The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1872-02-15

found upon the pillow She burst into
passionate weeping wien | drew her face
to my bosom.
oh said she, Il could not die until
| had seen you again | wanted to tell
you all about my foolish weak heart.
Yes" | said, tell me all about it
it will help you
And then she told me.
do not for one moment think he even
gave me any reason to love him lie never
even touched my hand unless by accident
never spoke one word, that the world
might not hear. But he was so noble,
so handsome, so cultured; so different
from the men knew; so like my dreams,
that l could not help loving him. l
never thought be would love me never
expected it; yet when you spoke Of his
approaching marriage, l thought the
whole world had become a blank. As
the time draws near. nay hearts pain
grows sharper; and | am SO glad when L
think Of death and the grave.
Hush" I cried, my eyes full oftears,
''you must not talk sol, is wicked. You
must not give away to this morbid grief. >
And then holding her poor. thin hands. l
talked to her for many moments, and I'M
pressed upon her the weakness of yield
ing to her grief.
Il will try and get WE'LL" she said, at
last
And then [ left her.
Half an hour later her mother called
me in alarm Dahlia was in burning
fever. and delirious. We all gathered at
her bedside save her father, who was not
| present.
She fastened her glistening eyes upon
! Carl face.
kiss me-kiss me just once" she
cried over and over again.
She thinks you are her father. Carl,
I said irwardll asking pardon for my un-
truth, land 30 she asks you. 1t will
quiet her.
He leaned over the bed and kissed her
hot lips Five minutes afterward she was
sleeping, but the fever was raging fierce
ly in her frail system. And for many
days her life hung by thread. But she
lived.
| stayed with her uHtil she was safely
on the shores IF this life again, and then
[ returned to my home.
Carl wa. married at the appointed time
and deemed h mself the most fortunate OF
men. His bride looked very handsome
in her stylish ressean; but | wondered
what she and Carl would think, if they
knew that my heart was saying over and
over. IF it could have been Dahlia.'
never let them know it; and Helen regards
me with much affection.
Dahlia lived but she is still single
She comes to my home sometimes and
she has learnt d to meets Carls wife with
perfect COM osure. They haye never
suspected her secret.
"Dahlia, | said once to her, ''you are
SO beautiful, so amiahle, so domestic, it is
a shame that you do not grace some
mans home. Are you never intending to
marry p
She shook Ter head.
L cannot love again-and marriage
without love. seems sinful to me. No
other lips shall ever kiss the lips that he
kissed. 1t may be weak, but it is my
nature. [ am happier than [ possibly
could be as any man s wife now.
[ believed her. She was one of those
strangely constant, interchangeable natures
that are so rare, thank Heaven for they
are born to suffer.
And to think that Carl should love and
cling to that frt of HeIen. when this
great heart might have been his. But
must not forget that she is ny daughter,
and her children are my grandchildren.
If it was only Dahlia How strangely
Fate arranges things IN this strange
world. But | suppose it is all for the
best at least | do not complain much.
Yet Dahlia-but there, l am in my
dotage.