The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-10-29
MABEIiS LOVERS.

ole has proposed then-this sapient
follower of yoursT
e'Now, Mark, you're just boorish! Did
not tell you he proposed ever 80 long
ago-almost at the first of our acquaint-
ance? And /, 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 het
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 a child must feel for its
parent; for he was thirty4five, and she
but seventeen this autumn day.
You wish me happiness, do you not,
Mark?'
'You know me too we'll 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.
'r1T You please, we will dismiss the
subject You are so horribly severe in
/ your views of humanity generally, and
| Alfred Mervin particularly. You do not
| know him, Mark, or you would, like me,
have the strictest confidence in him"
Perhaps" said Dr. Hamilton, with a
sigh, as he folded together his documents
and trudged away in the direction of his
Office. ''But, reasoned he, ''she is toe
completely absorbed in this six-foot non
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 nOsPecially definite
! idea as to how he was to support his
bride-that was Mr.. Alfred Mervin.
81 suppose we shall get along some
how" he would say. "You are not
afraid to trust me, MabelP
'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.
'eMust partT cried Mabel, a white
pallor cCln1ng over her cheeks. "You
aro testing -trifing, Alfred"
"No, dear, I am not" he answered.
And then he told her how the town in
which they lived trammelIed, 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 MabePs eyes-"you will re-
turn?
"Can you doubt meP' he cried, catch
ing her to him in a short, rapturous EN-
brace.
She decided she could not, and he
went away.
For a 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
riage 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
fit 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 run
| away played a 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,
said Hamilton, when she had done.
"Pm not angling for compliments, if
| you please" said Miss Henry; and kept
her own counsel after that.
Two weeks of almost daily intercourse
suficed to show Mable that Cliff Alden
bad no tendency Oh admites Scotch ballad
or Tennyson. He was entirely too
commonplace, too absurdly sensible"
| for her, she decided. And then liked
him all the better for the decision.
Did he propose2 Yes; just three
months from the day of their meeting,
and in this wise:-
Mabel, we are very agreeable, and
like each other, hope. Suppose you
become my wifeP'
That was his proposal; never a word
! of love-not even a demonstration OF
anxiety as to the loss or gain. 1t was
! his way, she decided, and accepted him.
1t was early September that he asked
| her to marry him. 1t was early October
when he came to her in the dusk Of the
evening, and with a ring of yearnlng
wistfulness in his quiet, unsteady tones:
enable, did you ever love anyone be-
fore meF' he asked, so abruptly as to
startle her.
" Yes" she said.
"And you quarrelled-this lover and
yourself?'
20 You really loved this man, MabelT'
| questioningly.
After the fashion of most girls at
seventeen. We parted, however, and
that settled everything"
But if he were to come back to you
the same man he was when you parted
were he to come back now, asking that
the past be forgiven-"
"f would tell him that I had forgotten
the past and him..
Cliff sat down on low camp stool 90