Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1873-06-05
COMING TOGETHER.
CONCLUDED.

Laura would have pretestedagains
TINS, view, bittle rector jwelad: no
haar her; and feeling unable to s!'e''i
without crying, she left ;l:e on
hastily. Thu lyc:or WAS s.ea III ;
condition to return to th', plrsolase
and his conya.:,, &erec vas ior ~
nature of his iii,tlic&, a s <fseAtE o:!r
This affair could not, AS the .preN'i"n-
one had been, De concealed !roa: il.
public of Karslal;e. and great 'ie.'
was the talk of the gossips oveT It
All sorts of luleuys were currc4t
and Laura Hernsha%e .was made en-
ceedingly uncomfortable etheteby. Fhe
rector now seldom saw her: the ru-
mours which he as well as herself
knew were current annoyed him even
more than they did her.. Much, as
he now acknowledged u himself that
he cared for her, he would not pur.
chase the pleasure Of meeting her at
the price Of giving gossipping tongues
occasion to wag over his visit there.
And SO he kept away. He knew that
he loved Laura Hernshawe; but he
did net deceive himself now, at least
as to the fact. He knew that before
this accident she had looked upon
him with perfect Indifference. He
was well aware of the sort of ideal
she would have pictured to herself,
and how little that ideal resembled
himself. AS long as he had not real
ly loved Laura Hernshawe, he had
thought only of his feelings towards
ner, not of hers. towards him; now
that he did love her, he saw that she
had cared nothingfor him-had liked
him, perhaps, had been very chatty
and kind, and had even firted with
him a little, but had never seriously
thought of him. The fact of this ;ac-
cident, although it had no doubt
changed her feelings towards him,
had yet in no way altered or improv-
ed lis chances OF being loved. EEe
was not blind TO the fact that Lau:as
manner was changed 10 him; !htt
she no longer talked Saily and l;Gftir
with him; that her c'l Iii VET ;.:,'i
camo if she cliancr'l ;or.eei him sui
den Y; but lie told Himself, al.l
thoroughly believed, that this wa:
gratitude, not love aa,i al'hou.,,:.
sometimes the thou9:i; would Occur
to Inn that she might perhaps m'ls?
him from gratitude, i.e would 'li.".i-e
the idea with. anger. She couh! TO-
love him, and lie would not accer;
from gratitude what he could ho:
gain from love, not even the hand oi
Laura Hernshawe. Under these cir
cumstanccs, therefore, tie Rev. Rich
ard Hallowes began to revolve in his
own mind whether it was really nee
essary for rector to be married at
all. He could not have the woman
he loved, and, after loving Laura
Hernshawe, it was out Of the ques-
ton that lie could think Of marrying
either OF the Miss Stuarts, or Miss
Herslet, O. Miss Penrose. No; he
really got Oh very well, and he was
not at all sure that clergyman was
not more useful as single man than
he would be malried-at least, he
had more time to himself. Now the
rector, clearly as he reasoned,
natural as were his conclusions, Was
yet at fault. Laura Hernshawe had
long seen that the rector admired
her, but although she liked hira, she
had never allowed to herself the pos
sibility of her loving him. Like most
other high-spirited girls, she felt the
want of a master-spirit, some one she
could look up to. She thought the
rector a good man, and no doubt a
clever one, and likely in many, nay,
in most respects, to make husband
any woman might love and honour
But he wanted manliness. A man
that did not ride, or pull, or swim,
who had to DE picked out of the wa
ter by a woman, must necessarily be
poor creature whom it would be
impossible ever to respect. The az
ton by whirh he r"c;nr hml y,i;".s
his life t. s#ve :rr rv., ;ia, ait. r,rl
all his. 1t ad SUP! lie. he oae thing
which had been previously wanting
the part which was with Lanra an
absolute necessity. Now she felt
that, small and wanting in per.,onaI
strength as this man WAS, be WAS ca
pabIe of an action II Which cvri, iie
strongest and rarsi Hen;:lnnans M...;i
might hava I.-i'.-ri He i,,d al
himself between her airi t:.e i.iii
with no ihoueh! oi driving of OF
frightening the animal, but simply
to die in her place Now Laura re-
preached herself fbitterly as shethought
of the half-disguised contempt with
which she had received bis attempts
at thanks after the adventure upo
the water, and of the way in whrh
she had at first, she now aclnowiedg
ed, ,firtsd With him and then openly
shown her indifference. When grl
like Laura Herhshawe feels that she
has committed an injustice, she is
unhappy until she repairs it, and it
was very soon real love and not graf
itude which she fe t towards her pre-
server.
As time wore on, and Mr.. Hallowes
still kept away from the house, or, at
any rate, called as seldom as he could,
Laura began to feel that she had lost
Mr.. Hallowes,l Women are far keen
er Judges in these matters than men
are; she saw that he loved her still,
but then she felt that before the acci-
dent he had seen that she mad been
onlyplaying with him. and that he
believed now tnat, at best, she felt
oaly gratitude towards, him. Peer
Laura was now really unhappy. She
wanted to make the rector happy,
andlsae;;wsnted-yss, she acknowh
edgsdsssssgt9ssa44 g9s44;;s asoz !: e y happy her
~ -, /, .,s;oy. hatxuoon, than