The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-08-21

| Dle- L llfteu her IN my arms and claSpe,
her to my bosom, and begged her +
open her eyes and speak one word t.
me. But she as like one dead; ard il
my terror / dare not take her home.
carried her, instead, 70 nv sister, who
frightened half out of her senses, cam
forth to meet me. She took Nellie int,
an inner room and bade me bring a doc
tor, and he was there soon.
/ spent an hour of agony. such as
had never felt before; but at last Jenui,
came to me, all smiles.
There is no danger" she said. ''Sh,
has come 10 herself; she only fainteC
| from fright. You haven't killed her, o.
even hurt her much, you foolish boy.
And L burst into tears. Jennie ben
over me.
g" But to think she should be so sly,
she said. GA gentleman's portrait II
her bosom all the while and not WORD
to me of it. I'll punish her for il
now"
And away she ran back to NelI,aazaI
tome. Some one had been before me,
and she wore his portrait next to her
heart. Fool that I was not to guess it.
I never asked whose portrait it was.
Tom Armstrong's or Jack Mayden's,
did not care. When Nellie was well
enough to go, in the course of an houf
or two, I drove her home and hade her
good-bye.
said, . regret that L should have
been the means of alarming you so,
Miss Brodie."
And she looked up into my face with
6,0,. rr~1aA hin gf,I g1TI - 2 Eua {
not your fault; you could not help it.
1t was so foolish to faint away"
And / thought to myself, "what de
ceitful creatures women are !" for the
look she gave me was as sweet as if she
had not worn another mans portrait In
her bosom.
a week from that day / went TO New
York, and sought out an old ship owner
vino had been my fathers friend.
g I'm tired of farming, l said, % and
want to try the sea as a common sailor. "
The old man would have laughed me
ont of the notion; but when he found
me firm, he gave me what help he
could.
went on board a vessel bound for
China, and wrote to sister Jennie, tell
ing her to send for Uncle William and
his wife to man ge the farm, which !
knew they would be glad to do; but L
never told where l was or what I had
done. l meant, you see, to throw my
self away, and be heard of no more by
any one. OF course l was mad, for the
time; that is the only excuse for me.
So / led the sort of life a sailor in
the merchant service leads-no very
pleasant one, can tell you-for year
or two. grew no better for it, and no
happier. The other men had mostly
some one at home-mother or sister,
wife or sweetheart-to get a letter or
message from at times; I, of my own
act, had no one. And all the while, at
work or at mess, or IN the hours when
watch was kept on deck, / thought of
Nellie; saw her as she looked when she
sat by her fathers side in the summer
moonlight; saw her smiling up at me,
as she Thirled through the snow-drifts
that last bright day, and saw her as she
lay like dead thing in my arms. Aud
fancy painted other pictures. saw her
IS LIN rTpS Es.;;ss .sszz he<a
heff knee. -'s'a' ia 1.sIs on
am not sure but that should have
turned idiot, had not something Lap
pened to alter the circumstances of my
position. This was nothing else than
the total wreck of our vessel, and my
narrow escape from drowning, but with
an arm broken by the falling of spar.
For month lay on sick bed and
then with softened heart and a feel
ing that I was sick of the sea, went
home to sister Jennie, to be farmer
again, if I could.
In those two years she had never had
a line from me. Not an angry word
did she give me, but ran into my arms
and wept on my bosom like child ;
and then she showed the wedding-ring
on her finger, and the baby lying asleep
in the cradle, and told me whose wife
she was.
She was Mrs. Armstrong, and 1 had
never guessed they liked each other.
''And Pm happy as the day is long,
said she, ''only fretting about you.
How could you go away so, Ned? if you
did not think of my feelings, you might
have remembered Nellie Brodie's."
Nellie Brodie's feelingsl" 1 cried.
''Nellie Brodie's Don't laugh at me,
Jer ME"
Laugh at you y she cried. 'Laugh
at you my dear haven't thought of
it. Did yon quarrel that night 1t
must have been a quarrel L think.
Whose fault was it, yours or heis?"
Miss Brodie and never had quar-
rel, - said.
"Oh, Ned" she resumed, softly,
'don't try to hide it from me, when ]
saw your portrait in her bosom. I told
you so, know, and thought it was all
settled and was so glad.
started upand caught Jennie's wrist,
''My portrait 2" cried.
Why, Ned, don't look at me so, y
screamed Jennie; what does it all
mean? Your portrait, of course; one
of those photographs you had taken
/ found the rest after you went away.
Oh, Ned, don't, don't look so, dear?"
''thought you told me she wore an
other mans picture, l said. ''That
drove me away that, and nothing else.
Oh, what wretched fool I've been.
did not know she had my picture and
[ might have cast her away /, who
loved her so, and have pined for her all
these years."
But Jennie, dear Jennie, with her
kind, motherly face and loving women s
eyes, came close to me, and put her
arms about my neck, and whispered,
don't despair, Ned. She has never
liked any one else, and I know, for GER
tain, that she wears your picture still. y
And those words brought my youth
back TO NE; and the years seemed
blotted out and I saw the Ned Brown
who fell in love with Nellie Brodie,
once more.
Well, Jennie told the truth; 1 went to
see Nellie Brodie, and foun her sweet
and beautiful as ever and we were mar
ried when the spring came aud the birds
began to build their nests in the green
orchard Afterward, when she had been
my wife for some time, Nellie told me,
under those very apple trees how she
had found my picture one day when no
one saw her, and worn it afterward for
love of me-worn it and wept over it
while was far away, and trying to for
get her-trying, but never succeeding,
for the love 1 had for Nellie Brodie was
part of my life, and will be. I believe,
part of the eternity, where, when death
sewers us here, we shall be reunited.