The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1877-04-05
CLEVELAND, TENN, APRIL 5, 1877.

now GllDefts lace lell AT the announce
ment of the visitor.
"She is my fathers widow" the
spinster said gravely. $50 we must
endure her for time"
She was a most fascinating widow
when she appeared at the late dinner,
in thin black dress, all Jet and trim.
ming, with some knots Of black ribbon
in the profusion Of her golden curls.
Her color was softly tinted as ever,
her blue eyes as babYish and winsome ;
yet, when the first evening was over she
knew she had gained nothing In her
effort to recapture the heart she had
thrown aside.
But she did not despair. She sang
the old songs that Gilbert had once
heard with rapture. She varied her
dress with laces, ribbons and jewelry,
till its pretense of mourning was a
mere mockery. She put herself in Gil
bert's way with every dainty device of
feminine needlework. She entreated
permission to prepare his favorite
dishes with her own white hands. And,
as if to try his constancy, Miss Jane
aided and abetted this schemer for her
nephew's fortune, and spoke but little
of Ella, never inviting her now to the
house, so that Gilbert was forced to
seek her more and more in her own
home, ana found her ever more lovely
and winsome from the contrast with
the idol he had proved to be clay. 1t
was six months after the arrival of Mrs.
Gorham in her stepdaughter's house,
when Gilbert, returning from a drive
with Ella, met his aunt in the hall,
and clasping her in a close embrace,
whispered very softly:
celia is mine! Wish me joyl"
"From my heart" she whispered
back.
Radiant with JOY and hope Gilbert,
after changing his driving. dress, hur-
ried to the sitting room, to tell Aunt
Jane "all about It," He had abso-
lutely forgotten about their guest, and
it gave him an unpleasant shock when
he found her, seated in low chair,
busted about some wool work, that
showed to great advantage her tiny
white hands, glittering with jeweled
rings.
She rose to greet him, and then, to
his embarrassed surprise, she clasped
her jewelled hands, and bursting into
tears, sobbed:
"Oh, Gilbert, do not look at me so
coldly. Icannot bear it. know de-
serve nothing from you but contempt,
but If you knew how sorely my mother
urged me, how importunate your grand
father was, you would forgive me. /
was insane with their prosecutions, and
| thought in my misery that could
still see you, and, perhaps-some day
when l was free again-I-P'-
And here evsn her effrontery gave
out, and she only sobbed convulsively.
Taken by surprise, every gentlemanly
instinct urged Gilbert to comfort this
woman who was SO recklessly offering
him what it was once his fondest hope
to possess. But his whole soul shrank
from her; his manly, true heart was
only outraged by her unwomanly ad-
vances.
Gravely he stood looking down upon
her as she shrank in the chair, sobbing
and covering her face, and yet furtively
watching him.
colbert, speak one tender word to
me-" she implored; "say you do not
utterly despise me-"
But he did. He sought for words to
convey his meaning kindly, and they
would not come. Blushing like boy
n his confusion and pain, he said,
gently:
81 am very sorry, Mrs. GOrham"-
"It used to be Myra," she sobbed, re-
proachGully.
"True, but those were days that can
never be recalled"
"You are cruel"
81 do not wish to be so, but must be
frank with you. The past Is dead
Never can we revive that love that was
once so precious to me, so very trihing
to YOU"
"No, no, you wrong me. Alas for
me, it is my misfortune that ] cannot
conquer my love-"
"But mine died when 1t was insulted |
and slighted."
Here Gilbert drew deep sigh Of re-
lief at the appearance Of Aunt Jane,
entering the room behind Myra's chair.
Mrs GOrham did not hear her light |
step, and sobbed:
"Your love cannot be dead, Gilbert.
1t Will live again. Pity and forgive
me-"
"1 both pity and forgive you," said
Gilbert, very gently.
"But"-
"But," said Aunt Jcne, In her hard
est tone, and with her face set In rigid
lines, "you forget, Mrs. Gorham, the
law does not permit man to marry
his grandmother"
With a cry of rage, Mrs. Gorham
sprang to her feet, but something in
the cold, grave faces, checked the tor
rent of wrath upon her lips, and she
left the room.
The next day she terminated her Vi
sit, and loftily declined an invitation,
sent three menths later, to be present