Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1880-04-07

haOOt 1ulOI AOih.
Two gentlemen, a doctor aud cler-
gyman, were the only other occupant
OF the room. The latter rose as sh'
entered and came forward.
is this Miss Moore |" he said, grave
ly. My child, 1 fear you are too late
your father has been in this uncon
scious state for hours
Eleanor gave one long, earnest look
into the pale, drawn face with its clos
ed eyes.
This then was her father! An icy
hand seemed to clutch her heart. Her
father and dying thus!
Courage ! my brave little Eleanor,
whispered Mr.. Stearns. With an effort
the girl looked up into her old friends
face, as if to gain strength from his
sympathy then she went steadily for
ward to the bedside.
AS Eleanor gazed down at the face
which still retained many traces OF the
manly beauty which had won her
mothers love, and realized thai she
was indeed his daughter, AL the strength
and nobility of her soul rose to the sur
face. STOPPING she laid her soft hand
,oo,, he oolJ fo-obood
Father = The plying tone pronoun-
cling that word so sacred, and so wound
around the tenderest fibres of our hu.
man natures, forced tears into all eyes.
Father, it is Eleanor Your daughter
can you not speak to her J!
The call pierced the apathy of death.
The dying mans eyes opened and
fastened upon her face. A wave oi
consciousness swept over his features.
My childv he exclaimed, brokenly,
then you did come. God will bless
youv His voice sank, while into his
eyes sprang a look of entreaty as he
tried to finish, but with the words,
My child-forgive@' his breath
failed, and with long futtering sigh,
all was over.
Tender hands led Eleanor from the
sad scene, Several days passed, and
no reply had as yet come frOm Ralph
Ogden to the letter Eleanor had writ
ten. and in which she had disclosed the
stery, the knowledge of which had
brought such sorrow.
In it she had told him in a few but
tender words the pain it gave her to
look forward to life unshared by his
presence +; but though in her ignorance
of this disgrace upon her name, she
had promised to be his wife, she could
not knowing all, expect him to take to
his home conyict's child. Still an
other trouble wrung the poor girls
heart. Before long the invitations to
the wedding would have to be coHnter-
manded, and then the broken engage
ment would be passed, and she shrank
from the curious words and looks she
knew would follow her wherever she
went.
Had 1 not you grandma, and my
Bible she said, despairingly, I should
surely die. 1t is almost more than l
can bear
Mrs. Hamilton kissed the qulvering
lips;she knew caresses would help where
words might only wound.
Thursday morning arrived, and with
it Ralph Ogden. Instead Of the ex-
pected letter he had come himself.
Eleanor received his card, and read the
penciled request that she would see him,
and for a moment flm came before
her eyes, and all grew dark before her
then, white as death, but very calm,
she went down into the library, where
he waited her.
She had always known the intense
love of the family which had filed the
hearts of all the Ogden race, and ol
their pride in a name which had never
been sullied by aught dishonored; and
until a short time before she had
thought she bore the name as stainless
as theirs. Now she knew differently
The library door swung back on its
hinges to give entrance to the slender,
dark-robed figure which falteringly went
forward.
A moment passed, and the next
Eleanor found herself clasped IN close
embrace.
NV precious Eleanor y Ralph ex'
claimed in a low voice, but with every
word distinct and clear, if loved you
when 1 babe you goodbye one long
month ago, worship you now When
read your letter l lost no time in COM
ing to you; as if anything could make
YOU less dear to me and beside, my
darling, all that you wrote in that let
Ter knew long ago.
Then Eleanor found her voice
You knew long ago?'
Yes; when your grandfather first
surmised that l loved you he told me
all under promise Of secrecy. Now is
my Elenor content?'
With long sigh of perfect happiness,
Eleanor suffered herself to be drawn
once more into her lovers arms, and
In her lustrous eyes, upliftsd 10 his face
he could read the depth Of the love
which filed her heart, and which had
only been intensified by the trials she
had undergone.
Although Eleanor's sensitive nature
shrank from the idea of a joyful we'd
ding festivity so soon after the sad
death scene she bad witnessed, she
could not Withstand Ralph's loving en-
..oo,;os.and M one ever guessed that