The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-05-22
HIS TRUE LOVE.

HIS TRUE LOVE.
And so, Rosa, am going away. Before
this reaches you, thousands of miles VIII
separate us, and it will be useless for you
| to try to trace nae. I shall leave property
| enough to support you and the child, for
you have been dear to me, but I never was
worthy of you; and now you must forget
me. have tried in vain to conquer my
love for Florence Abernethy. Ny passion
| for her is the one true love of my lifetime.
I can not give her up, and we are going
away together.
The little White-faced woman, holding
with trembling hands the blotted paper,
read again the cruel letter--the letter
from her idolized husband, declaring his
| love for another, ard his resolve to
separate himself from his family for that
| others sake, II had come hours before ;
she had read it over and over, and still
she sat there, pallid, wesk, not half COM
pretending yet the trouble thst had
come upon her conscious only that her
| hearts trust and love had been betrayed,
that she had lost the presence dearest to
| her on earth. The spring sunshine,
finding its way through among her cal
! las and geraniums, lay warm across the
| handsome carpet her birds carOled
lightly in their dainty cage; her baby
| boy slept sOundly in his crib; and out
side were all the sweet, soft odors of
springs buds and blossoms, and its
countless hymns of gladness while she
sat there in her dumb misery, question
ing if this were all true, if she had lived
to know her idol false and base, and her
| life's Joy forever vanished, or if she were
! only in the maze of q feve.ed, delirious
dream.
She was one OF those golden-haired,
exquisitely pretty little women, who
seem sent into the world expressly for
N en- to take care of, one who needed to
be lived and cared for always, and
hitherto she had known no lack of ten.
derest devotion and affection. Six yesrs
before Louis Aston had taken her from
the luxurious home of her childhood,
where she had known soTrDw but by
name, to his own elegant residence, just
finished and furnished for his bride, and
from their brief, blissful courtship, they
had entered on what appeared an almost
perfect welded life. The young mer.
chant was the most attentive of husbands,
and Mrs. Alston lived in a scarcely bro
ken dream of happiness. After four
years came the tiny stranger asking ad
mittance to both hearts, and then life
seemed indeed complete to pretty ROsalie
Aston.
But when the little one could barely
utter his parental title, Mr.. Alston's
mien began to change. He ceased to
come from his work with the light
hearted smile his wife had learned to
expect he forgot sometimes to kiss the
baby boy, of whom he had been so
proud and his manner constantly be.
trayed bitter anxiety.
81 must go away, Rosa" he said ct
last, "some one must go, or our firm
will be ruined, and who can 90 but
me ?"
So, for the first time since their bridal
day, they were separated, for he went
away hundreds of miles, and she stayed
at home with little Lou.
All the long winter months she had
waited, lonely, for his coming, and his
letters said often, " [ shall be with you
soon :" but he did not come. He wrote
sometimes of brilliant and unlocked -for
prosperity in his business, and of the re-
markable liveliness and cordiaiity of the
| society in which he found himself, but
| she looked in vain for a day named for
| his return. At last came the terrible
letter that told her how he had sinned
and fallen, and that they might never
meet again.
And all the half-dozen years of their
| happy welded life, she had been so sure
/ of his affection Could it be that in this
stranger he had found the one true love
of his lief His picture hung On the
wall before her, looking drwn upon her
with the beautiful dark-blue eyes she
| had loved to watch and looking there
on that handsome face that was bending
now to an ignoble one, on that shapely
head 30 dishonored, she cried out at last,
and wept in her agony. And thus they
found her in her helpless woe, and kindly
hands and voices ministered to her in
the fearful hours that followed.
"Do you know" queried a kind
hearted neighbor a few days later, do
you know what's the matter with Mrs
Alston ?''
"She is suffering under severe nery
GUS prostration." answered the doctors
wife, who lived across the way, " and
they fear something worse. Joseph
was called to see her last night. Mr.
Aston has eloped with a young lady
of -"
&c Dear, dear what won't men do But
| I should never have thought that of Mr..
Aston, he always seemed to care SO much
for his wife. How does she speak OF him
poor little weman ~
She does not tslk efhim. She told Mrs.
LyBde that she had rather see him dead
than have him living 50 dishOnored !;
that is all I have heard"
Poor little woman Pm so surprised
I can hardly think st ali. How could
he leave the child But I must 90 right
over and see if there is anything I can
do for her"
Poor Rosalie Aston was not left to
feel any lack of friends in her worse than
widowhcod. Few who knew her failed
to offer sympathy and help. There
were none who didn't eeDsure Louis Al.
ston's heartless conduct. It was remem'
bered how tender and true she had beer
to him from the day be brought her tc
his home in her girlish ioveliness, how
careful and fond and he had not always
r been loyal to her, now said the watchiu
. world yet for her sake gossip whisperec
to her votaEies the TUmOTs that Leuii