Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-09-17
fault; you could not help it. 1t was so fool
ish to faint away"

fault; you could not help it. 1t was so fool
ish to faint away"
And 1 thought to myself, what deceitfu
creatures women are For the look she gave
me was as sweet as if she had not worn anoth
er mans portrait in her bosom.
A week from that day went to New \ Nrk
and sought out an old ship owner who Lao
been my fathers friend.
II am tired of farming" said, "and want
to try the sea as common sailor"
The old man would have laughed me out
of the notion but when he found me firm, he
gave me what help he could.
went on board vessel bound for China
and wrote to sister Jennie, telling her to send
for Uncle William and his wife to manage the
farm, which knew they would be glad to DO
but never told her where was or what had
DONE I meant you see, to throw myself
away, and be heard Of no more by any one
Of course was mad, for the time; that is
the only excuse for me-
So | led the sort of life 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 letter or
message from at times I, of my own free act
had no one. And all the while, at work or
at mess, or in the hours when watch was kept
on deck, I 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 whirled through the snow drifts that
last bright day, and saw her as she lay like a
dead thing in my arms. And fancy painted
other pictures. saw her as Tom Armstrong;
wife. 1 saw her-oh, good heavens with
his child on her knee.
am not sure but I should have turned
idiot, had not something happened 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 a softened heart, and feeling that
was sick of the sea, l went home to sister
Jennie, to be farmer again, if | could.
In those two years she had never had 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 I had never
guessed they liked each other.
"And I am happy as the day is long," said
she, "only fretting about you. How could
you 60 away so, Ned? If you did not think
Of my feelings, you might have remembered
Nellie Brodie's."
"Nellie Brodies feelings!" l cried. "Nel-
lie Brodie's feelings! Don't laugh at me,
Jennie"
"Laugh at you !" she cried. Laugh at you,
my dear! haven't thought of it, Did you
quarrel that night? 1t must have been a
quarrel, think. Whose fault was it, yours
or hers?"
"N1iss Brodie and never had quarrel" I
said.
80, Ned w she resumed, softly, "don't try
to hide it from me, when saw your portrait
in her BOSOM I told you so, I know, and
thought it was all settled, and was so glad"
I started up and caught Jennie's wrist.
"My portrait?" cried.
"Why, Ned, don't look at me So, screamed
Jennie "what does it all mean? Your por-
trait, of course one Of those photographs you
had taken-I found the rest after you went
away. "Oh Ned, don't, don't look so, DEAR"
81 thought you told me she wore another
mans picture" I said. "That drove me
away; that and nothing else. Oh! what
wretched fool I've been I did not know she
had my picture; and might have cast her
away I, who loved her so, and have pined
for her all these years"
But Jennie, dear Jennie, with her kind,
motherly face and loving woman'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 | know, for
certain, that she wears your picture STILL"
And these words brought my youth back
to me; and the years seemed blotted out, and
1 saw the Ned Brown who fell in love with
Nellie Brodie, once more.
Well, Jennie told the truth went to see
Nellie Brodie, and found her sweet and beau.
tiful as ever and we were married when the
spring came and the birds began to build their
nests in the green orchard. Afterward, when
she had been my wife for sometime, 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 forget her-trying, but
never succeeding, for the love l had for Mel
lie Brodie was part of my life, and will be, 1
believe, part of the eternity, where, when
death sewers US here, we shall be reunited.
ALWAYS Too LArE.-Some people are al