The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-01-14

| don dare TO tell you what was go
ing to before you spoke.
What was it?" queried Nancy, Gu
rious and conscious.
SO It was" said the doctor, bending
his own face closer to the curl shaded
one at his side, "that wish I had the
right to keep you with me always. Miss
Nancy, well, look at me-will you lei
me?"
1t was well that the doctor did not
guess why, amid Nancy's bright bushes,
her lips quivered and her eyes filled
with tears. She had made up her mind
to accept the doctor, but in this decisive
moment the thought of John Armitage
sent pRng, cruel IN intensity through
! her heart. Then came the memory of
their yesterdays quarrel, and Nancy
faHered with struggling smile.
al don't know"
She did know, when in the late twi-
| light she and the doctor walked to-
| gether into the dusky sitting-roOm at
home, where her father was doing and
| her mother knitting, to ask their con-
sent and their blessing.
"Dear me" said the good father,
rubbing bis eyes. "Two such pieces of
news in one days Gurus hereabouts. I
! heerd ou'y en- hour since that Johnnie
Armitage is goin' TO Texas to farm on
/ his own account. I sorter thought, too,
{ he an Nancy fancied each other, but
here she's wantin' to mary another. It's
cur 'us."
Nancy had taken her hand from the
doctors arm and had sat down in the
window. She heard nnistiIy comments
and congratulations, laughed at jokes.
| She walked down to the gate with the
| doctor when he left and stood there un-
| der the lilacs, his arm about her, re-
| plying TO his tender talk but when he
was gone, leaving farewell kiss on her
| lips, she rushed upstairs and threw
| herself on the bed IN n perfect agony
of sObbing that she could hardly stife
in the pillow.
The story of the next week is hack
neyed- Such happenings are too com
mon. Nancy came and went like the
! ghost of herself, but the whole village
was gossipping over her engagement,
| and her evidences of trouble were
| ascribed TO the "queerness of g girl
Just engaged. Little tired Mrs. Armi-
tage ran over across lots one afternoon
to tell the Evanses that John was going
on Monday, and she Puessed he would
manage to get over and bid them good
bye /; and cried because her pet son was
/ .
/ Nancy, evidently suspecting that she
was the cause.
Perhaps light natures suffer most
overwhelmingly Often in these beau
tiful June days Nancy, all alone in some
shadowy, grassy place, with sun
beams shimmering above, would won
der in a dim, childish way if she should
not 9 die when John went. " Only one
hope was left. John was coming to say
goodbye. Oh, if she could only let
him know how 1t really was But how
could she? and she would look down
desparingly at the little gold circlet on
her finger.
Sunday afternoon John finally came.
Nancy, sitting in the parlor with the
doctor, caught a glimpse of the we'll
known figure at the gate under the Ii
laos again. For a few moments the
room whirled around and she was
deathly white, then she rose mechan-
ically, saying she must bid Mr.. ArIni-
tage goodbye, and she went out to the
doorway, where John was greeting with
her parents and warding of the New
foundland with a laugh.
Yes" he was replying, as Nancy
came up, "they say there is q pretty
good chance out there for a young fel
low with health aud energy-how do
you do, Miss Nancy ?-and I've always
been enterprising, so me an to try it. "
Nancy stood pulling the rose vines to
prices, while for an hour the others
talked crops, politics and prospects.
She could neg have spoken for her life,
though she lOnged to speak as a con-
demned criminal longs to ask for mercy.
Not once did John turn his obstinate
auburn head to look at or spe k TO her,
and at last he rose to go. He inter
rupted himself while detailing partic-
lars about grazing lands, to say good
bye while be just touched her hand. If
he had looked at her, the miserable,
pathetic look of appeal would have
gone straight to his heart, but he did
not dare to look, and turning away alb
Tuptly, walked down the garden path
with the garrulous farmer hobbling by
his side.
Nancy had inst time to escape her
| mothers eye by running up the stairs.
she did not faint but God forbid that
girls should often know such misery as
she suffered then. When she at last
! joined the doctor, as in dUty bound, the
stunned look in her face was pitiful.
| She "was not we'll, she said, in answer
to his alarming queries.
! It was Nancy who proposed that they
! should go to church that evening. In
! the corner of the high old pew, with
her veil hiding her face, she could at
! least be quiet, and one hour more of eff
| fort would have been insuppOrtable.
/ Mrs. Armitage was alone in her pew,
and cried silently all through the ser
vice. Nancy's heart so went out to the
poor woman that, when they met in the
aisle she pressed ber hand impulsively,
saying, in a quick whisper, " Mrs.
Armitage, Tn so sorry for you"
don't want any of your sorrow =
was the sharp response. cts fine
talk; but you and know we'll enough
who's the cause of it all. One word
from You wonld stop it now if you were
sorry enough p
Poor Nancy The clock was on the
stroke Of II that night when her lover
finally took his leave, and she was free
to pace the mOOn-it sitting room from
end to end with set lips and glittering
eyes. She did not CRY. She felt as il
she was going crazy, and IN her desper
alton she did not care if she did. Hour
after hour passed, and still she paced
there. till her rigid face showed whitley
in the first faint gray of morning.
"Oh, would he go could he go
Would nothing happen to stop him 2
Scarcely knowing what she was doing
Nancy slipped through the door, and
hatless, trailing her dainty blue dress
through the dewy grass, ran across lotl
to the Armitages.
It was still dark and dewy. She
heard the village clock strike as she
paused on the outskirts of the old
fashioned hower-garden behind the
house, and shrunk behind the hedge o
blossomy llacs, whose potent edo,
sickened her. Her mind was in a whirl
, She did not know why she was there
or what she would do. She was il
deadly fear lest some one should dis
cover her, yet she could not turn away
, For half an hour she crouched ther
shiverinGly, never taking her eyes Oi
= Johns window, but starting every tim
the curtain blew. Suddenly a step o.
! the garden path started her so violentl
Z that shs could scarcely suppress
! scream.
? 1t was probably some of the wor
: people--oh, If they should see her