The Van Buren press., 1879-08-30
him with her pale face and sparkling

the pride in her face bearing its reflex on
his. a loved you; nay, | love you !!
My love you spnrn can never offer it
again, Miss Irene; but remember
should you ever need it, it is always rea
dy to do for you, to suffer for you, to
die for you"
"Why does not Earl come ?" ques.
toned the invalid. al want to see him
j miss him. Write, Irene, and tell him
he must call, this evening"
She wrote in obedience: Mamma
asks for you. She k,aws nothing. If
you will drop in, occaslonall, to see her,
shall be glad
1t cost her pride g struggle to send
even this; but was it possible it also
brought thrill of something like pieas.
ure, that she shonld meet him once
more.
The weeks had seemed strangely long
without him. Why had she thus an
swered him OF course the thing that
he asked was impossible, but ah, how
cruelty she had spurned him
Had he forgotten it2 She expected
some trace of sorrow on the handsome
brow; but when he entered, in obedience
to her summons, the frank smile Lit up
his face, as devotjng himself to the inva-
lid, he spoke to her only when courtesy
required.
Somehow, these weeks seemed to i'm
prove him, too. He had acquired pol
sh, or was it easy indifference, where
love reigned.
"Men easily forget and with the
thought she sighed.
The winter wore to an end, and slowly
the invalid grew weaker and more weak,
The shock had been greater than her ner.
vous system could bear, and she sank
under it, day by day, until the exertion
of moving from her bed to her couch be-
came too great, when. for the first time,
the realization burst upon her daughter,
that she was soon to be left desoate in
deed.
Earl, during these months, came and
went as of old but sometimes Irene ask
ed herself if his words to her had not
been a dream.
Not once did his eyes rest on her with
the old look-not once did he hold, for
a single moment, the little fingers within
his own; and q sense of empty disap-
pointment, none the less bitter because
unacknowledged brought to the proud
young eyes many an unshed tear. But
the btterer sorrow was in store, as the
invalid's end approached more and more
near, until the angel of death stopped
a., ,ratbo,nl Il ,rl
there, at the last, and as she lay so qu-
city on her pillows---they thought her
spirit had flown-she suddenly reused,
and. laying her daughters hand in his,
said:
Take her! | give her to you"
"Do not mind it; she meant only rs
a brother, Irene,' he said, in comfort
days after, to the weeping girl, and Irene
wondered why she could not, as such
accept it.
So the weary days merged into weeks,
the weeks into months, and the proud
young spirit learned its own bitterness.
She saw Earl, rarely, nowhere was no
longer the invald's impatient demands
upon his time. Some of the old friends
had come forward, in this second hour
Of suffering; but through all she missed
him, and the thought that he had learned
forgetfulness, brought her no comfort.
She was thinking of him, one evening
wQen he entered"
a am going away, Miss Irene" he
said Will you bid me God speed p
The old pride struggled for mastery
against the choking in her slender throat
but the words she stroye to utter, refused
to come.
al have been studying law during
these years of hard work, and am now
able to wait for the practice hope will
come. You will think of me, sometimes,
Irene; and, if in trouble, remember the
words once said, that | always stand
ready to act the part of friend, Is even
this asking too much p he added, as her
silence continued.
Had he, then, forgotten all his words
the love he had said was hers forever
or did its pale ghost lie buried, too But
she must speak; she must not let him
know.
Good bws ~ she faltered then spite
of herself, the words she had thought
locked in her heart, burst from her:
Earl, do not go: | cannot, cannot
bear it !"
lreneW where had his icy indiller-
cnce fed, now? His face was pale; his
voice trembed in his struggle for calm
ness, What matters it to you %
Everythingp' she exclaimed, as her
pride lay, with folded wings, at her feet
COR, if you must go, take me along with
you
Irene, do you know what your
words mean--that / can take you only
as my wife? My darling, is this true 2"
But in answer she sprang into his
open arms, dimly realizing that the color
mantling her cheek, was the abhorred
red flag, with which she had announced
herself to the highest bidder, but Earl,
holding her close to his heart, will yield
his prize, nevermore.
| The individual who itchcs for fame,