The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-05-09
Two Dollars a Year.


Somehow | love YOU better for this.
Sybella," he said "and Aunt Margaret,
will she not be my aunt also, from the
day that makes Us one?"
Then Sybella, ashamed Of her trick,
wept upon his shoulder; but, somehow,
Aunt Margaret looked no less grimly up
on the handsome Arthur, and only said,
afterwards:
"Wait week, child Promise me to
wait week before YOU undecsive him. E"
Then Sybella said, you are unjust"
And was seriously angry with Margaret
for the first time in her life.
-Four days had passed. 1t was a bright
day, and there was to be a pleasant pic
mic party that afternoon. Sybella and
her betrothed were among them. They
were all old friends, and Mrs Ruthven
was in her gayest mood, and chatted
merrily with all-perhaps a little more
with shy young fellow of eighteen, who
was in the company, than with any other,
because Of his youth and shyness
Arthur Austin had begun the day in
his usual good spirits, bur as it went on
he grew gloomier and gIoomier, and at
last relapsed into perfect silence. In
vain did his betrothed endeav0r to cheer
him. He scarcely spoke or looked at
her, and at last his manner began to
have an effect on the whole party. One
after the other grew dismal, and the re
turn home was as solemn rs a funeral
procession.
At Sybella's door Austin lifted his hat
coldly, and babe her good evening with
out even pressure of the hand.
'Gou are comingin in, AUSTIN she said,
softly.
"No," he answered.
care you ill?'
AT that he turned sharply upon her,
and said, aloud:
"No, | am not i'll. | am not blind,
that is all. Nor deaf, either. | have
watched and listened to-day, to my cost
Good evening"
"What did he mean, aunt?' cried Sy-
bella, when the door had closed. "What
has been done? / saw nothing"
''He is pretending to be jealous of
young Martin said Aunt Margaret,
quietly. "Sybella, have courage. He
means to quarrel and break with you,
now that he thinks you are penniless.
Tell him the truth and he will soon re-
cover from his jealousy. Keep it to
yourself, and you will never be able to
mollify him.
And this time Sybella sighed. But
she went to her room and wrote a pretty
letter to her lover, begging him to come
to her, and when he came, she met him
with an offer Of her lips, which he shock
ed her nv rpipctiuU
"You know how | have been offended
Sybella," he said. "You know you hirt.
ed with that boy all day"
"You know did not said Sybella
"Flirt! | never firted in my life. Why
should begin to do so now? No wo
man was ever truer than / have been to
you"
81 doubt it, said he II have seer
much and | suspect more; and since
your conduct has weaned my heart from
you, We had better part. There is only
one way of managing these things
Syhella looked into his face. She saw
no jealous madness there, only a deter
mination to break his engagement with a
woman whom he never loved, and whose
fortune had been his only object from the
first. She knew that her aunt had beer
right, but she had loved him so entirely
that it semed to her as if the knowledge
would rend her soul from her body. SHE
tried to crush the tears from her eyes, bu
in vain. Slowly she drew her engagement
ring from her finger aud put it into hi,
hand, and turned away.
AT the door a stronger hand graspeC
her. 1t was Margaret's. She led hei
niece to her room, and returned to tb,
parlor before Arthur Austin had left it
Standing before him, looking straight in
to his eyes, she said:
$50, sir, you have been tried in the
furnace and found wanting. You know
you are not jealous. You know that my
niece's loss Of fortune is at the bottom .
this. Don't prevaricate. You know j
Is true. / have seen through you from
the first"
''It is not your affair, believe" Ar
thur answered, sulkily. "Of course
when man expects to marry money, hi
isn't pleased to find himself saddled witt
a poor wife and her beggarIy relations
| But, of course, | was jealous. | have
broken with Sybella on that account, anC
it is her own fault"
"She has had lucky escape, Mr.. Aus
tin, said Aunt Margaret; " but befor,
you 20, let me tell you little secret
/ Sybella has not lost her money. Tn,
bank that failed had not a penny Of her:
in it. And as for tie beggarly relation
you mean me, you know-poor Aun
Margaret is worth her twenty thousanC
pounds, and every penny of it is left t.
her dear niece, sybella Ruthven.
warned her that you did not love her.
forced her against her will to put you t.
the test And / see that | was right, AM
you may go, Mr.. Arthur Austin"
And Mr.. Austin departed. A montl
afterwards he wrote penitent letter t,
Sybella, telling her that lao believe,
himself to have been causelessly jealous
But the woman vino is fooled twice b.
the same man must be hopeless IDIOT
and Mrs Ruthven will remain Ruthvel
until some better man asks her to chang
| her name,
| A Pathetic love story.