The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1879-10-04
MABEL'S LOVERS.

"And we are to be married in April"
said Mabel Henry, with quaint air of
assurance that made Mark Hamilton
smile.
Mabel wasa little, pretty pink-cheeked
lassie, in height scarcely reaching to
Mark Hamilton's wide shoulders.
That gentleman rearranged dusty
pile of legal papers in one corner of his
private escritoire, and laid heavily
sealed document upon the table.
"He has proposed then-this sapient
follower of yoursT
"Now, Mark, you're just boorish! Did
not tell you he proposed ever so long
ago-almost at the first of our acquaint-
ance7 And l, loving him, of course ac-
cepted his troth, and-we are to be mar
ried next April"
Since her earliest remembrance, Mark
Hamilton had formed part of Mabeps
existence. Orphaned long before her
womanhood was gained, the guidance Of
her earlier life had rested entirely in his
keeping, and she had grown to love him
with deep, true, steadfast love, such,
she thought, as child must feel for its
parent; for he was thirty-fve, and she
but seventeen this autumn day.
"You wish me happiness, do you not,
MarkT'
"You know me too well to ask that;
but matrimony is a treacherous craft;
you had best be careful with whom you
ship"
Mabel rose from her seat in the door
way.
"If you please, we will dismiss the
subject. You are so horribly severe in
your views of humanity generally, and
Alfred Meryin particularly. You do not
know him, Mark, or you would, like me,
have the strictest confidence in him."
Perhaps" said Mr.. Hamilton, with a
sigh, as he folded together his documents
and trudged away in the direction of his
office. But" reasoned he, "she is too
completely absorbed in this six-foot nom
entity to think of her own good"
Meantime, Mabel was blissfully una
ware of all things save her lovers pres
ence, Just six foot to a hairs breadth,
with sturdy broad shoulders and straight
features, with his studies but barely
completed, and with no specially definite
idea as to how he was to support his
biidb was MeTVlu.
II suppose we shall get along some
how, he would say. "You are not
afraid to trust me, MabelT'
Not at all" Mabel would answer.
And they sang Scotch ballads in the
sunset, and repeated love romances in
the moonlight, until the autumn DAYS
grew measured, and a sharp breath of
winter in the air.
Then it was that Mervin came to her.
his face pale, his voice unsteady, to tell
her time had come when they must
part.
"Must partT cried Mabel, a white
pallor coming over her cheeks. "You
are jesting- trifing, Alfredo
mo, dear, am not" he answered.
And then he told her how the town in
which they lived trammelled, with its
narrow confines, whatever talents he pos
sessed. So he was going to try his for
tune.
"But," and shade of uncertainty
crept into Mabers eyes-"you will re-
turn?'
"Can you doubt mer' he cried, catch
ing her to him in short, rapturous EN-
brace.
She decided she could not, and he
went away.
For long while after that Mabel
moved languidly about, nursing her un-
happiness, and brooding over Meryin's
absence. But even his letters ceased
abruptly Just month before the mar
rage day. The winter through they
come with laudable regularity, always
loving, always freighted with words and
endearment
OF course Mark Hamilton smiled in
his cynical way, and told Mabel that her
IDOL had fallen to the dust in her keep
ing. Perhaps it was only natural that
she should think some evil had over
taken her lover. But conviction game
upon her gradually, and by the time she
came fully to believe him recreant, she
had ceased to care for him.
Now, next May, fate willed that some
one of speculative inclinations should
TIT up an old rookery, dubbed " Summit
View" and transform the place into
summer hotel.
Fate willed it, too, that Cliff Alden
should wander that way one golden June
morning, and meet Miss Mable Henry,
after the accepted fashion of all heroes
and heroines
After an introduction in which a rum
away. played leading part, she had
asked him, unconcernedly enough, if he
were stopping at Summit View with his
family, when he answered that he had
no family; her feelings rose to july
temperature. At supper, she detailed
the episode Of their meeting in elaborate
rhetoric to Hamilton.
Mabel, you're a veritable goose"
ssid Hamilton, when she had done.
Pm not angling for compliments, if
you please" said Miss Henry; and kept
her own counsel after that.
Two weeHs of almost daily intercourse
sufiiced to show Mable that Cliff Alden
had no tendency OF admites Scotch ballad
or Tennyson. He was entirely too
commonplace. too absurdly sensible"