The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-03-09

listened that day to hear his own name
coupled with that of the lovely girl who
had promised to be his wife, and the
voice of the clerk had Joined with hers
that of another and younger man F!
10 understand the full force of the blow
which had fallen on him, it Is necessary
to go back at n time, nearly twenty
years before, when as a youth he had
won the love of his pretty and gentle
cousin Phoebe Jocelyn. Phoebe was the
loveliest girl in all the country round,
and had admirers by the score, but Rob
ert Jocelyn was the choice of her heart,
and to him she was tenderly attached.
But though capable of loving with devo-
tion, poor Phoebe was weak-willed and
timid, and quite powerless to resist
resolute and domlneering mother, who
had chosen different person to be her
daughters husband. William Heath
had more money than Robert, and was
snowy, plausible fellow, in whom the
ambitious mother fancied she saw q
more brilliant match for her daughter.
She piled the yielding girl with argu-
ments, reproaches and appeals to filial
duty till she was quite bewildered ; and
almost before she was aware of 1t she
had given up her cousin, and was plight
ed to William Heath. Her married life
was fortunately brief, for she knew no
happiness in the three weary years she
lived with her husband. At the end of
that time he left her in poverty, and no
one in Bayfield, ever saw him again.
Poor Phoebe sinking under the pressure
of grief, neglect and privation, lived but
a few months after his desertion. Dur
ing that time she was tenderly cared for
by her cousin Robert, who supplied all
the wants of her and her infant daugh-
ter, and found for them serene asylum
under the roof of his brother Ezra and
his wife. This kind couple had no
children, and when her mother was
gone the little Lizzie was adopted by
them as their own.
Robert Jocelyn had never married.
He lived on, a sad and silent man, old
before his time, but he had no heart to
offer to another woman. He had loved
Phoebe so unselfishly that he could have
borne to lose her if she had been happy;
but to have her taken from him to suffer
neglect and cruelty was hard indeed. 1t
was with solemn thankfulness that he
saw the sod laid over her faded beauty
and broken heart.
Years passed, and Phoebe's daughter
was charming, bright girl of
eighteen. Under the fostering care of
Ezra and his wife, she had grown up
cheerful and happy, loving and dutiful,
favorite with all. Like her mother,
she had many admirers; but it could
not be positively determined that she
favored any. Still, there were shrewd
suspicious, and more than one young
fellow would have been glad to stand in
Mark Boynton's place, and would have
felt rich indeed with but portion of
the smiles which shone on that fortunate
youth.
Mark was neighbor of the Jocelyns.
He had inherited from his father fine,
well-stocked farm; but unfortunately
there had been discovered a flaw in his
title; and ever since his majority he had
been involved in tiresome law suit,
which it was now generally believed
would go against him. Should it so
result he would be poor man, if a
young man with a strong hand and
courageous heart can be poor. With all
the strength of an earnest manly nature
Mark loved Lizzie Heath; but his pride
withheld him from saying so until he
should know whether, indeed, he had a
home to offer her. If he won his case,
he would ask her to share the wealth
which would then be his. If he lost, he
must-no, he could not resign her; but
If she loved him, she would wait for
him. He was not vain man, but his
hopes rose high. He had seen how
Lizzie's eye would brighten and her
color glow at his approach, and had
marked the innocent arts by which she
sought to avoid the attentions of others
while his own were gladly received.
AS for Lizzie, her ideal of manly
beauty and excellence was embodied in
Mark Boynton but maiden like she
would not admit the idea of love. She
knew that she was perfectly happy only
when he was by; but she would not
own even to herself the reason. Oflate,
too, she fancied that he avoided her, and
interpreting the fact backward, felt no