Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-25

AanOiSc0cAOcpt Ouc. Nucu MI. I1COAOSn
found the young people thus amicably dis
posed, he calmly went to sleep.
1t was a pleasant time to each. To Mis-:
Jenny it had the charm of novelty, and she
abandoned herself to it for that reason
much more freely and innocently than he
companion, who knew something more o
the inevitable logic Of the position. 1 dc
not think, however, he had any intention
of loye-making. L do not think he was al
all conscious of being in the attitude. ]
am quite positive he would have shrunl
from the suggestion Of disloyalty to the one
woman whom heIadmitted Il himself ne
loved But, like most poets, he was much
more true to an idea than a fact, and, hav-
ing a very lofty conception Of womanhood
with a very sanguine nature, hesaw in eact
new face the Possibilities Of a realization
of his ideal. 1t was, perhaps, an unfortu-
nate thing for the women, particularly as
he brought to each trial a surpris-
ing freshness which was very de
cptiVe, and quite distinct from the
5ldse familiarity IOf the man Of
gallantry. It was this perennial
virginity of the affections that most
endeared him to the best women, who
were prone to exercise toward him a chiv-
alrous projections of one likely to GO
astray unless looked after-and INDUCED
in the dangerous combination of sentiment
with the highest maternal instincts. 1t
wa this quality which caused Jenny to
recognize in him a certain boyishness that
required her womanly care, and even in
duced her to offer to accompany him to the
crossroads when the time of his departure
arrived. With her superior knowledge Of
woodcraft and the locality, she would
have kept him from being lost. / wot not
but that she would have protected him
from bears or wolves, but chiefly, l think.
from being lost, from the feline fascina-
tions of Name Robinson and Lucy Rance,
who might be lying in wait for this tender
young poet. Mo- did she ceaseto be thank
full that Providence had, so to speak, deliv-
cred him as a trust into her hands.
1t was a lovely night. The noon swung
low and languished softly on the snowy
ridge beyond. There were quaint cdors in
the still air, and a strange incense from the
woods perfumed 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 lit
tie hill where they were to part, and that
when they at last reached it, even the saw
ing grace of speech seemedto have forsaken
them.
For there they stood alone. There was
no sound nor motion in earth, or woods, or
heaven. They might have been the one
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 in one long kiss.
And then out of the mysterious distance
came the sound of voices and the sharp
clatter of hoofs and wheels, and Jenny slid
AWAY white moonbeam-from the hill.
For a moment she glimInered through the
trees, and then, reaching the house, passed
her sleeping father on the veranda, and
darling into her bedroom locked the door,
threw open the window, and falling on her
knees beside it, leaned her hot cheeks upon
her hands and listened. In afew moments
she was rewarded by the sharp clatter 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
mar, but her eyes and ears were now all
intent on something else. 1t came present
ly, with dancing lights, a musical rattle of
harness, a cadence of hoof-beats, that set
her heart to beating in unison, and was
gone. A sudden sense Of loneliness came
over her, and tears gathered in her sweet
eyes.
She aOse and looked around her. There
was the little bed, the dreSSing-table, the
roses that she had worn last night, still
fresh and blooming in the little vase.
Everything was there, buteverything looked
strange; the roses should have been with
cred, for the party seemed so long ago; she
could hardly remember when she had
worn this dress that lay upon the chair.
So she came back to the window and sank
down beside il, with her cheek, a trife
paler, leaning on her hand, and her long
braids reaching to the floor. The stars
paled slowly, like her cheek; yet with eyes
that saw not, she still looked from her
window for the coming dawn.
1t came, with violet deepening into pur-
pie, with purple flushing into rose, with
rose shining into silver and glowing into
gold. The struggling line of black picket
fence below, that had faded away with the
stars, came back with the sun. What was
that object moving by the fence? Jenny
raised her head, and looked intently. 1t
was a man endeavoring to climb the
pickets, and falling backward with each at
tempt. Suddenly she started to her feet,
as if the rosy flushes of the dawn had GRIM
soned her from forehead to shoulders; then
she stood, white as the wall, with her
hands clasped upon her bosom. Then,
with a single bound she reached the door,
and with flying braids and f~uttering skirt,
dnuun tho ofaf-~ and ont IN 4Ia -
den walk. When within a few feet of
the fence she uttered q cry-the first she
had given-the cry Of a mother over her
stricken babe, of a tigress over her mangled
cub, and in another moment she had leaped
the fence and knelt beside Ridgeway, with
his f~ainting head upon her breast.
SHY boy-my poor, poor boy! who has
done this pr
Who, indeed? His clothes were covered
with dust, bis waistcoat was torn open;
and his handkerchief, wet with the blood il
could not stanch, fell from a cruel stab be-
meath his shoulder.
"Ridgeway!-my poor boy-tell me what
has happened"
Ridgeway slowly opened his heavy blue
veined lids, and gazed upon her. Presently
a CLEAN of mischief came into his dark eyes,
a smile stole over his lips as he whispered
"1t-was-your kiss-did it-Jenny,
dear! 1 had forgotten-how high priced
the article was here. Never mind, JENNY"
he feebly raised her hand to his white
was-worth it." and tainted away.
Jenny started to her feet and looked
around her. Then, with a sudden
resolution, she stopped over the insensible
man, and, with n strong effort, lifted him
in her arms as if he had been a child.
When her father, a moment later, rubbed
his eyes and awoke from his sleep upon the
veranda, it was to see a goddess erect and
striding toward the house,
the helpless body of a man lying
across that breast where man had never
lain before-a goddess at whose imperious
mandate he arose and cast open the doors
before her. And then when she laid her
unconscious burden on the sofa, the god
fed, and a woman, helpless and tremb
ling, stood before him. A woman that
cried out she had 'killed him"-that she
"wicked! wicked rS and that, ever say
ing so, staggered and fell beside her late
burden. All that Mr.. McClosky could do
to feebly rub his beard, and say to him
self, vaguely and incoherently, that "Jinny
had fetched him."
[To BE Continued
1890"
A NasbyiIIian In Luck.
The Mduch Chunk (Pa.) Democrat Of