The daily gazette., 1877-02-20

? 1
love for Cecil, and asked for her hand II
! marriage. The old pastor was deepl,
, moved and after considerable hesitatio1
: revealed to the young nobleman secret
(which affected him profoundly. On re
: covering from the shock, he asked: ',-
"Does Cecil know her history?'' "
"No; have not dared yet to tell her.
/ "Then keep 1t secret still from her
She must never know it. And give hei
to me, Mein Herr, If she will marry me
: and let me guard and protect her" g
, i"You are generous, my lord, but this
cannot yet be. You shall not marry hei
on generous impulse. Besides, she il
too young. Go back to your own coln;
try for one year, leave her to me, and d
another summer, you still love Cecil,
come and claim her, But now you must
not speak to her Of love. She Is but /,
chlld-she is only seventeen ;, 9lI ~
| Lord Glehham was forced to acquiesce
In the old PASTORS decision. ~ oi -oli'Il''a
Cecil was called in, and the earl took
leave of her guardians presence. His
lordship's tongue, was silenced upon the
subject Of love, but his eyes told the tale
bis lips had been forbidden to utter, and
! the girls soul thrilled under his worship
4 ing gaze. i' '1iiiA ii l'iN, - .T'l % "a
81 am going away, Cecil,n said his
iordship with tenderness he could not
repress. 81 am going home to England
but shall return next summer. Good
BY, Cecil-good-by, my darifng!" .'
The sorrow in her sweet keyes robbed
him Of his self control. He caught her to
his breast and showered kisses on her
pure young face in an irrepressible agita-
tion. Then, gently putting her from
him, ne wrung the pastors hand and
dashed from the house. 4'' 'a& li'i'
An hour later Lord Glenham and NAL
dred Grafton left Zorlitz on their way to
England the latter promising to hi rnself
a speedy and secret return. 4- III II
| That evening, as the good old pastor
sat alone in his study, medi tatinp
upon the great event Of the day, the
door opened and old Gretchen came
in, bearing in one hand lighted
candle, In the other a small packet
upon which was impressed the London
postmark. -. Il '..l7' a'i' = ~ III ~
The pastor tore open the packet as
soon as Gretchen had retired. Two.
English banknotes fell upon his knee,
aAd folded sheet of paper, upon
which he saw handwriting, followed
them! ~ ef-+'
The old scholar started, recoilinp his
gentle face growing troubled and per-
picked. ,'''.-' = 80, -.
''AIletter?' he muttered. The first
letter l ever received from Cecips for
mer guardian. ] have received fifty
pounds from him every year but never
a scrap OF writing before. What has
he to say to me?" Docs he intend TO
take the child from me-! Is the long
mystery of fourteen years to be clear
ed away at last?" ~.
Herr Broken unfolded the myster-
ious letter, a strange agitation CULVER
ing through all his nerves. He believ-
ed himself to stand upon the threshold
OF the solution OF the strange mystery
of Cecil's origin. A blur obscured his |
vision. He removed his spectacles and
wiped them with trembling hand. |
Then he spread cut the sheet of paper,
his eager old eyes fairly devouring its
contents. f
The letter, as he noticed after read> |
ing it, was written upon plain white
paper, without water-mark or imprint
of any sort whatever. The handwrit, |
ing was coarse, and slanted backwards. |
with evident attempt at disguise. |
There was no date to the letter, which |
was as follows: md. 'rfe ~ |
Herr Brocken: 1t is now fourteen |
years since l left with you the little, |
nameless child whom you agreed to
bring up, and in all that time have
never written line to you, nor have
l heard from you directly, but 1 am |
aware that the child, is unfortunately,
still alive. have remitted regularly
to you for her support the sum of fifty l
pounds per annum. l remit that sum
herewith, as usual, in Bank of Eng
land notes. As she is now about
seventeen years old, and quite able to
make her own !way, shall not send
any more money for her. As this is
the first, it will also be the last com.
municatlon you will ever receive from
me. ul.srl1g.4l+a= r.elHsz.
II suppose that she has been brought
up,in accordance with my instructions,
as German peasant-girl. Isuppese,
also, that she is contented with her lot.
since she has never known any other.
II she should marry some- wood-car-
yer of your people, then my best
wishes for her welfare will have been
fulfilled. seHa
ut is scarcely necessary for me to
repeat what / told you fourteen years
ago, that the girl has no friends save
those she may have made at Zorlitz;
no relations; and that the best she can
do for herself is to live and die In the
obscurity of the Black Forest. NV
care and concern for her end herewith.
Neither she nor you will ever hear
from me again" Il
There was no signature to this epis-
tie Herr Brocken read it over the
second time and sighed heavily. Ii
'pThe unknown guardian washes his
hands of Cecil" he muttered. IAN
between the girl and her
early past is now completely severed. !
She will never solve the mystery, will {
never know her origin. l almost wish | 4,
that ] had not sent Lord sGlenham
away, and yet I could not do other.
wise. According to the traditions and
of the world, girl like Cecil, |
no matter how great her beauty, /