The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1871-11-30

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in ehancery where this preciou, scamp
Of yours will find matters even . little
harder on him than I Can make them.
No remonstrances," as Grace vas aboat
to speak. "You had your opportunity !; |
you neglected it; and now you must
abide by your own choice Of action.-
Mine is made; and nothing that you
could say will alter my decision"
/ Saying which he again left the room
and before the evening had come he
had left the house, for two years trav-
el in the wilds Of Abyss,nis, giving
Aunt Maria strict orders what to do
aud what to forbid, should Grace prove
disobediont or young Addy Cayley
troublesome.
But Grace was q good girl in her
own way. II she was rebellious in her
fidelity she was not disobedient IN act,
and as her guardian had forbidden her
to write, so that she was unable to do
so openly, she scorned to have recourse
to any mean deception; so simply held
on aud trusted, and hoped that Andy
would hold on and trust too. But it
was weary work ; and by the time the
winter had fairly ccme, tho suspense
and SORROW in which she lived had be-
gun to tell upon her sadly, and the rose
leaves were fast fading from her face,
leaving her so p'nchcd, pale, distressed,
that Aunt Maria's kind heart bled for
her, and sho even ventured once on Z
halfhesitating petition to her nephew,
for leave to relax the severity of her
joilorship.
With poor Addy the case was almost
as bad. NJ reply coming to his letter
ho tortured himself with fears that
Grace had taken i'll, held it presump.
tuous, aud by her silence wished him
to understand that he had no chance,
no hope. Tho fever into which bis
perplexitJ threw him nearly cost the
poor lad bis life: but he rallied again
after a severe fight, and turned to his
work again, resolut; if sad, with no
cowardly despair or dependency, for if
hope aud love and poetry were gone,
he had at least work, fame, and ambi.
ton still left.
Meanwhile Grace faded steadily
away, till by the spring time she looked
more like dying than living. But she
never complained. She simply wept
and fretted, and could not eat, and
grew weaker and thinner and paler;
but she did not disobey her guardians
commands, and she did not cease to
love and long for Addy.
Suddenly Will Magnus came home ;
no one knew why; and even he himself
would have been troubled to give q
reason intelliyib!e to any ono But i'm
PEELED by the restless dissatisfaction
that had taken possession of him ever
since his outbreak with Grace, he
came back one day, as il he had drop
ped from the skies, ard rcar'y killed
his fragile ward by the suddeDaess of
his arrival. She was |; ine IN the sofa
drawn up in the by window, half
doing from mere weakness, when all at
once size became con, ci,us of scme one
looking at her. She pcned her large
blue eyes with start aud cry; and
the next instant Was lyi": i" a dead
faint in her guadian's arm; S',o, for a
long time, sobbing bitterly, strong man
as he was, hung over what he thought
to be tho corpse of the sw Ct rhild he
had killed. Bu: she sas retired be.
fore it was tco late anl after infinite
pains and difficulty, once m'rc looked
out into the glad life OF Gu tn.
| Will was kneeling BY r, holding
her hands 10 his, when she finally re-
covered careless Of what Aunt Maria,
of what Jane the maid, Of what the
doctor might think, kissing those pale
wasted little fingers, "h,la his hot tear
fell over them. Grace opened her eye
upon him. Feebly raising herself from
the pillow, she slid one arm around hi
; ne,k, and caresslngly laid her cheek OF
his.
"Guardy dear," she whispered, put
ting up her other hand to his face
i; "send Addy to nc. Let me see hin
ayslD ]" ard then she fell back an,
tainted again.
But she had conquered. It was
struggle and pain but then life it
self is but a struggle and a pain al
through!
Will felt the innocent ingratitude O
the girl, perhaps, moro than anything
else. Here was he breaking his hear
over her, and the FIRST use she made o
her restored life was to boseeoh hin
for his rival! However, it had to b.
} done. 1t was not in him to resist sucl
an appeal, made so tendcrly, so confd
. ingly, with such on abandonment o
, self restraint, such child.like trust il
his goodness, APT ealing from him II
himself: l, had 50 tc done; and whel
, the two young people we're honestl,
and opsoly engaged f'r all that Add,
was but the sou of a color sergeant