The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-07-17

lrCc tlSalu, HOuio }ou ut@Ai iho -
gave my heart up for your sport
again, and asked you to do so?"
Passionate as the question was, and
full of bitter scorn-the sco"n Of one
who meets some sore temptation be-
yond his strength, to which he must
succumb-it was earnest with an oar
tnestness that few things possess in
this world of sham and sentiment.
Perhaps the fire that rang in every
tone stirred the heart Of Alice CHS
holm sleeping in Mrs. Inglesby's
breast. But she was q woman OF the
would, and no outward token Of this
appeared on her proud, calm face, no
glance Of it fickered into the clear,
brown eyes steadfastly facing his own.
When she spoke, her voice was soft
and even:
"Tell mo, rather, if you would ad-
wise me to do so? Those prudent
counsellors Of whom you spoke arc
all gone now. I stand quito alone,
with my own life in my own hand to
mako or mar as I please. Laurence,
should I mako or mar it by marrying
your"
There was something Of solomnity
both in the form and in the tone Of
her appeal. For reply, the lids sank
slowly over Kcnnon's eyes, and once
moro the dark flush rose in his check.
"You know yourself" he said.
"You know what people say of me.
Why ask me?"
II ask you because you can tell mo
best"
"Thcn I tell you that you would
mar it beyond all hopo Of redemption"
he answered, violently. "Is that
enough? ?" Ten years ago, when they
warned you against me, / was pala-
din compared to what I have been
since. You did we'll to marry Inglcs-
by then. Trust me. you will do better
still to marry Devereux now."
She started.
"So-you know that ?"
"Know it'll Would I not have been
blind and deaf if I had seen him
standing here, and not know it? But
I did not need to discover it for my
self, I reached Nortborpo this morn
ing, and I heard the news from half q
dozen people before I came out here"
"You credit it, Of course?"
ayes; why not? We are both ten
years older, and you are beautiful and
poor, while Dcvereux, thanks TO my
folly, is rich, and ready to be won."
"You forget yourself" said she,
haughtily.
"No," answered he, recklessly, "I
only forget my now role-that Of be-
ing an old friend of the charming
Mrs. Inglesby. Alice, Alice" he went
on, suddenly changing his tone, and
scizing her hands, "Fate, as you say,
has brought US together once moro
let US not throw away our last hope
of happiness. Why should we not
cast away all these bittor years, and
their bitter memories? Why should
we not live our lives out as VIC once
dreamed of doing?"
She left her hands in his clasp, but
she smiled coldly.
"You forget" she said, "you forget
that We are ten years older, and
poor"
~ forget everything but you," be
answered, passionately "evcry thing
but the hope that is shining for me in
your eyes"
"Shining only to deceive, thcn," she
said, bitterl y; but suddenly she cried
out rs if in pain: "Laurcnce, lot mo
60. II cannot bear this. Let me
go-let me Think"
lie let her 60 and rs she sat down
on the same stone where shc had been
sitting when Dcvereux's glance start
led her, he turned his back, and,
walking to the extreme verge of tho
rock, stood looking down at the white
waters of the foaming cascade. After
awhile she called his namc, and, when
he turned, he saw that her resolution
was taken. ..-
''lt would never do, laurence" she
said, gravcly. "When you think it
all over, you will see for yourself that
it would never do. Just now you
have been led away by impulse, and
you forget the gulf that lies between
us. No, l don't mean your life or any
thing connected with it," she said, as
he was about to speak. II mean the
chang, that time has wrought in our
characters, in cur very selves. If we
had been let alone ten years ago, the
end might have beon very different
but now it is too late. We have
grown apart, instead of together:
you have lost your inheritance-I am
entirely without fortune. We should,
in every sense, mar each others lives
If we cast them together. Laurence,
is st not best for US each to go our
own way, and live, in the future as in
the past, apart" .-
"It is for you to decide" he answer
ed, striving to repress the emotion
which he could not altogether conceal.
"You were always reasonable and
prudent in tho extremo-evcn ten
years ago. You mean, then, that wo
shall each continue our present gamo
that you will marry my precious
cousin, and that I must play tho for
tunc-hunter with that girl down yon-
der?" a.
Laurence" (she turned on him
sharply "do you mean to say that you
do not-that you never have-cared
for her?"
nT moan TO saw that T never cared