The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1874-01-07
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.

mass of tattooing, such as seafaring men
are fond of subjecting themselves to
and from the midst of the stars and
anchors cleaned out one terrible line
a single name-Jas. HOlabird.
think that I need scarcely enlarge
upon what followed It was only too
plain that one of the Iong-lost brothers
of Mrs. Golden, an uncle of my Milly,
making his way, old, broken and penni-
less, from some scene of long suffering,
to where he had dimly heard that his
sister resided-had been turned from
the door by me to die so miserably
Of course you want to hear the rest
there is not much, and should not be,
to end such a recollection. But the rest
was important to myself; for thank God
that I was punished I say it reVerent-
lv-thank God that He punished me,
otherwise even than in the stings Of
conscience I had expected to be the
husband of NTilly Golden on Christmas
night before that night came, her
mother, fallen insensible on the body Of
her brother, who thus came to her only
in death, had sunk under the blow, and
all thoughts of marriage were as far
away as then seemed happiness. 1t was
q sad Christmas and, before the spring
flowers bloomed, Mrs. Golden lay be-
side her brother.
suppose I need not say that neither
Milly Golden nor myself thought of
marrying over the body of her dead
uncle. when I was SO nearly his murder
er, and with her mother lying hope
.,ssa..ss - azns cause. And
blow came, and she
VS. Iii 9orp1an, was it much more likely
that we could forget, now that a second
body seemed to lie between our loves ?
No-the thing was impossible; it was
madness even to think of it. She tried
so hard, dear girl II know that she did
to think that I had not been to blame,
or at least that I had not acted more
thoughtlessly than any other young man
would have done under the same cir
cumstances. But what was that, even
if she succeeded? We do not love much
when we are driven to make excuses for
the object that we believe we love; to
he loved one must commend himself to
the heart of the other, as infinitely bet
ter than all surrounding. She tried to
exonerate mel know and feel so
much: but knew and feel quite as we'll
that, in spite of herself, she shuddered
at me at times when the dreadful recol-
lection came fresh to her. Was not that
enough?
I do not say that we might not have
been married, after time, had pos
sessed the hardihood-may not say
the cruelty ?-to insist. quite believe
Milly to have been capable of that
amount of self-sacrifce-enough to have
made her try to Glove, honor and obey"
a man at whom she shuddered But I
was not lost enough for that! We met
seldom and constrainedly after the death
of her mother. I think that we both
went. after those meetings, to think that
what had been could never be again.
People wondered whether the marriage,
of which they had once heard as so
nearly accomplished, and to which many
of them had been invited, was never to
take place-and if not, why not? [
think that many Of them called us
" fools p and applied even worse names.
There came relief to all this one
dav-a relief, I think, to both of us, for
t. mugt have been that we we're slowly
breaking our hearts over those dead
bodies. Another relative of Milly's
made bis appearance at Holdane, we'll
to-do, they said. She went away with
him to some great distance-Where or
in what direction I do not know. We
did not bid each other farewell coldly-
only broken-hearted and we have
meysr saan eaah other since.
this Christmas night,
: vsI.s - F4ta'ble, am a lonely
man among your revelers.