Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-11-11

light shining through might reveal the writ
ing. As she made these preparations she in
stinctfyely moved, about on tiptoenz Is II she
lyere fburshr.i The beating q ner1 heart
{almdst lsuffocated her. As she held the let |
ter 3gknst OIL sasIst she caugnta glimpse |
of herself in the mirror and was Mortified at
the sight of her hard thievish eyes and white,
reckless face. .'Oh how bad I am already!.
e douSt hhi iR wi What w 81 Il
dow and she threw herself on her'face upon
her bed and lay with the letter pressed to her
forehead sobbing and from time to- time ex,
claiming in husky voice 81 will nots Will
not" as II by sheer will power she were
trying to turn back the rising tide Of asuspi-
ciOn.
1t was hard struggle and long one, with
many alterations Of fortune. Now her ex-
cited fancy framed a hundped dreadful might
kR'3asthA dnS1nts of the horrid letter, sus.
Espezsf tsitM that asteE before snte req
that she could not ''stand it." SheAhould-
letter. All the peace and Happiness Of her
life would be gone if these horrid sugges-
stions were to be ever haunting her, And
then her love would rise like giant ana
thrust out every foe and for the moment
hold the door against them, and in pas
sionate unreasOning trust she would press
the letter to her lips. SSsrsa
When at last she rose and washed her eyes,
she was quite calm. Sitting down shewrote
to Farrell as follows: Nrzs
was away last night, and when I came
home this morning. received your telegram
and tps letteE 70 which suppose il referred,
and read The lstterI should perhapsfeel more
at ease in my mind than now do. But did
not read it. 1 don't know but had a right to
in spite of the telegram. and would like you
to feel that have done pretty well not to.
But 1 will trust you, Farrell, do trust you;
81 4 me- e.0 -'' ''n ' A'''" "''''' '"'|' ''~
P. ST. hope you will duly consider your
next letter before sending it, and be sure you
this new way.
~rThea sesde may observe that the above
letter. while stating that the writer had re-
a4rded theprohibition Of the telegram SO far
II not. reading the letter was concerned,
dAhits to say any thing about burning it.
There was good reason for the omission.
Grace had not burned Il. She had not read
ikA She did not mean to, but she had kept
it. Her course was as if Eve, instead OF eat.
ing the apple, had put it 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 it must have seemed
have made row, but Grace had only seemed
little annoyed and quite good -natured
about it. To be sure, he noticed that she
omitted to mention having burned the let
ter. Probably though she had done SO. He
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
ohorr nff I,vr inu md in
| deed barely alluded to the missent letter.
He said that he had made very laughably
| stupid blunder and was no end obliged to
| her for not being veXed at the trouble he
| had made her, and then without further
words about the business passed on to talk
| love in such fervid strain that it is no Won
! der Grace forgot to criticise the suddenness
of the transition from explanation to profess
| tation He had never written her SUCH q let
ter before. Lucy came out as Grace sat
reading FarrelPs letter the second time over.
81 suppose he explains all about that
| mysterious letterY' she said as she saw the
hand writing, and glanced sharply into
81 am perfectly satisfied" said Grace, and
| as~she raised her Happy glowing face to her
sisters Lucy could but conclude the expla-
nation had been most UNEXPECTEDLY com.
Lplete. y Mar didsShe ever afterward think of
| doubling it. She said to herself, He is
coming in day or two, will wait till see
| him, ana then will tell him how badly I
feel and he will explain it ALL" @@S
SRA coliple 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 breach 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
| there, SO big and so handsome, and saw his
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 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-
tyerted her mind; and then when, the day be-
| handsome, devoted, so glad, how could
she help quite forgetting all else in dutter
of pride and happiness? But when that
night, the night before the wedding. she was
at 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-
secration to her lover with this vague, UNI
formed, awful doubt of him hid in her
heart? Nay, in Justice to him if 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 a guise SO specious. She caught up
| the letter in a.nervous grasp. Half way she
ttore the-anvelope in two. Then her strength
failed She had never done a mean thing in
her life. Was this mean? Had she right to
| open the letter or not? Was it his or hers?
Her head was in a whirl. She cried-but
did not open the letter.
| Next day came the wedding. It is treason
to as true a heart as every beat, but must
own it, 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.
If she had been less in love with him, il she
had been ready to take philosophical view
OF the matter, and tosrealize that her lover,
fwhAes az immensely good fellow as men
Invent, was notperfect, no doubt she would
have Forgotten it quite. But to that she
could not descend. She must love him
Ewhoaly, must give herself to him with en-
EthlEiasns or With an anguish of conflicting
Eenotionss y -
Many time the words trembled on her
| hat1 offor-oh Farral1f sToll mo