Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-12-20


: made by luncheon was rendered pleas
} ant by his attentions at table aud b1
= her fathers frightened face.
D Il was afternoon when the truiI
started, and the first few hOurs OF tn,
: Journey were passed in delightful con
2 verse. The party had tho caFriag,
, to themselves, and compared witt
I what Elise had during the past vcel
= gone through, this was indeed /;
change. Years later, had yOu askei
: Elise of that day, she would have saiG
that it seemed like Paradise, and tha
she had been suddenly hurled from i
into some dreadful Hades: from peace
, fuI whispers into demons cries. Will
/. Icons vet in her ears, she was stunn
ed by a crashing nOisc-by shrieks
groans and the falling Of heavy
weights from Icons face her eyes weT,
{ turned to the horrible, indescribabl,
confusion of n railway collision. She
escaped, as did the Colonel and hi:
nephew; but her father,-
Porters carried him to the nearest
hotel, and for nearly a month he lin
gered on there, and then death super
vencd.
That month who can describe those
Courtney came 1T once 10 her brother;
the Huntingdons never left the place.
Every care that love, friendship. and
anxiety could suggest, was spentupOn
the life passing away, but Elise trust
ed no watching but her own. Ilftil
utterly Wearicd out, she never left
her fathers side, and when obliged to
rest, it was only for few hoHrs at a
time. From childhOod's unclouded
! happiness her transition TO a woman s
misey had been abrupt and cruel.
Just wakened to the knowledge of her
debt to her father, he was diving, with
the craving of her heart to cancel it
unsatisfed. Could longing worship,
utter unselish love, the yearning pray
ers of a pure heart, have saved him,
he had not died; but with every pain
soothed by his daughters touch, every
want met by her care, her hand on his
brow, her kiss on his lips, Thomas
RadnOr drifted away from life, DESC
lating the heart he had made it that
! lifes study to fill and beautify.
] Gone BY the empty bed the orphan
/ fingered, touching with icy fingers
/ the pillows where his head had rested.
| In her heart, frozen Withits void, lay
the cry that goes up from so many
bereayed ones to the Supreme Power.
''Give me back my dead ~
/ Stunned, passive and physically
worn out with watching, Elise was
/ taken back to Leahcld. Not six weeks
/ ago she had seen the sun rise on her
eighteenth birthday with entire hap
| piness within and around her. She
I'came back orphaned, with n knOwl-
edge of pain and sorrow in her own
heart and in the past, whose dark
curtain seemed to have been raised in
vain.
In a will, made after his accident,
! Mr.. Radnor left Col. Huntingdon his
/ daughters guardian, and both him
self and Leon accompanied Mrs.
Courtney and the orphan back to Lea
! hold.
Col. Huntingdon had believed his
friend to be q man of wealth, but he
was utterly unPrcpared for the vast
income of which he now became trus-
tee. Accumulating by compound in
! tercst, the handsome fortune of tif-
teen years before had gathered and
| increased till Elise was hciress to
wealth that fairly dazzled her guar
dian. She, poor girl, in her bereave-
ment, took little note of it.
But il the hciress was Uuimpress-
/ ed, there were others who fully apprc-
ciated the importance such riches give
in this worlds circles. Col Hun
| tingdon and Leon were two of them.
/ Leon let drop a word that he should
| like to become the woocr FOR the hand
that would grasp this wealth upon
| her coming of age, or marriage; and
his uncle, who Thought there was no.
body equal to Leon in tho world,
/ fully approved.
Do not do Leon Huntingdon the in
| justice of supposing him a mere for
| tune hunter. He WAS not so. Had
] this opportunity presented itself with
an hciress in herself unattr1ctiYc, he
would have passed it by; but he felt a
/ tender sympathy for the sorrow Elise
| bore stamped upon her face; he saw
| that she was gentle, refined, and
/ graceful, and he believed she was in
all ways the most desirable wife he
could have chosen. So he set himself
to WOO her just rs he had set himself
/ to do other things in his slifc-bccause
the opportunity lay before him, and
it was an easy path to tread.
And the dcsolatc girl, finding al
ways a kind face watching for her,
hearing low words of sympathy when
ever she would listen, believing every
! compliment a heart-otfering, young,
impassiOned, and craving some new
/ love to fill the void in herheart, turned
to this new comforter with faith and
/ trust-bclieved him, watched for him,
| loved him. During the first sad time
of mourning, when her piano stood
unopened, her books lost their charm,
Leon Huntingdon crcpt into every
| thought of her Lille. His voice became
her music, his conversation her books,
his caress her heaven.
One year after her fathers death,
Elise RadnOr became bride. Full
of earnest desire to be to Leon all she
! had hoped to be 20 the father ''gonC be-
fore" she stood at the altar with him,
and spoke the VOWS that made her his
wife. He had not, of course, spent
the year at LeahOld, but came to it
from time to time, always showing
himself devoted suitOr.
A house in town was taken for them
and was fitted and furnished with
luxury; but previous to entering on
! its possession Mr.. Huntingdon car
ried his wife about to various places,
and some months went on to the be,
ginning of the season. Col. Hun
tingdon had gone back to India.
Leon Huntingdon was fond of so,
ciety. With all the graces to make
him star in any circle, he liked the
fiattery and the counting that met him
in fashions world, aud he threw opeI
, his house with the desire to make il
one of the most attractive in town
E Friends soon gathered round, anC
Elise was tossed ut once into the VOr
tex of gay season.
1t was a new world, dazzling, be
; wildering world, and it confused ans
J stunned her. Dressed with faultles.
j taste, she would enter the crowded
= saloons aud sit embarrassed and long
5 ing TO get home again. The extreml
, seclusiOn of her training had unfittet
her for all this. Feeling intensely
: shy and strange, she grew to dislik,
it, to believe she was not fitted for II
Her pale face showed no pleasure
/ and Leon would become angry, and a
| last ashamed of his wife; and so ther
e grew up an estrangenent between
them.
, Still there was no open quarrel
J; only gradual separation in pursuits
e Leon would be in the world, Ellis
T alone IN the great, grand house. Mrs
Il Courtney came up and found theI
: thus. Her heart sank within he
9 when she marked the weary, Iistles
r look in her niece's eyes, the Tango
8 of her step, and the pale, faded tint o
: her former brilliant beauty.
c Cards came for a large dinner part
a at the house of some old friends c
4 Col. HUntingdon's. Elise very nuc
c wished TO refuse for herself, as usua'
a but she scarcely liked to 90 so in thi
4 instance and besides she wanted I