The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-05-25

whole frame.
"I am calm now," she said, in accents
that were comparatively teady.
eff you had told me month-nay,
even aweek-ago thatin pledging yourself
to marry Mervyn Tyrrell you were acting
under coercion, could have and should
have stopped the matter at once. To
me it seems most iniquitous marriage
when woman swears to love her hus-
band and deliberately periures herself.
But 1 understood that you accepted him
voluntarily, and that his attentions were
agreeable to you"
81 was miserable coward, father, as
/ told you last night. He and l were
thrown so much together that it seemed
impossible for me to refuse when be al
most demanded me to marry him. And
then my mother said that my refusal
would break her heart"
"Her heart" broke in John Kyrle,
with an ill-suppressed cynicism in his
voice.
"And I Rave tried, tried hard, to recon-
cile myself; but, the more see of him,
the more 1 dislike, nay, hate him. l
shall go mad if 1 have to marry that
man %
"And what can be done to prevent it
at the eleventh hour-on the very eve OF
the bridal Hester, have thought over
it, as / promised you, and l find it must
be. can do nothing"
Nothing!" she almost shrieked, ris-
ing from her knees, and her slight figure
swaying.
Mr.. Kyrle caught her in his arms and
with one hand turned up her face toward
him so that he might scrutinize it.
"Child. do you love some other man?"
he questioned gravely, with keen
glance. But her eyes looked back at him
with frankness in their limpid depths.
CT wish did !" she replied earnestly;
"for would appeal to him to save me
from this fate, since you refuse to do so.
No; it is only that hate-loathe-this
Mervyn..Tyrrell |"
"But why? He is not one I should
have picked out for your husband; but
he is well-looking, and 1 suppose true
and honest in the love he processes for
YOU"
"What matters if he be true and hon.
est, or if he loves me or not, since L alb
hor him with my whole heart and soul !?
Father she clasped his arm with
both her hands, and gazed piteously at
him" do you really mean that there is
no escape for me-that 1 must become
his wife?'
Hester, child of mine must not be
called jilt and dishonorable by the
world, and it would be dishonor on your
part to draw back now." Mr.. Kyrle
answered pompously, in a hard voice.
Then, God help me, since you
won't Oh, that / might die before to-
morrow !" she murmured, with a heart
felt pathos.
Hester"
For once the "father" shone out of
the steely gray eyes, and misty look
came over them. The sight touched her
at once.
Forgive me for worrying you,"
she pleaded. 81 suppose you are
right, and that everything should be
sacrificed to honor. I will try and re-
sign myself y and she turned quietly. to
go away.
Mr.. Kyrle stopped and pressed kiss
on her forehead. He was not de-
monstrative man, and the caress was so
rare that the girl looked up at HIM visit
fully and In astonishment.
"My poor child !" he faltered.
Are you sorry for me, father9 1t is
at any rate comfort to know that you
pity me, if you cannot help me-" she
said, with faint effort at smile that
ended in a sob.
When she was gone John Kyrle went
back to his chair, and bent over an open
book /; but the muscles round his mouth
twitched nervously, and he brushed
away with shaky hand drop that gilt
tered on the page before him.
PART ii.
chester, you are late," Mrs. Kyrle
remarked, in petulant voice, as she
swept into her daughters room on the