Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-11-12

noxt letter before sending II. and be sure Won
hrg willing TO have me read it. / do not like
this now way.
The reader may observe that the above
letter, while stating that the writer had re-
gnrded the prohibition Of the telegram 80 far
hs not reading the letter was concerned,
omits 20 say any thing about burning Il.
There was n good reason fOf the omission.
Grace had not burned II. She had not read
u. She did not mean %, but she had kept
II. Her course was ~ n Eve, instead VI eat
ing the apple, had put II in her pocket, that
Is, OF course, supposing that she had had
any pocket.
Now. Farrell, as may be supposed, had
been decidedly uneasy as to the manner In
which his telegram might be received by
Grace, and when he read her letter he was
nightly relieved. Some girls would
have made such fuss over such
thing, for IL must have seemed
. little odd to her; they would
have made a row, but Grace had only seemed
a little annoyed and quite good .natured
about IL. To be sure, he noticed that she
omitted TO mention having burned the let
ter. Probably though she had done 30. lie
would like to assure himself on this point,
but he felt that he had rather imposed on
her already and was hardly In a position to
hold her to a strict account. Accordingly
when he wrote In reply he said nothing
about the matter Of the burning, and in
deed barely alluded 10 the missent letter.
He said that he had made a very laughably
stupid blunder and was no end obliged to
her for not being veXed ut the trouble he
had made her, and then without further
words about the business passed on TO talk
love In such a ferYid strain that 1t is no won
der Grace forgot to criticise the suddenness
OF the transition from explanation to profess
tatiOn. He had never written her such let
ter before. Lucy came out as Grace sat
reading Farrelps letter the second time over.
81 suppose he explains all abOutst that
mysterious letterW she said as she saw the
handwriting, and glanced sharply into
! Grace's face.
al am perfectly satisfied" said Grace and
as she raised her happy glowing face to her
sisters Lucy could but conclude the eXpa-
nation had been most unexpectedly COM
| plete. Nor did she ever atterward think Of
doubling it. She said to herself, " lie is
! coming in day or two, will wait till 1 see
him, ana then / will tell him how badly 1
feel and he will explain il ALL"
couple Of days later he did come, for a
mere flying visit Of a single evening. Grace
was just enough afraid of her big lover to
add an exquisite thrill to her love for him.
Nevertheless she went down stairs to the
parlOr quite intending to broach the subject
OF the letter at the first good opportunity she
found In the course of their conversation.
But there came no opportunity. She was
very much in love, poor thing, and when
she entered the room and saw him standing
eyes rest on her so full Of glad proud fond
ness, she felt Just one spasm Of shame for
all the suspicious she had cherished concern
ing him, and then forgot them wholly for the
rest OF the evening, giving herself quite up
to her happiness.
1t wanted but a week of the wedding
During the ensuing days the hustle OF prep
aratiOn, the multitude OF things that must be
done and must be thought Of, necessarily di-
yerted her mind; and then when, the day be-
fore the great day, Farrell came and was so
handsome, so devoted, so glad, how could
she help quite forgetting all else in a tlutter
OF pride and happiness? But when that
night, the night before the wedding, she was
ut last alone in her room, then she was nearer
than ever to opening that dreadful let
ter. How could she, how could she, go
through the mOrrOw's solemn lifelong con-
secratOn to her lover with this vague un-
formed, awful doubt OF him hid in her
heart! Nay, in justice to him II not to her
self she was bound to clear her mind Of it.
She had no right to come to him with that
between them. Never had the temptation
taken guise so speciOus. She caught up
the letter in nervous grasp. Half way she
tore the envelope in two. Then her strength
failed. She had never done a mean thing i'm
her life. Was this mean? Had she right to
open the letter or nOtg Was 1t his or hers :
Her head was in whirl. She cried-but
did not open the letter.
Next day came the wedding. It is treason
to as true heart as every beat, but / must
own 1t, even when she was making the re-
spOnses to the minister she could not quite
forget the letter. 1t was the grain OF sand
under the eyelid that could not be forgotten.
III she had been less in love with him, il she
had been ready to take n philosophical view
OF the matter, and to realize that her lover,
while an immensely good fellow as men
went, was not perfect, no doubt she would
have forgotten it quite. But to that she
could not descend. She must love him
wholly, must give herself to him with en-
thusiasm or with an anguish Of conflicting
emotions.
Many time the words trembled on her
lips, :" That letteT-oh, Farrell! Tell me
about that letter. Tell me the worst, that
may forgive you"
But she could not summon strength to
utter them. How could she let him know
at this late day that all along she had sus.
pected himg And then, toO-for she must
also think OF that-though she felt she could
be happier after fOrgiving him the worst
thing than she was now, what II he should
meet her questions with the anger Of guilt,
should falter and try to deceive her? Then
she would be worse off than ever. And so
the "wOrm In the bud' gnawed at her
| damask cheek and her husband said to her
after the first week Of their honeymoon trip (:
"GraCe, dear, we are travelling too fast.
You are not well. We will stay here
| awhile"
But she insisted that she was well and
would rather be moving
They came home at last and set up house,
keeping in the most charming of little
| houses. Never was u more devoted hus-
| band or, in spite Of her happiness, a more
| unhappy wife. Perhaps her temperament
was rather morbid. II was one Of those
which are only fitted for complete emotions.
| They can not halve and quarter their emo-
| tions or console themselves with averages.
| IL seems scarcely fair to call them morbid
on that account, though ] admit it GER
tainly is hard to see what business such peo-
| pie have in this imperfect world. Grace be-
| gan TO think she at least had none. She be-
/ gan to be concerned about her state Of mind.
She was growing worse and worse. She
must in some way put an end to this situa-
tion. That letter, now hid away in the bot
| tom OF her bureau drawer, was whitening
her away as il it had the malefcent power OF
| Il witch's candle.
| One evening Farrell came home in an un-
| usually affectiOnate frame OF mind-and un-
usual affection on the part Of a six weeks
bridegroom implies a good deal. After din
/ ner, as they were sitting alone in their cosy
| little parlOr before the glowing CRATE fire, he
| fell to talking, really in very pretty way
about how much she was to him, how by her
the pride Of all he did was doubled, and
how the thought Of her was to him a hum
! dred times a day like a draught Of generous
| wine, filling his veins with fire and impart-
| ing a fresh Zest for all his duties; and how
in short he did every way contritely own
himself the most undeservedly, gTeedily,
graspingy, happy man whom woman ever
tempted to forget in herself the Supreme
Author Of good.
To his amazement, she interrupted this
1 pretty speech with a burst OF tears. and,
| thrusting away his comforting arms, cried: 4: