Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-11-06

through good and i'll report, to b. pasien'
and true to him even when he seemes.
true to her, and never to leave him tii! NJ
should bid her do so; and so, DR.. Elnott,
she will not even write to him again lest
she should seem distrustful or exacung !;
neither will she let any one say word Oh
blame of him; and all the time it is Kill
ing her."
cursed the nature which could wantnnfy
infiict such pain on the trusting woman
hood of her who loved him. More, l did
all in my power to urge Mrs. Quincy into
persuading her daughter to write once
again to her neglected. lover, if only to
give him an opportunity of explaining his
silence or asserting his freedom. .%7si s
at may be that he is offended ut some
thing" said; ''some lovers trifie which
a word from her could blow away; or it
may be that he is anxious to force her to
break off the engagement. The worst OF
men, Mrs. Quincy, will hardly have cour-
age to say to lady, i am tired OF you
go your way and let me go mine.' They
reserve that form of speech for their litter
feminine compeers; and though their
treatment of both is to all intents and pur-
poses alike, they retain sufficient grace or
shame to prefer trying, by neglect or cold
ness, to provoke the lady into giving them
their congo, rather than make the coup on
their own account. In either case, per
suade Miss Quincy to write; it will posi-
bly, be for her dignity, certainly for her
happiness"
In the end the letter was written-how
gently and tenderly, all who knew her ma
ture could guess; and for the next ten
DAYS Kate Quincy went about among her
poor people with hectic spot in each
thin check, and dry, burning eyes, whose
feverish hunger it half broke my heart to
see. fE @E
| Ten days, and no answer came.
was dining there one night, and had
not gone when the last post came in,
bringing a sounding knock at the door
which made us all start. She had been
| very pale, very quiet, all the evening; but
for once her patience failed her. With q
hasty word of apology she rose up from
her chair and went out to the hall. We,
left behind, could hear through the closed
door the sharp click of the letter box, fol
lowed by minute of total silence; then
| one hoarse, smothered cry-"Oh, my God !!
my God" and heavy fall.
She was lying face downwards on the
| ground when we went out, the letter
crushed in her hand, and no life or move
ment in the blank white face and rigid
limbs. carried her upstairs to bed, and
there she lay tor twenty -four hours, to all
appearance dead as an unburied corpse.
Even when the strong remedies OF one OF
the first London physicians, Joined to my
unremtting care had brought her round
in some degree, the only sign of life she
gave was low, heavy moaning before
sinking back again into unconsciousness.
DR.. Albatross told me, in confidence, he
thought Miss Quincy had got her death
| blow; and my heart echoed the sad fore
boding, for Kate's mother, in her heavy
trouble, had given me that crumpled let
| ter, and my blood boiled as read the few
| words in which heartless libertine had
crushed out this good and true-hearted
womans life.
1t was not more than dozen lines,
headed with the Scarsdale crest, and writ
ten neatly and clearly, without one blot or
erasure 1t must have been the fruit of
careful study, and have cost many rough
copies to have produced so polished a
work; and after beginning MY Dear Miss
Quincy" it went on to say that much
grave thought, of late, had shown the
writer that it would be unfair to persuade
his reader to leave her comfortable home
for the constant change and misery of bar
rack life, under the disadvantages of an
income as wretchedly small as theirs
would be; that accordingly the dictates
of conscience CD obliged him to give her
back her promise, a resolution to which
he was the more compelled by the sense
| &c h &, otur OF
| cumstances, to make Miss Quincy happy.
After which he added the usual stereo-
| typed expressions of regard and esteem
for the woman he was betraying, trusted
she would forgive him any pain or annoy
ance he might have caused her, and
wound up by signing himself, "Yours
most sincerely" Good God, what bias
phemy y, "Guy Scarsdsle."
And /, reading, wondered how He who
| rules above could permit so utterly base
and worthless a scoundrel to cumber the
ground; for if ever an honest man longed
to take such a coward by the throat and
choke the wretched life out OF him, l did
that day. We pat the letter behind the
fire that same night. 1t was not well
that, in the event of her recovery, Kate
Quincy should ever cast eyes on it again.
She lay between life and death for many
weeks, hardly touching food, at times
fevered and wandering; or else lying half
unconscious, or with closed eyes
and furrowed brow. During all that time
/ never heard, even in her delirium, one
word of anger against the man who had
wronged her. All that ever reached our
ears was the first cry of agony, and now
and then the more pitiful reproach,
"Guy, Guy, how could you? Oh, love,
how could you?"-nothing more, not one
word.
Before she was out of danger Mrs. Cur
ney broke down. Without her daughter
she was like a feeble plant torn from its
stick. Indeed, even |, who knew SO well
Miss Gurney's quiet life of usefulness and
sympathy, failed to realize oil she was to
her weak and widowed mother, who hav-
ing lcant on her husband till, like too
many of our city clergymen, he dropped
and died in harness, worn out by inces-
SAINT toll, had since his death chung with
like impotent trust to her daughter, and
that prop also removed, had sunk at once
From the day when DIR. Albatross told
her that in all human probability her
daughter would never walk forth In Gods
ar N n 0ht aVQin the helnlpss harmless