The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-08-04

"A LGCIe girl, pea"tiinA az "
lily, would occasionally present him with
a wild flower, and in thanking the girl
in his courteous way his eyes travelled
out toward the east, and when the little
n questioned, he answered not q word.
One day he heard the landlord COM
plain of delinquent guests. He knew he
was meant, and he was. It was a cruel
allusion. 1t struck home. A face hith-
erto pale, underwent a change-it grew
older in an hour. Not a friend with
means was left him.
Despair was clear cut in that suffering
face.
Sometime before the doctor had in
vited him TO Potrero, a sugar plantation
@ . road to Vera Cruz. One evening l
passed out upon the front balcony, and
Mckay was there.
He began to speak in a voice. that
quivered with emotion: Il 60 to Potre-
70 tomorrow. I shall never see Cordova
again. Three years ago I left home, and
then I promised myself that nothing
could ever induce me 10 return The
past is a bitter memory: but let that 60.
Yesterday I still expected to return to
Boston, if for nothing else, to die at
home. The uream even has passed for
ever. And S., whenever it is all over,
let me be laid in some quiet place, and
when those in Boston hear of my death
let the cause be consumption" A fit of
coughing prevented further words, and |
saw him no more.
The next morning he left Co~dova.
He slept at the plantation. But he
walked no more. A little phial of poison
lay beside him. He was dead.
There was d ring on his finger, and in
side were the words, from Mary to
john"
He was buried on the banks of the Rio
Seco, under the shade of the broad-leafed
banana.
Two-thirds ofthe guests of the Con
federado" quit the house that day, and
the concern went to pieces a month after.
Some time after the clouds had begun
hanging about the hills and the air had
cooled from the raids of the Northers
from the coast, a diligence from the rail
way terminus brought a we'll dressed
lady to the quaint old city. She was an
American, and, ordering a room at the
I" Diligencia, " asked if any of her coun-
trymen resided in this city.
An uncouth specimen was pointed out,
and she forthwith piled him with CUES
tions, whilehe answered with candor and
bluntness.
edo you know" she began, "a gentle
man named McKay-a civil engineer?"
eyes, mann, I did know him."
Eagerly she followed, "And where is
he now?"
"He took poison and is dead; he's
buried on the Rio Seco."
Before his answer was fairly out the
lady fell upon the floor in a swOon.
Plying strangers lifted her up and laid
her upon a couch. Some time elapsed
before she returned to consciousness, and
when she opened her eyes she was a
changed woman. She was beautiful,
graceful and queenly, but the face had
undergone a marked change. An Amer
lean lady, three years a resident of Mex
leo, called upon her, and to this lady she
poured out the depths of her sorrow and
the salient points of her sad story.
She was McKay's affianced, and in a
moment of levity, let slip a remark
which cut him so deeply that he went
from her door without a word. That
night he boarded a steamer and left bis
country forever.
1t was by reading tho Fl raid that she
caught sight of his name as having as
cended the volcanic peak of Orizaba.
And the first mail carried a letter of in
guiry to h erailway Office at the Mexican
capital. The reply told the story of
McKay's sickness, and that he was at
| Cordova.
The next day she went to New York
and took passage in the first steamer to |
Mexico. She had a quick passage on the
Manhattan, but arrived at Vera Cruz a
month after the singular drama at
Petrero. She came to Cordova with the
hope of meeting Mckay, being united in
marriage, and taking him with her to
Boston.
Then she visited the spot where he was
laid.
Let the scene be unwritten. When
she turned away, tears were in her eyes
and unutterable woe was written in
every line of her face. By her direction
a stone wall was built around the spot
and a rude slab was placed at the head
of the grave with the name of the deap
upon it.
The natives looked with a sort of awe
upon the graceful woman experimenting
the work, and seemed impressed with the
grief of the stricken lady.
"Muy bonita! mug trsste p they whis-
pered to one another.
Some memsnto that had drifted into
her hands she had sent forward to a gulf
steamer from whence she was TO embark
for her native land.
When she was done she turned away.
To oa home was all that ramoinGs.