Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-02-21


Il didnot know that you we're bearing
secret burdens, uncle" said Cecil. Let
ME help you. Do you need money!
The pastor glanced at the two bank.
Rotes on his desk.
No, dear, it is not any fear Of poverty
that troubles me, he said, gently. Il
feel strangely week / realize to night
that am growing old. l may not live
another year, and there are things you
ought to know / will tell them to you
now. Cecil, this handsome English lord
asked me to-day for my consent to ad-
dress You as your suitor.
The girl blushed and paled, and her
eyes glowed with q swift and dazzling
splendor.
What did you say uncle p she whis-
pered, after little pause.
u bade him wait year. / told him
that you we're too young to marry"
He loves me he loves me Cecil
said to herself softly, her glorious young
beauty radiant as a star. "And he is
coming back next yearl Oh, uncle, |
am the happiest girl in all the world to-
night i'a
The old pastor sighed and stroked her
hair with a shaking hand. A greatstrug-
gl4 was going on within him. At last a
look Of decision settled upon his care
worn features, and with his trembling
hand resting on Cecils head ha told her
her history as far as he knew it. he also
informed hsr that he had told it to Lord
Glenham, and that it seemed to make
him love her all the more. he then
handed her the letter from her unknown
guardian, closed his eyes and leaned
back in his chair. His face looked sin
gularly worn and sorrowful in the dim
light, and there was a WEAKNESS in the
dropping features that told of extreme
physical weakness. No one marked the
rapid change of expression in the young
face at his knee, the passionate anguish
in the sweet eyes, the tense lines about
the lovely mouth, the bitterness, horror
and despair indicated in all her perfect
features.
The letter fell at last from Cecil S
hand, and the bright head dropped to
the pastors knee, while Cecil gave way
to burst of passionate weeping
MY child" said the old scholar,
arousing himsel, With his former be-
wildered expression, hush, dear, you
pain me. would have kept this from
you if had dared Lord Glenham may
come back. Goodness, beauty and ge-
MUS are Of more value than ancestry.
Put the letter in your pocket It may
prove a clew some day y"
He took from the desk a small packet,
which he opened
my good wife wrote out the history
of your coming here" he said, "and
here it is We both signed it. And the
good wife, who was clever with her pen
Gil made that night, after your guar
dams departure, a sketch Of his face.
Here it is. 1t can perhaps do you no
good, but as the man might have been
your father, we preserved it for you !"
Cecil seized the paper eagerly, and
staFed at the picture with great, deyour-
ing eyes,
1t represented a young man with
fair, English face; heavy, cruel mouth;
small, blue eyes, the left one having a
peculiar droop and with a large mole on
the left cheek, The face was hard, cold !
and unpleasant, and Cecil shuddered as
she studied it, feeling quick sense oil
repulsion towards it,
WDo vot, tb;nL 4IrI - r Il on |
she asked. 81
The good wife thought not Bnl 10
might have been. Men can be very cruel |
to their own flesh and blood when they
are supremely selfish Keep the mic.
ture, dear, And now, Cecil, We must
say goodnight
Cecil knelt down beside him, and no
laid his hands on her head and blessed
her, Then he embraced her tenderly, as
she arose, and dismissed her
The old pastor leaned back in his
chair. His long, scanty locks fell around
his venerable face, and his eyelids
dreoped YEARLY.
Poor little Cecil y he said to him
self yet without seeming to realize his
words. II seem to have the gift of sec
ond-sight to night. A terrible future
yawns before her. Poor little one God
shield her
When morning dawned, he still sat in
his easy-chair, but his head was thrown
back, the gentle smile was frozen on his
features, which were rigid as marble.
The old pastor had gone to Join bis
good wife. He was dead, and Cecil Rosse
was LETT alone In the world to meet the
terrible perils in store for her
The grief OF Cecil, when, The next
morning, she discovered the old pastor
sitting dead in his chair, was indescriba-
hle. She felt that she was now indeed
alone, and without a guide in the world.
But old Gretchen and all the neighbors
comforted her and by the time the fu-
neral ceremonies had ended, and the al
fairs of the pastor's estate had been set
We'd, she had recovered her usual elias
ITCHY of spirits and had resolved upon
her course which ives to go to England,
accompanied by Gretchen and see if she
could not lnd some trace of her family.
AS they set out old Gretchen, looking
back at the forest-village through her
tears, muttered:
II hope that we amt rushing straight
into troubled And yet a creeping feel
ing comes over me that there are dark
days ahead l wish | could read the
future T. The aboyo We publish as a
specimen chapter; but the continuation
ot th;e etOrv w;n ba found or1,y - 4ha