The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-05-15
HIS TRUE LOVE.

AID so, Rosa, l ana going awsy. Before
this reaches you, thousands of miles Will
separate us, and it viii be useless for yoT
| to try to trace nae. / shall leave property
enough to support you and the child, fol-
you kave been dear to me, but / never was
| worthy of yoE; and new you mast forge
me. I have tried in vain to conquer my
love for Florence Aberaethy. My passion
for her is the one true love of my lifetime
can not give her up, and we are going
away together.
The little white. faced woman, heldins
with trembling hands the blotted paper
read again the cruel letter--the letter
from her idolized husband, declaring hi;
love for another, and 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, weak, not half COM
pretending get the trouble that 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 cSroled
lightly in their dainty csge; her baby
boy slept soundly in his crib; and cut
side were all the sweet, soft odors of
springs buds and blossoms, and it's
countless hymns of gIadness 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 feveIed, delirious
| dream.
She was one OF those golden-haired,
exquisitely pretty little women, who
seem sent into the world expressly for
men 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 years
before Louis Aston had taken her from
the luxurious home of her childhood,
where she had known sorrow 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. Aston lived in 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 ne had been SO
proud; and his manner constantly be-
trayed bitter anxiety.
4 must go away, Rosa" he said at
last, "s0me one must go, or our firm
will be ruined, and who can go 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 unlooked-tor
prosperity in his business, and of the re-
markable liveliness and cordiality 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 life? His picture hung on the
wall before her, looking down 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 kind
hearted neighbor a few days later, do
you know what's the matter with Mrs.
Alston?"
"She is suffering under severe nerv-
Gus prostitution" 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 -"
"Dear, dear what won't men do? But
/ 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 wemanp
She does not tslk of him. She told Mrs.
Lynde that she had rather see him dead
than have him living so dishonored
that is all 1 have heard"
Poor little woman Pm so surprised
1 can hardly think at all. How could
he leave the child But l must go right
over and see if there is anything 1 can
do for her."
Poor Rosalie Aston was not left to
feel any lack of friends in her worse than
widowhood. Few who knew her failed
to offer sympathy and help. There
were none who didn't censure Louis Ais
ston's heartless conduct. 1t was remem.
bered how tender and true she had been
to him from the day he brought her to
his home in her girlish loneliness, how
careful and fond and he had not always
been loyal to her, now said the watchful |
world; yet for her sake gossip whispered |
10 her votaries the rumors that Louis |
Alston's life had not been blameless, for