Litchfield enquirer., 1876-06-08
"Why. darlino2"

DcCduSo Deu 101l ne III anger GulS morning. It was the first time that we quarreled in our lives-oh, you need not smile-and l am very sorry, though I wouldn't own it to hlm if he were here. ]" willfuily shaking my head. ''Don't you think 1t Is hard to say good-by even when one is not angry?"
 '.Jetty, he said impulsiyely. ''what a little child of natuee- yosR apel. Rrasseen you. accomplished. elegant, full of grace; childish nature in all my life. You are a revelation to me, darling, every day of my stay here; you afe my inspiration, my de- light. Life was nothing until you became a part of it; and now-now upon the soul- less clod out yonder," sweeping the ar with one white hand, ''you are wasting the sweet regrets that ought to be mine, and mine alone. Darling, am jealous, 3 lifting my face to his. 'sAnd I too am going away. You don't stop to realize that.
 ''You are not going now?' Isaid "taat is all l care to know Let us put of the evil day"
 "But I can't, my love. My new yacht is coming down from the city, and I may even go to-day, certainly tomorrow. Now you know darling, why crave every mo- ment of your time and thought"
 My hand dropped the grasses had been gathering and crept nearer to his, and in the hush and silence that followed his words it seemed as if the sun were yelled and the summer day lay dead.
 ''Then l shall never be happy any more," faltered.
 ''But shall come back soon, darling. Besides, l shall be unhappy too."
 You can not miss me as l shall miss you. You will be back in the whirl of the city-just think-I have never been there at all, and all know about it is what you have told me. And shall have nothing to do but pore over the books you have marked, and wonder when you will come again. shall be with you all the t1me couldn't be absent from you if I would, you see, trying to smile through my tears.
 ''Shall you try?"
 I shook my head.
 II have been thinking of plan," he said. dreamily, after a moments silence. "Shall tell it to you now, or shall wait until you have known me longer, and loved and trusted me more?'
 Tell me now." whispered. q could not love you better if waited years.'
 "I am going away. Jetty," he said, with that caressing voice that went to my heart at once. Il have another yacht, another Butterfy"-and he smiled down into my face-''to take the place of the one that was lost. She will be here before the sun is down. Shall you be with me, Jetty?"
 ZIP" stammered. "I do not know what you mean"
 '"Then let me tell you, darling" taking my hand in his. 'I want you to go away with me tonight. want that all the rest of our lives should be spent together yours bound up into mine. I want you for my very own, the dearest joy that life holds for me-
 '"Eo leave father?" I asked ,tremblingly.
 "But my love surely would comfort you for any thing you might lose through trust in me"
 'I do not dare risk that loss even to be your wife," said, in so low a tone that he had to bend down his head to hear, dreading to hurt him by my answer,
 II have no sympathy with an old time worn creed. !" he said, softly, still keeping my hand in his, while smile lowered about his handsome lips. ''There are some who argue that love is not an endur- ing bond unless fastened firmly by the iron letters of law. own no such neces- sity. Were you not mine from the mo- ment our eyes met Soul touched soul then; heart spoke to heart. We will make ns world of our own, darling, unfettered by bonds. want you, love-I need you. Come away with me, then, this very night "
 My hands were cold enongh now, and they tremhled in his clasp. looked up through proud tears, then down to the slender circlet of gold my mothers wed- ding ring-that Il had worn for many years As my eyes fell upon it, it made me strong.
 ''Say it is all dream" I gasped. ''Tell me that yon take your cruel words back. Life would not be worth having if l believed as you do, and love itself would be a torment and mockery"
 ''Then you can not have faith in me, :" he sad, boldly; ''then your lips have framed lie when you said you loved and trusted me. 4 true love imposes no con- ditions."
 sprang from the bank on which we had been sitting. All at once the scales were lifted, and ''whereas once was blind, now I could see." l breathed a purer, freer air. "Great God! can such things be?" I cried, seeing for the first time the gulf yawning at my feet. Then turned swiftly from him and fled away, as for life. lF r.'i
 Time went by. 1t seemed allow enough to. count off the days and months that made up the years, with consuming pam and regret always in my heart. How l waitedl If only could hear from Ben just one line to say he forgave me! But none came. Father never asked any ques- tions of Mir. Arnold or Ben. I never heard from either. Both of them had sailed out of my sight, out of my life. Sometimes Tn those long three years we had news of Ben; sometimes a letter drifted over from foreign ports; but never 9 word to me. Once paper told us the ship had been spoken off the Azores. sails set for home; and so we knew, as the days went by, that she .was drifting nearer. Every sail that saw skimming over the blue, stagger- ing up from an under world, as it were, through faint lines of sea and sky, set my heart beating like drum and my nerves tingling with anxiety. How would he meet me, and what could say to him? Many morning did rise with the first flush of dawn, turning the glass so it might sweep the whole great arc of blue, making every white winged gull homeward- bound ship, holding my breath and praying, 'Lord send him safely back "> did not dare add, ''to me-" And when dark nights of storm swooped down upon us, would light the lamp in the tower with dull agony at my heart, lest even then, in the teeth of the wild storm. Ben's ship would be drifting toward the fatal rocks.
 "A watched pot never bolls, , old Janet once said, dryly, to me; and then knew that had not been able to hide my lm- patient longing from one pair of fond, anxious old eyes, at the least, though had tried to hide it even from myself. After that I would not go up to the tower only to light the lamp very early each night. @
 One day. when was quietly mending the table Janet suddenly opened tho door. ''He's comep' she said. her old face work ing all over with joy; and then heard a ringing. familiar voice asking for father-- not me-and sprang up, all flushed and