hints about dress, and she gre'
handsome Tapidly-mUch to his satis
faction; for, though he would have bee
ready to marry her in any case, it wOul
be much more agreeable to have a wifi
who furnished to spectators an eXcUs
for ones choice besides dollars and cents
1t was not altogether the new color
that she wore which improved her. 1
subtle flame ran through all her veins
and kindled the smOuldering fires in he
eyes. Her cheeks were pale no longer
or her face spiritless. When she locke
in the glass she saw what seemed to heI
in contrast with her old self, a radian
/ vision. And when with this new Jeal
Rathburne Jack BrevOOTt began to fal
in love it did not surprise or startle hel
This was the summer of her life-feT
vid rs short; it lasted three MONTHS
This time only, to her sad, cOlOrless eX
istence, came happiness.
BrevOOrt was an ardent lover. He wa
! gifted in the art of seeming to a degree
amounting to positive genius. Thel
Jean was too sturdily honest herself t.
doubt the honesty of others, and too de
! licately generous ever to remember tina
/ she was rich and he was poor. So he
summer was warm and bright, and al
! her roses blOOmed!
| 1t was something to see her in thest
| days-her old dead-and-alive self III
| longer: in its stead a sparkling creature
melting into the mspeakable glory o
| love and wOmanhOOd. How man whC
! truly loved her would have delighted
in what Jack BrevOOTt watched witt
the cynical cOOlueSS of MephistOpheles
He hurried on the preparations fOI
their marriage when once she had ac.
cepted him. He could not do without
her, he said, longer than till fall. II
was the truest word he had uttered since
he had began his cOurtship; but the need
he had of her was of a nature he would
not have found it pleasant to commune
cate. She thought it was the eagerqess
of love.
1t was to make some of the arrange
ments which his approaching marriage
rendered necessary that BrevOOTt went
out of town for a couple of days and of
course, in his character, he must write
each day to his hetrOthed. The first
letter-Jean kathburne's first love letter
was full of subtly sweet words, tender
phrases, allusiOns which made her pulls
es beat fast. She read it till she knew
it by heart, and then kept reading it
over TO see if she had forgotten any
thing.
The second she opened with fingers
trembling with expectation. 1t COM
menced with Dear Hallu Her delicate
sense Of honor bade her fold it UP again,
for she understood at once that it had
been sent to her by mistake. But as she
doubled it over she caught her own
name, She would have been more than
woman if she had not read it then.
1t was simply the letter of one fast
young man to another, about betting
and debts and horses. 1t shocked her
taste; but she loved him enough to have
excused it but for this passage:
George cannot say that am not ma
king effort enough to pay him. am to
marry Miss Rathburne in October
Splendid woman as she is, she is not my
would have been. 1 care
more for Nellls little finger. However,
a man who owes forty thousand dollars,
and has some conscience still left about
paying it, can't very well afford to in
dulge in the luxury of a heart. believe
l got rid of mine pretty effeCtually some
time ago.
Those were words which no sOphistry
could ever beguile her to fOrgiving. Her
was over. The untimely black
frost had come.
George or sHal.' She lad no curiosity
at all. Enough for her that love had
failed her.
She looked in the glass with sad,
eyes, and lost forever all the
fond seIfcOmplacence of recent days
There was nothing about her love, after
I'll. She had been deceived. The very
lepth of her self-abasement made her
patient.
1t was morning when the letter came, /
md at night BrevOOrt was to return
So she sat all day and waited, without /
knowing how long the hours were, or |
ceiling once the weariness of delay
She felt as if her heart and her pulses
we're standing still, and and waiting |
llsO. She was too utterly benUmbed to
are for any thing. Through the weary
lay the only thing like occupation which .
he attempted, was to draw one check
or fifty Thousand dollars in favor of
lack BrevoOrt, and sign it.
At last he came. She heard the we'll
Known ring, the firm, proud step in the
lall--hOw she had loved to note and re-
member every one of his peculiarities ! l
Then he opened the door, and came up
o her as usual.
She made q Slight gesture of warning,
md that or something in her face re-
,ressed the enthusiasm which would
otherwise have expressed itself in car
sses. II
4 believe forty thousand dollars is the
mOuntO of your debts p she asked in a
lear metallic tone. II
"Who told you q" he gasped.
"YOurselfn
She took out the letter, and laid it in
lis hands. He looked at it, and knew
can RathhVrHe well enough to give up {
is game.
81 haven't one word to say, though
IN not quite so heartless, perhaps, as
hat letter makes me seem. / should /
ave been kind to you. But you may |
s we'll despise me through and through ,
",Jusl as well" ," she answered dryIy.-
Of course l Withdraw from my promise /
} marry you; but your good intentions I
bout paying your debts must not be
by my trOth breaking. Here I
Il check for fifty thousand dollars. The 1
laTgin of ten thousand over your own =
stimate of your liabilities will cover I
ny little items you may chance to have
,TgOtten, and make you a free man {
gain, who can afford to have heart
do you think me mean enough to !
Ike il"
4 think you ,rW take it. There is e
ind of Justice in it, too. l would have a
wen you several times as much, freely,
you had loved me as ] thought. You U
9seTve something for the weariness it c
ust have been to you to act a part so 81
ng.'
Her voice softemed while she spoke to J
tender wOmanly pathOs. He looked b
her, with her sad, dOwncast ewes,
3r heavily-falling hair, her face that G.
its woe was sweet, and he came near il
to loving her than he had ever come II
fore.
''You can't forgive me, and won't "
k you" a
Then he took his hat and went away, p
aving the check lying on the table. al
She sent 1t to him next day in an en- I'll
lOpe, without an additional word -
'ide babe him return it, but his neces- W
les constrained him. Jean Rathburne re
llled grlmly when the check came lS
ok to her from the bank, punctured VI
,e railroad ticket with little round 81
lies. W
Pride would have kept some wo- ii
EN-, III her place, in the midst of &C
e world. She was prOuder still, dl
d disregarded the world altogether m
e never was seen any more in society. di
e had her dgy--her summerwas gone,
tn its roses. She chose 20 pass her
tumn alone. She pensiOned of the m
dow Dredlife, and sent her way. She of
l not feel young or volatile enOngh to hI
ed matroniZing any more. tr
II she suffered no one knew it. As | la
i'll, the only complaint She was known TO