The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-09-13

proposed, after all. Fie on you!''
"Faint heart never won fair lady,
sir"
But I drew her again to me, and
kissed her, and she nestled on my
bosom, blushing and happy, and for
| give me. At last she glanced up,
shyly; y.
she said. You won't be angry p
Certainly not. How could 1 p
Promise. .
"I promise"
cit is something you ought to
know before I become your wife.
Perhaps-perhaps-perhaps - per-
haps it may make you change your
mind"
She hid her face in my bosom
again.
Nothing can make me change
my mind"
=" Not if 1 tell you" and she spoke
In a voice so low that 1 could hardly
hear her, " that I was-in love-be-
fore ?"
I started. Her hesitation, her
whole manner sent a sudden chill
through me. Was it but the ashes
of heart, then, that I had won
You promised" she said hur-
riedly, mot to be angry. And it
may make a difference if 1 tell you it
was long time ago"
"Ah" 1 cried, forcing a smile,
but no words can describe the tor
ture.
But-but-" she resumed, "I
kept on loving him. Nay! don't
start-forgive me. It was a sort of
youthful dream, you see. Ho was
my ideal of everything great and no
ble-my Bayard, my Sidney, my Sir
Laucelot."
Iw1nced more and more. What
was the rack to this ?
But, darling" (she had never
stopped, but went on, hurriedly),
" it is you 1 love nOw-remember
that! Only I must tell you all.
1 worshipped my youthful fancy till
till the day on the Campagna.
And now l have something to re-
turn to him-not exactly a love
token, but what L have kept as a
mOmentO-"
"And you wish me to write him
and send this-this momentO ?" l
interrupted curtly, and quito with
drawing from her. came very
near saying never.
eff you please, " she answered de-
| murely, rising and cOUrtesying. As
she spoke she drew from her pocl1
ct small faded bit of paper, that
had apparently been torn from a
memorandum book, and a thin,
worn, gold pencil case
For an instant l was dumb with
amazement. 1 looked at the pencil
case, and then at the merry face,
which was now ripping all over
with fun. Like a flash every thing
came back to me the wild, wooded
| hills; the stone farmhouse the
! lush grasses; the water-cresses /
saw the shy, bashful child, with her
pitcher. l recognized the face
too, at last, in the one before me.
elbow could l fail to recognize it
before 2" [ said to myself, angrily.
All my jealsOusy was gone in an iu-
stant. For it was l who had been
her ideal through all these years it
was l who had been her Bayard,
her Sidney, her Sir Lancelot.
/ gazed like on transfxed, STAN
mering:
"And you arc"
Bashful Boots" with another
courtesy, and so rOguish look, 4" or
Bathful Booth, as l believe l said
in those days.
Then she told me how it all came
about. She had given my mono
randum to her uncle, who began
Immediately to look for ore, and
was happily rewarded by finding a
vein. lie was soon a rich man.
owe all shared in the good for
tune, said my mistress. My cOu-
sin and [ were sent to the MOravian
school at Bethlehem, and my uncle's
two sons went to college. We Of
ten thought and spoke of you as our
benefactOr, " she said, nesting close
to mo, "and even inquired after you
in the city, but found you had gone
abroad.
'Three years ago" she continued,
ga terrible calamity befell JUS My
uncle's health failed, and he was or
dered to New Orleans for the win
ter. The family all went, except
myself, for remained at Bethlehem
in order to perfect myself in my
studies. There was an explosion" I"
she shuddered all over, "you may
have heard of it-and they we're all
lost, father, mother, sons and daugh-
ter"
'It was in that way" she resum-
ed. after a while, ''that I came by
the name of Vonberg. It was my
uncle's (he was my mothers broth
er, and I was to take it, with the
property, till I married for my
uncle, strange tossay, as if by a pre-
sentiment, had made a will for this
very contingency"
''This is why I never recognized
you" said I. "The name threw me
off the track completely"
''That won't do sir" she said,
''for I recognized you at once. L
knew you the first day, when 1 saw
you at st. Peters. But woman Is
always the most faithful" ."
Prince Borgia left Rome that
morning for an indefinite period, as
was given out. His sudden fight
confirmed our belief that he had
hired a brave to assassinate me.
| Some one is looking over my
shoulder as I write:
cit is a shame to tell all that non