The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1880-06-12

Having come to this wise Conclusion,
Grace went up to her room, locked her
self in and cried comfortably for q
Whole hour,
VIII came whistling up stairs, and
was surprised to find the door locked
Still more was he surprised when
Grace, in smOthered voice, denied
him admittance, saying she had head
ache, and did not want to he disturbed.
Puzzled aud somewhat angry withal,
as he had reason to be, VIII went away
to his office, feeling as If the angel was
fast disappearing, and his wife, after
all, was but a pretty, preVerse, provok-
ing child, whom time and experience
alone could ever teach to be a woman.
An hour after her husbands depar
ture, Grace, in a plain gray travelling
dress, and with thick veil tied close
" over her tear stained face stealthily
left the house; and before Rose, who,
from her window, saw her hurrying
along the road to. the railway station,
could clearly divine her purpose, she
was gone.
This was a nice predicament for one
to be placed In, truly Miss Wood
wards Indignation, for the moment,
got the better of her pity, and she could
have shaken Grace well for her sense
less absurdity.
There was but one thing for her to
do, and that was to pack her trubks
with all possible dispatch and leave on
the next train, which she did, to the
infnite amazement of Biddy, who did
not know what in the World to mike of
her sudden departure, not dreaming that
her mistress mad also taken flight; and
was already many miles from home.
When Will came home to dinner at
six O'Clock, and learned the true state
of things, he grew as pale es death and
staggered to chair as quickly as if a
shot had struck him in the heart.
Grace had left note on the bureau
in her room, in which she stated, in a
kind of hysterical Enoch Arden-like
manner, that she was going back to
her mother, and he might be assured
that neither himself nor Rose would
ever be troGbled By Seeing or even
hearing from her again. 1t was her
earnest wish to die, and over her early
grave, perhaps some gentle thought of
her might stir his cold, fofgetful heart
into passiiig thrbb of tenderness.
With the note crumpled convulsively
in his hand, Will Thornley, seized his
hat anl rushed from the house. 1t
mattered not where he went, Or what
he did now, and ere the next days sun
| had set he made one of the many thou
sands OF soldiers marching bravely to
the front; to fall, maybe In the battle,
with face turned unflinchingly toward
the foe, or die miserably in some prison
like a Gagged beast, his heart broken,
and death welcome release from pain,
and grief, and hopeless wretchedness.
4 y y
The setting sun was rapidly sinking
to his crimsoned curtained couch In the
west, when Grace walked up the grassy
path to the little white gate, where she
and win had often stood In the old,
happy days of thciI courting, and
watched the fading light steal duskily
down among the softly whispering
leaves of the naples.
"a letter for you, Mrs. Thornley,
said Mr.. Parkhurst, near neighbor
81 happened to be passing this way,
and L thought you might like to have
IT,"
"Oh, yes, thank you /" she iepiiSd
in a trembling voice. "YOu are very
kind"
Mr.. Parkhutst gave her the letter, and
went on.
Grace recognized the handwriting in
a moment, and with glad, "Oh, it's
from viii, and he has forgiven mel
me tore open the envelope, and hastily
ran her eyes over its contents.
The smile faded; the glad look lef
her eyes, and with low, piteous cry
she fell on her knees-aye, to the very
earth, and sobbed out the bitter, re
morseful anguish of her stricken soul:
"Goue-Will gone? Oh, no, mol i
cannot bel And yet this cruel, cruel
letter-only four little lines"
"You have chosen your path and
have chosen nine. All desire in this
world is a speedy and brave death and
go to meet il as joyously as ever bride
gtoom went to meet his BRIDE"
That was all. No name, no date, bu'
she knew only too well its meaning
She pressed it to her lips, het heart
She covered it with tears, all the while
uttering the poor, pitiful cry:
"Ob, viii, win, forgive me!-You
must forgive me-yau must come back
to me, or let me so to you"
But alas! her repentance came toe
| late. Will was hundreds of miles away
and between him and Grace's peaceful
home cannon were laundering theil
dread alarm, and wars heroic victim:
were falling by the tens of thousands.
They found her lying unconsciou:
ard apparently iifeless under the ma
| pies, with her still white face all wet
with the dews of she night, and her poor
cold hands claspihg close TO her heart
Wills short last letter.
Private Thornley, soon won for him.
SELF the reputation of being the most
esperately-daIing man in the army.
If anything particularly dangerous was
to Ee attempted he was always sure tC
offer his services.
He never seemed to sleep, and was
forever puttlag himself in the most
| periIous places; but do what he would
and tempt fate as he might, nothing
harmed him.
Three years Of blobdshed, turmoil,
anxiety and alternate hope and fear
passed nway-years that had been
to Grace one agony OF sorrOwful re-
grets and wearisome waiting; for she
did wait, and heaven only knows how
patiently and prayerfully, some sign
from viii that he cared for her or al
least remembered that she had once
BEEN his wife.
She knew that Colonel Thornley, was
somewhere in Tennesseei but for the
rest knew no more than the meresi
stranger who read his name in an &C
count Of his Brilliant deeds 10 the daily
papers.
The fabled Lethe is stream never
found this side OF the grave, search
long and far as one may, and those
three stirring years, active as was his
life and hazardous his march to fame,
had by no means brought fOrgetfuines:
to will Thornley's troubled heart.
Grace was so young and impulsive
He should have been more patient
more forbeaTing, more fOrgiVing. He