Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1872-11-23
ATURDAY, NOVEMBER %. 1872.

You can imagine the slow dying out !
of hope and expectation; sud II you
are old. YOU know how such things
can be lived over and hidden IN Sc
Cret graves.
Bat now, a. though the graves
had been opened and the judgment
set, came this sudden reproachful
question up from the buried past
/ fairly caught my breath as | turned
back ray eyes and looked him IN the
face again.
Forgive me" said he, directly, in
4 gentle tone. Il did not mean to
speak: you broughtit out with your
eyes: that questioning turn was so
familiar. OF course you were quite
right, and l never blamed you. l
never meant you should see me
again. but the temptation TO feel my
self beside you, only TO be IN the
soothing charm Of your presence,
was too great. 1t has been bless
ing shall carry with ne all the rest
of my life"
He was rising 10 90 away, but l
nut ont nv hand. II did write,
Duncan Ashley" said /; 1.-The letter
must have gone wrong"
You did.-you wrote Ae cried,
| sinking back in his chair again, and
looking at me eagerly AA' '''O
/ you say!"
There was only one thing l could
say. and l said that" l answered,
| blushing as though had just writ
| ten the letter.
/ A middIe-aged woman in hood
/ and water-proofl But dear me. II
was only nv face that was middle
aged. after all; my heart was as
| v0uno- and silly as ever. And as
! or Duncan's face, she marks OF care
and thought and tsme fell OF, leav-
/ ing in il only the eternal youth q
love.
| IL wss the old story OF a lost let
ter. and the old story of proud
man. believing himself rejected ana
humiliated, and heeing 10 Inc ehd7
of the earth with his pain.
Twenty precious years wasted:
| said INV New Zealander. I'VE wlll
not be separated another day while
we both live. There is clergyman
among our passengers, and we VIII
be married this very hour.
That was so like his headlong de-
cisions! Certainly he did need so
Der second thought like me Tor pal
LAST. That cannot be" L crleu;
1.-The ceremony wouldn't be legal
without a license or something. And
would by no means do anything
so conspicuous"
But. bless your souE l might Of
well have tried to wipe up the AT.
lantic with my pocket handkerchief
He was SO grieved. and so impatient
and so resolute (and, indeed, whef
one comes to think of II, twenty
wears is long enough for an engage
ment). that / finally dropped OF my
/ WATERPROOF and sea-sickness, snt
stood up behind the pinnacle, nnG
, was married before eight bells tha
Z very morning-riug and all. Dun
! can produced it from small casSel
where he had carried itin his waist
! coat pocket for the whole twenl,
. 81 could never bear TO pu
i the little thing away" he said, look
ing at it tenderly.
r The next day We came 10 poT
Y with the sun shining and our flag
4 fying. There was furry OF gooc
byes. hoisting of trunks, we
= coming of friends on the shore, an
Q a glad hurrying to and fro.
! Among the rest was an instant
= nesting of Miss Armour's lips ul
e on my cheek, and q little cling
,t her hand in mine, the vanishing
r. a smile, and she was gone Ike u
n flash of a FREELY, out of my sigI
r forever. But wherever she is al
', however she fares, she has the dal
" blessing OF two middle-aged heart
a whose way to each other she unco
W sciously lighted