The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-06-28

not imagine why man Sh0uld SuHer tne
loss of one woman to come like shadow
between him and the sun, when there are
multitudes on every side as fair, as wise,
as witty, as she. There is no such thing
as,nenpareil excellence. Thank Heaven,
the world is rosebud garden Of girls,p
and he is fool who, losing one rosebud,
does not pluck another p"
"Ahw said Egerton, "it was 1 who was
fool to talk so lightly of things beyond
my comprehension He jests at scars
who meyer felt wound'-but 1 have
been wounded since then. The shadow
of one woman has indeed come between
me and the sun, and I would not tell you,
if could, what darkness has fallen over
my life. I met Agatha Loring more
than year ago, and from the first mo-
ment I saw her I loved her. Do you
know what the word means, Phil2 Very
likely not. never knew what it meant
until met her,: but, compared to what
I felt for her, every feeling that l had
ever known for. any other woman was like
water unto wine ten times told. / was
warned from the first that she was cruel
coquette, and would throw a mans heart
away like a useless toy when she was
done with it; but such warnings were
less to me than the idlest wind. To be
with her was sufficient; to hear her voice,
to touch her hand, to look into her eyes
such eyes, Phil have never seen any
others of the same tint; and as for ex-
pression-sometimes l think that they
have no tint, that they are aW'expression.
But"-with an impatient accent!
must not maunder like this. The end
came as it had been foretold. When [
grew too earnest to amuse her any longer,
she turned to ice and bade lne 60. I
wearied her, she said, coldly; she had
nothing to give me; she fancied that l
had understood that Irritation was only
Irritation; if I had made mistake it
was not her fault. And so all ended !
Well, no doubt you think me weak to
suffer such woman to rob life OF all
sayor for me. But most women who play
this game are bunglers more or less, while
Agatha Loring is an expert. When she
is done with a man, he is fit for nothing
but to 20 to the devil as fast as may be-"
.aAnd do you think such woman
worth going to the devil for?" asked
Thurston, with indignation. "Why can
you not put her out of your heart through
scorn? Great Heaven! if | loved her
better than my life, and she showed her
in such colors, it would be enough.
I should thrust her aside, and GO my way
as,if she did not exist"
'"Your theories would fall away like
cobwebs if Agatha Loring once. laid her
spell on you," said Egerton. II know |
am fool, but SHE is sorceress. No
ordinary woman could fill mans life
with the consciousness of her and the
need of her, and then wreck it as she
does. When she sent me away, ] was
like wretch hurled in one moment out
of heaven into hell! | do not under
stand yet how I failed to blow out my
brains, unless it was that I shrank from
being the subject of three days talk.
I did not even think of you, Phil-con-
slider thatv'
ssMy poor boyw said Thurston. In
voluntarily he rose and put his arm across
the young mans shoulders in their old,
boyish fashion. More he could not say.
His heart was hot as he thought of, the
woman who had wrought such work
through cruelty or caprice, but he knew
that to speak of her as she deserved
would for the present avail nothing.
Egerton, on his part, was touched by
this sympathy. "You are exactly what
you always were, Phil" he said, CRATE
fully. "Dear old fellow it would be u
dark. day, indeed, when any estrange-
ment came between us-but we need not
speak .ofsneh thing; it will never be.
And you must not think that 1 mean to
bore you;with my folly. have told my
story and II am done. Now let us discuss
your plans. w here do you mean to go?
All our relations are eager to see you,
and welcome you to their hospitable
roofs. That's the correct phrase, I be-
lieve.) People are amazingly hospitable,
you know, when they are only called
upon to appreciate success. 1 have press
ing invitations for you from all uncles,
and aunts, and cousins to the tenth de-
gree"
''Not one of whom I care to meet"
said Thurston. "Apart from my desire
to see you. I have chiefly come to
America to recruit my health-which is
a little enervated by five years in Egypt
and to attend to some business con-
cerning which there is no haste. There
fore, in order to accomplish the first two
objects, propose that we shall turn our
faces toward the old home of our bow.
hood. Let us go to Beechwood. I
should like to ride through the woods
and fish in the river again. I used to
think, in the East, that one Whit of the
pine-odors would be. better than the
fragrance of Araby the Blest."
II have not been there for years." said
Egerton. "My agent attends to the bust
ness. The plantation is rented out, you
know, but the house is cnoccupied, and
if you desire we can 60 there. All places
are alike to me. We will go tomorrow,
if you like,
So they started the next day, for
Thurston perceived more and more clear
IL that his brothers case was one de-
manding prompt treatment of some kind.
The Beechwood idea had come to him
like an inspiration, and as an inspiration
he acted upon it. 70 take Egerton away
from all associations which intensified
his pain, to break the chain of later
habit, and recall the fresh, simple pleas
ures Of earlier years, was what he wished
to do, and he felt sanguine that the re-
suit would be all that he desired.
This impression lasted for few days
after they had taken up their abode at
Beechwood-on of those old Southern
houses around which, even when desert
ed, still seems to linger the charm of the
hospitable existence they once enshrined
but il did not last more than a few
days. It was soon apparent that Eyer
toms malady was beyond the reach of
such remedies as this. AS Thurston
y,otobo1 him he realized how deenly the