Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-10-24
AGAINST HER WILL.

AGAINST HER WILL.
"Oh, mother, mother! said Adelaide
Fairfax; and such q wailing, weful moan
would have penetrated any heart but a
heart of stone; but it made no impress
sion upon the one 1t was intended to melt.
"AdeIaide, you disgust me, you make
me ashamed of you,'' said her mother.
"What more do you want? He is
rich
eyes," SAID Adelaide, "but-'
she Is favorite," Interrupted her
mother. 'He is courted bv the first fam
lilies in the neighbohood. BE could mar
~ the richest girl in Our circle"
"Oh, if he only would?" said ADELAIDE ;
"if he only wouldr'
'sSllence, girl?' exclaimed her mother
"There Is neither shame nor spirit In
your pretended aversion to one of the
noblest men ever created. Oh, you may
shudder! Neither your tears nor your
prayers will move me in the least Do
you think 1 am blind? Do you think
do not know the very secret reason why
you so oppose my dearest wiah? Do you
think your stolen visits to the old stone
house have not been traced? Shameless
grill 1t is my duty to see you well set
tied in life before you are quite lost to
honor and decency."
"No, no, ns, mother, you cannot say
that" returned Adelaide; cor if you can,
you shall not am your child-yeur
only child. Up to this time have I ever
failed in my duty to you? Have I not
given you all the reverence, all the ODE
dience, all the affection child could be-
stow upon parent? I tell you, mother,
this is case of life and death-for sin
is death-death to the heart, that, reck-
less and tortured, leaps bllndly into the
chasm of crime"
"Have you done?" said her mother.
"Let me speak while the spell is on
mep' replied Adelaide. You know that
love William Beckett; you knew it long
years ago. You encouraged it; you gave
it your sanction. You used all your wo
mans arts to aid in its progress
why? Then he was rolling in wealth,
was courted. feted, petted, as GRAVITY
Thornby is now. His father speculated
wildly, failed, and in his ruin involved
the ruin of his only son. Still you have
played your cards cautiously and well.
You pitied him, you pitied me; you
trusted matters were not desperate. after
all: but you took good care to remove me
far away from his influence, thinking that
in separating as personally you could
separate our hearts. 1t was not possible
they had grown into one. Parted they
might be but not divided in thought,
act or deed"
"You romantic simpleton!'' exclaimed
her mother. Don't dare deliver any
more of this ridiculous twaddle in my
presence! so surely as the sun rises.
so surely shall you be the wife of GRAVITY
Thornby"
"Then on your head be the SIN, if sin
should come! On your head be the
storm, and strife, and darkness, which I
see looming in the far distant future
On your head, then, be the crime Of a
broken heart, hopeless life! warn you
oh, [ warn you, mother! If I have
not your hardness of beart, have a por-
ton of your determination; and never
shall GRAVITY Thornby mold me to his
detestable liking. l will be his wife be-
cause [ cannot help myself; but the hand
that blights my lite shall not blight my
love-so tell my husband that is to be-
Pale and exhausted, Adelaide Fairfax
saIk down on the sofa, from which but a
moment before she had risen in her in
dignant scern.
Her mother, a coarse-looking woman,
dressed in the extreme of vulgar, costly
taste, and loaded with jewelry, sat oppo-
site her, her eyes fairly blazing with
wrath and scorn. To be defied by her
own child, the child who until that day
had been all meekness, all obedience A
bOmbsheil entering the apartment and
exploding at her feet could not have
startled her more. However, she had
gained one triumph-Adelaide had con-
sented to be the wife OF GRAVITY Thornby.
Wild as Adelaide had spoken, she had no
fear for the future. She knew the mate
purity of her daughters heart, and even
had she doubted that, the will and
strength of GRAVITY Thornby was suffi-
cient to protect his own and his wife's
honor.
The mother had scarcely LETT the room
by one door, when another was opened
giving Abundance to a second party. 1t
was in the person OF singularly hand
some man, tall, stalwaIt in frame, with
eyes large, burning and penetrating. The
face was In keeping with the form, the
features regular and we'll defined, the
forehead broad and massive, the mouth
ay, there lay the reading Of that atrong
mans nature-it seemed to spy as plainly
as words could have done, my will is
law
And so it was. Scarcely, in all his
life, had he failed in accomplishing any
object that seemed to his cratic nature
worth pursuit And should he fail now,
when the prize to be obtained was only
simple, stubborn girla Not he. 1t was
not so much for the affection he bore her,
yes even there he had conceived pas
sion which he found it smpossible to
subdue; but she had defed him, Knocked
at him, laughed at him to scorn. His