The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1879-06-12
H.sreH a,,u.
FAINT HEART.

John Everett had known Elinor eve
since he could remember; they had gone
to school together; he had spelled above
her and refused to take first place; he had
envied the more daring boys who walked
home with her through the green lanes
beneath the towering elms, as if it were
the most commonplace thing to do in the
world, while he, with his heart in his
mouth, tried to find courage for the effort
and found himself left behind for his
pains. Later, when they first began to
20 out into the world together, what tor
lures he endured when she danced with
some handsome stranger; if she rode with
his Drawer companions; if Carl Hughes
took her off in his wherry down the silver
length of the river, and lost his way
among the creeks of the silent marshes,
only returning home when the evening
was far spent, and the stars trembled in
the heavens, and unwittingly brushing
past poor John, waiting on the wharf in
the shadow of some warehouse, to see
them landed and safe! Life began early
10 seem like pleasant difficulty to him.
He was always wondering what she was
doing; how she passed the long days
while he was busy in the counting room;
what were her everyday thoughts, her
dreams. and did he hold any share there
in. Sunday, too, soon became the first OF
holidays, for then he was sure to see her.
Her fathers square, old-fashioned pew
almost faced the congregation, and not
breath or blush, the fiutter of an eye
lid or the ghost of a dimple, was lost upon
him. In the meantime it is probable that
Elinor was not blind Chances are easily
interpreted; action sometimes speak loud
er than words. There is little doubt,
when Carl Hughes or any of the others
stepped out OF a concert or lecture room
and offered an arm to her door, but she
understood that John had been waiting
and wavering and longing for the favor
able moment in which to anticipate this
attention, which moment would have ar
rived, sooner or later, but that Carl, in
tent on his purpose, and unhesitating In
its performance, had pushed his way
through the crowd to her side, and had
gained the day before John had thought of
losing it.
But by insensible degrees one out-grows
this sort of faint-heartedness, and pushes
out before Carl Hughes and the indulgent
crowd and wins the prize for the nonce,
but delays to take the next decided step
in the right path. And so it was with
John. One day he heard that Elinor had
given away her heart to Mr.. Denormandy.
now on his travels. However much pain
this announcement gave John, his faint
Notwithstanding. perhaps. was only
an exaggerated appreciation of the OBJ
Ject of desire-became something super
l.. LII ~.
why should he fear? 1t is at this stage
that one ceases to doubt and begins to
suffer. So, now that he had nothing to
loose, he went in and out Of her presence,
with a. fatal fascination, as bold as lion.
He asked her hand in the dance without
a qualm; he took her out to supper or
down to dinner as the case might be; he
strolled with her on the moon-hghted ter
race: he played melodies of his own COM
position on the flute; he even ventured
to take her in his own wherry down the
dazzling reach of the river, and though
he failed to entangle himself among the
ribbons of the marshes, yet the whery
sprung aleak, AMI while he pulled home
against the tide-as it seemed to him he
had always been doing-Elinor bailed the
boat with her slipper. which he begged
WHICH, liCN WtfC sdlc dsubTt, anu lut SLID
per Of no further use to the owner
II should like to keep it myself, she
said, las a memento of the day in which
we made shiPwreck together; bu, you
may have il"
One day he happened to say something
about the time when Mr.. Denormandy
should return from abroad and carry her
from beyond his reach.
sMr man1vf" said che Ep,tf,,,
her brows; what should possess him to
carry me any where?"
The right of possession"
81 don't understand you. Mr.. Denor-
mandy has no right Of any sort in me-"
Excuse me; but | thought had
heard"
That was going TO marry him, Don't
believe what you hear again. The truth
is, he never asked me. though my friends
declare he wished it, and | myself had
some reason to believe it; but faint heart.
you know"
Newer won fair lady. And you?"
81 was relieved when he left for Europe.
II is so hard to say No that one is in
danger of saying Yes from compassion.
Love is so sweet that it is difficult to re-
fuse it: and then one has haunting fear
of some time needing II.
And a woeful waste makes a woeful
want. What pity tina; Mr.. Denorman-
dy had not known your compassionate
temperament and been enabled TO have
taken advantage Of it,"
''Do you think SOP" she asked
mo; | shouldn't wish a goddess to
marry me from oompassion-a thousand
times no."
But this did not mend matters. Now
that there was everything TO gain or lose
nov that the affair was assuming a criti- |
cal aspect, since the responsibility Of the !
crisis and the event were his-the native |
timidity Of his character stepped in to |
hinder him. Not that he abandoned his
position at once: it had become too much |
a matter of habit for him to meet her at |
home and abroad on terms of intimacy.
and the habit was too precious to be easily |
broken. Only inch by inch, and almost /
without his own consent, he retreated /