Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1875-10-23
3" NV dear SIR" said the old gentle

man, pray uOng QlSSemOle. Iue
champagne has not affected your head.
You are quite sober. Look you, sir-I
am man ofsome penetration know
you spoke from your heart, and you
said, remember, that you would give
your soul to be loved by one whom
you loved. Men haze that. There are
many ways of giving ones soul besides
the traditional signature on parchment.
And SO -ha, ha!-you think any wo-
man worth all that? Lets talk it over
cast aside conventionalities, as two
men who meet at midnight in a grave
yard might we'll do, and be frank with
me-"
"Well," said the old bachelor, "Tve
come to the conclusion that life with
out good wife is dull affair"
Well, well" said the little gentle
man, "there are things worse than
dullness, but I'm something of a for
tune-teller, and can easily tell you
whether you'll ever be married or not.
Hold out your palm"
"Bahr said the old bachelor, but
he obeyed Notwithstanding.
You'll see her in the course of an
hour" said the old man, chuckling.
" Mark my wordsworth see her in
the course of an hour--that is, if you
really think she's worth your sonl."
And he suddenly started up and hur-
ried away, laughing discordantly.
"He's either mad, or he thinks I
am," ssid the old bachelor, and he too
hurried out of the church yard. At
the gate his foot struck against some
thing that lay across the entrance
something soft and heavy. He stopped
over it with an indefnablo thrill run
ming through his frame, and saw that
it was woman. Her face was so pale
that she might have been dead one,
but when he youched the white cheek
he found it was too warm for that of
death-and oh how beautiful she was!
and, kneeling down, he lifted her
head to his knee, and taking the soft
hands in his, began to chafe them.
The moon was sinking in the horizon;
the shadow of the church tower fell
across the whole white stretch of
black as ink; and just
then the clock, that showed its face
high up in the tapering spire, let fall
iuto the silence one long, solemn
stroke.
One Day had begun, then, and
what was this that had begun with it !?
What sweet emotion thrilled him
through and through as the woman in
his arms turned her face toward him
and opened her long, fringed eyes +?
Why, moved by an impulse that he
could not resist, did he suddenly bend
his face over hers, and kiss her upon
lips as soft as rose-leaves?
He knew-he understood with the
new day new life had come to him.
He lored!
He did not know who this girl was,
or whence she came. He did not ask /;
he did not care. He knew nothing
but that he loved. Lifting the fair
burden in his AIMS he bore he home
ward. She seemed to weigh nothing.
His tenderness for her made him strong
as any giant.
This was the tale she told him when
she came to herself. She had crossed
the ocean from q foreign land with her
old father. He had died upon the
passage, and she, friendless and igno-
rant Of the usages of the country, had
been robbed of every cent she possessed,
and had tainted at last at the gate of
the old churchyard.
The old bachelor listened with ten
der sympathy. Then he left her in
his elegant rooms and sought dwell
ing-place for himself elsewhere. Every
day he called upon her. Every day
he loved her more. At last he told
her so, and she confessed that she
loved him, and they were married
quietly in the church under the shad-
ow of whose spire he had found her.
The wedding was over, and bride
and bridegroom sat together in the
twilight shadows that thickened every
instant. His arm was about her waist; !;
her head upon his shoulder.
"My love-" he said, 81 am happier
than have ever been in all my life be-
FORE"
"As happy as you thoughtyou would
when You said you would give your
soul for lover" said she.
"Indeed I am," said he; "but I
had forgotten I ever told you that. In
fact, was ashamed of it. I've often
wondered what the old gentleman
thought of me-"
" Perpahs it was no old gentleman
at ALL" said she. The devil has
many DISCUSSES, they say"
He laughed.
The shadows had gathered SO thickly
that he could not see the face on his
shoulder, but something in the voice
startled him.
"Have you caught cold, loveY he
asked.
elm the last one in the world to
catch cold" said she.
"But you are surely little hoalse? ?"
said he.
"Oh, dear, no." said she.
"And what have you got on your