The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1874-03-05
is on my conscence- Sylvia, Ray Meyer
wrote to yru because mad e hlm promise''

a htuC'!y NAAI0 cPA' @usNP
with y sudden, sharp vail as Of intoler-
able pain; hen, seeing her agitation re-
dvcted in the sick maine face, she forced
herself intosqaiet, AMI sitting down BY
him, took his hand aAd laid it against
her ch-ek with fond, soothing gesture.
He gave al uneasy sigh, and resumtd
q tier ltt'l":
~ pus him ON his honor to hold 40
communication with you till hs could
show b msef prepared to meet my con.
ui;ions. Yuu We're such a chiId-l
thought you would forget him and do
DETER. wanted yep to have your chance,
SYLVIA he added, almost pleadingly.
"Ponr father! you did it tor tie beet
said Sylvia, softly stroking the wa ted
hand in hers.
God knows!- but it was i'll dome, SyI-
VIA" and he sighed again restlessly.
III done. truly! SvIvia's heart could
no, but echo it when, "a little later, Col
Dorchester lay.iu his grave, and she was
all alone. Her father was gone. and RAY
was gone, whom ho might hive left 3
Srong stay for her dlsulation, but when
he had himself taken frrm her. YET
Sylvia cast no reproach on his men,ory.
n't even in that tying hour when she
! too x, from the place hs had Indicated,
the little bun lie Of let ers, with heir un.
broken scala, just as she "a given them
to him. She opened one of ia N, but as
her eye Ivy ch nee fell on the words. 81
will walt for you, Ray, all my lifeif need
be" sne closed 1t agx.n hastily; she could
nut bear to recall all that might have
been hers and never could be now; aAe
Thought, with a sudden passionate yearn
Ing ror death, that she was barely twenty,
and that tnat ilfr-time's waiting might be
u very long ore; she looked shudderingIy
along the whole blank stretch Of years,
with no love to shorten them. r'o
Bat there was Il latent strength in Syl-
Was sofIness thai forbade her to lie down
and die. The arst lntol+rable anguish
over, she t. Ok up her cross again and
faced he weary road, neither with deG-
ance nor desl air, but with that quiet pa
thence which grows with the burden.
Withal it was, doubtless, well for her
that other CARES came to occupy her. Dol.
Dare hester's pension ceased with his
death, and could Rave his daughter little
besides the .iny house. with its strip OF
garden that had been his special care.
Sylvia could net live on roses and dew;
she must bestir herssf to satisfy the un-
sympathetic body, which will not resign
one Of its prosaic wants, however the soul
may hunger and faint. Fortunately, iD
her CAKE, the wants were Of the simplest,
and provided for without much difficulty.
So wv" more years slipped BY Sylvia
was twenty two, girl still, ye. as far re-
moved from all girl!sh things as if acore
had been added to her age. Not that she
had grown old, for, if this bloom OF girl
hood was gone, is freshness and softneSs
remained And, indeed, she had gained
more than she had lost, for the lovely
soul revealed itself more clearly through
the transparent covering, and replaced
prettiness with beauty. No, she had not
grown old, hut she had grown sstranged
In the world, but not Of it, she lived in
wonderful land all her own, not quite
past nor future, but the nigh. have been
transformed into unreal yet most real
present. @'2
In all this time, no tidings of Ray.
Dead ar alive, he had passed utterly out
of the world tkat had known him. The
pictures he had turned TO tho WALL with
sueh reluctant haste gathered dust u8d,s-
turbad, aud the colors faded gradually
out OF the canvas, just as his image faded
out OF the memory Of al--save one. That
enc forgot neither the artist nor his Gre
Siious. It was so abe loved best to think
Of him, only successful, famous. crowned
with the iaurels she fondly believed Bis
right. She could never pass the place
where lie had worked without moments
pause and wistful glance upward. as if
she might sill see his face at the window,
81 his shadow thrown across the lighted
curtain. And standing so once, as If her
yearniugs haG power to bring up ghost
out Of the long buried past, she heard