The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1880-11-05
VOLUME XIII.

BY ETHELrND RAY.

cool, autumn evening, her head resting OH
her hand, and her hard eyes fixed thought
fully, almost sadly, on the dying embers
1t was her twentieth birthday. ard her
thoughts InYoluntariIy wandered back over
the year that had just passed. What a
long, dreary, hopeless year it had been.
she thought, and little broken sigh |
fiuttered from her lips
These last two years had been like
great barren desert with no oasis-no
bright sun showers to refresh them. And |
yet no one suspected that Chloe had = |
skeleton ia her Cupboard She was al |
ways, when in company, gay, HghtI,earted
aEa aealeerfRl-always ready so laugh at, |
aI.l make light OF t=ouiA1s-5f al -.;inds /; !
and though she counted her lovers by tlle
score, she kept them all at safe distance.
and sOlemuly declared she would never
marry.
''But Chloe, - her uncle-with whom she
lived and who was her only relative
would sometimes say to her. ''you will
surely marry some time-for am old and
can not live always, and what would you
do without me, dear ?''
''I'm sure don't know Uncle" Chloe
would answer wearily. Il only know that
/ have horror of marriage, aud never
even give it a second thought except when
you compel me to. Please let me stay
with you, always, Uncle-I am perfectly
contented to drift on in this way forever"
But there had been time when Chloe
was Is, when life was not the dreary, aim
less thing to her that it was now when
her heart beat lightly AMI joyously, and
existence itself seemed pleasure. She
thought of it now, and sighed it seemed
50 long ago-so many bitter changes had
come since those halcycu days.
When Chloe was only eighteen, she had
met viii Boone-handsomc, noble, intelli-
gent-iust such q man as women fall in
love with in spite of themselves, and almost
unconsciously she had given him her heart.
world, though he was, learned in few,
short months, TO love this little, pure,
wild flower tenderly. and truly-with all
the srdor of his strong, passionate nature
For one short summer they had drifted
on i'll perfect happiness, forgetting every
thing and everybody but themselves and
tlIeir golden dreaIns-living only in the
present, forgetting the past, and caring
not for the future. Ah! methinks such
days have dawnets fer all of us-and were
they not brighter, purer, better than any
we have known since then? ''Ah for
the golden days - But autumn came,
and Will was compelled to return to the
city. But before he left. lie told Chloe
that he loved her. and slipped flashing
opal on her finger.
''It you love me. darling" he said
''wear it till Christmas, when l will re-
turn can say no more till them
And then he had kissed her ana left her,
and Chloe had worn his ring because she
loved and trusted him. Inside the ring
was sDgraved the quaint, od-fashione,l
motto, ''Mizpah. ,'-signifyirlg, 'sThe Lord
-sSatch between thee aud me while we are
absent one from the other
He had promised to write to her. but
not one line came from him yet she wait
ed patiently, trustingIy, feeling sure that
In the end it would all be right.
Tie weeks passed away. aud December
came, and the days dragged slowly by.
Christmas morning dawued clear aud cold
and Chloe entered the breakfast room ant
took her place, with her heart in a fIutteI
of ffeyerish hope. He would coue to-day
she told herself confidently.
Then the mail was brought in-two cl
herself, and as she glanced at the post
mark her heart gave joyful bound, fol
Il was from New York.
She opened the envelope and two cream
c0lored cards fell into her hand one Dor,
the name, Miss Lizzie Combs, and tn,
other Mr.. and Mrs. w. L. Boone. Ant
poor Chloe, without one word, slipped
down, white and senseless on the floor.
saareaE God ~ cried her father, g
have killed my chiId-my little Chloe .
And when, an hour later, Chloe cam,
back to consciousness and lite, she fount
heraelf an orpIan-fer father had falIel
dead as he uttered that anguished cry
Great God have killed my child y
He had always been subject to heart dis
silver cord, y and poor Chloe was father
less as well as motherless.
Her uncle Immediately came, and afte
the funeral. carried her away to his owl
elegant luxurious home in the city-th
same city where VIII lived with his beauti
flsl bride, who had taught him 50 soon t.
forget poor little, dark.eyed. faithful Chloe
Bat she learned that VIII had gone L
Europe, and would not rpfnrt fnF two o
three years; and so will, dreary hope
less despair settling over l.r heart, sh
sstoolk up the burden of lite again,'' am
none Of her fashionable ffivn,!< or admtrcr
dreamed she had a ,ieet. deep grave in he
Heart, In which she had oarics1 her first an
only love; for unlike men, woman ca
never forget the man sfe Esas once loved.
And As she sat Ia the lisr.ligh.. t.i- ever
Ing. thinking Of the bitter past. and sti
more bitter future. the door openeft softly