Omaha daily bee., 1874-04-30

IHlNSlcdl CIldTulS NtIC VI hO
was a kindly one, albeit general
she fell to worshipping it, after ihe
fashion of woman, and casting o
fore it the fetichss and other Idols
of her youth. She even cohiesseu
to it. SO that in half an houI
Ridgeway was in possession oi an
the facts connected Win her me,
and a great many. | rear, OF hef
fancies-except one. When Mr..
NcClosky found the young people
thus amicably disposed, he calmly
went TO sleep
II was a pleasant time to each. To
Miss Jenny it had the charm OF
novelty, and she abandoned herself
TO il for that reason much more
freely and innOcently than her COM
panion, who knew something more
of the inevitable logic of the posi-
ton. / do not. think, however, he
had any intention of love-making.
/ do not think he vas at all con-
scious of being in the attitude. L
am quite positive he would have
shrunk from the suggestion OF dis
loyalty to the one woman whom he
admitted 9 o himself he loved. But,
like most poets, he was much more
true TO an idea than a fact, and,
having a very lofty conception of
womanhOod, with a very sanguine
nature, he saw i'm each new face the
disabilities of realization of his
ideal. 1t was, perhaps, an unfortu-
nate thing for the women, particu-
larry as he brought to each trial a
surprising freshness which was very
deceptive, and quite distinct from the
base familiarity of the man of gal
lantry. 1t was his perennial vir-
ginity of the affections that most
endeared him to the best women,
who were prone to exercise toward
him a chivalrous prOtection-as of
one likely to go astray unless looked
after-and INDUCED in the danger
Gus combination of sentiment with
the highest maternal instincts. 1t
was this quality which caused Jenny
to recognize in him a certain boy
ishness that required her womanly
care, and ever induced her 10
offer to accommodate him to
the reads when the
time of his departure arrived. With
her superior knowledge of woodcraft
and the locality, she would have
kept him from being lost. l wOt
not but that she would have prOtec-
ted him from bears or wolves, but
chiefly, L think, from the feline fas-
cinations of Name Robinson and
Lucy Rance, who might be lying i'm
wait for this tender young poet.
Nor did she cease to be thankful that
Providence had, so to speak, deliv-
cred him as a trust into her hands.
1t was a lovely night. The moon
swung low and languished softly on
the snowy ridge beyond. There were
quaint Odors in the still air, and a
strange incense from the woods per-
fumed their young blood, and
seemed to swOon in their pulses.
Small wonder that they fingered on
the white road, that their feet
climbed unwillingly the little hill
where they were to part, and that
when they at last reached it, even
the saving grace of speech seemed TO
have forsaken them.
For there they stood, alone.
There a no sound nor motion in
earth or woods, or heaven. They
have been the n man and
woman for whom this goodly earth
that lay at their feet, trimmed with
the deepest azure, was created.
And seeing this they turned toward
each other with a sudden instinct,
and their hands met, and then their
lips, i'm one long kiss.
And then out of the mysterious
distance came the sound of voices
and the sharp CHATTER of hoofs and
wheels, and Jenny slid away-a
white moonbeam-from the hill.
For a moment she glimmered
through inc trees, ana tnen, reach
ing the house, passed her sleeping
father on the veranda, and, darling
into her bedroom, locked the door,
threw open the window, and fa1l-
ing on her knees beside it, leaned
her hot cheeks upon her hands
and listened. In a few mo-
ments she was rewarded by
the sharp chatter of hoofs on
the stony road, but it was only a
horseman, whose dark figure was
swiftly lost in the shadows of the
lower road. At another time she
might have recognized the man,
but her eyes and ear were now all
intent on something else. 1t came
presently with dancing lights, "A
musical rattle of harness, a cadence
of hoof beats, that set heart to beat
ing in unison, and was gone. A
sudden sense of loneliness came
over her, and tears gathered in her
sweet eyes.
She arose and looked around her.
There was the little bed, the dress
ing-table, the roses that she had
worn last night, still fresh and
blooming in the little vase. Every
thing was there, but everything
looked strange; the roses should
have been withered, for the party
seemed so long ago; she could hard
ly remember when she had worn
this dress that lay upon the chair.
So she came back to the window
and sank down beside it, with her
cheek, a trifle paler, leaning OF her
hand and her long braids reaching
the floor. The stars paled slowly,
like her cheek yet with her eyes
she saw not; she still looked from
her window for the coming dawn.