The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-10-21

| WDd nOWefb-WOulu IO heaven luty
did | l have tried to forget my dreams,
and resign myself TO the inevitable; but
oh, want to get away from this and be
something. Tell me what to do, little
girl" he concluded, in softer tone. his
white face showing the intensity of his
fierce struggle with his dearest wish.
"Talk to me if you are able-you always
calm me"
"Poor boy!" The tone had that little
cadence of protection and pity in it COM
mon to loving women. at is hard, /
know, Douglass she stopped sud
denly, and then went on-"I am going
to say something strange. When you
came in was thinking of-you remem-
Der Uncle Jesse's will ?"
"Yes," he replied, wonderingly.
81 want you to have your wish-to be
a scholar" she continued, gravely. 81
know you will be a great one-I feel it
here ;" and she laid her hand upon her
heart. ~ want the money that dear
Uncle Jesse left me to do good. meant
to make it if 1 lived" She spoke seri-
ously, with only gentle affection and
pure unselfshness looking from the soft
eyes, with not a tremor of womanly
feeling, nor flush of self consciousness
disturbing the serene grandeur of her
act. douglas, look at me-" her gaze
infinitely sad and sweet met his. 81 am
going to die; will you marry me and
take my money!"
Douglas looked at her dumbfounded
for moment. AS he realized her good
ness, the depth and beauty of this in
nocent act of childlike devotion, he
buried his face and groaned aloud.
Don't! Oh, Eva darling, I can't let
you gol 1 could not accept your dear
sacrifice"
81 want you to have it" she pleaded +;
mot because ours would be like other
marriages, or that we love one another
as men and women do, but only to help
you when am gone"
Douglas sank on his knees reverently
by her side.
"Little girl" he said tcnderly, "you
arc an angel cannot take your money
in that way; it would be consuming
fire to dcvour my whole future life the
touch of it would burn me. Eva, you
shall not do this. You deserve the best
gifts of earth and heaven. You hall not
die, and you shall be mine, when you
can be proud of me-"
"Oh, no, noW she cried, shrinking
timidly. "Not unless die. l did not
mean because you loved me-" The first
feeling that she had done wrong touched
her pure mind. "Of course l would
not marry you in any other way. You
will take it and use it for me? Please,
Douglas, let me do some good before 1
die | l shall never enjoy it."
The pleading eyes were dim with
tears, there was faint flush in the pal
lid face. Pride melted, and Douglas
Halstead said in unsteady tones,-
Gas a sacred debt of honorI will taae
it. Heaven bless you You are my
good angel. On you rests the crown of
my future success" And he went away
thinking of her words "Of course /
would not marry you in any other way"
with panied feeling in his heart that
he could not fathom.
He went to college later-how none
could coniecture-with little mystery
brooding about him, but none knew of
the girl wife at home who as yet did not
love him, and who would permit nothing
but that he 60 at once. But Eva unaC
countably lingered-was taken to the
seashore, and across the water to sunny
climes. AS if by magic she was raised
to better health. Always delicate she
would be, something of an invalid, but
the disease was gone so said the IA
nous physician under whose care she
was.
Eight years bloomed and faded, and
Douglas Halstead's name blazed like a
star in public life. His talent amounted
to genius. The newspaper world courted
and feted him, and fortune smiled upon
him. One gentle hand had opened the
store-house, so it poured out earth's
| choicest benefits upon him. He had
repaid Eva's little fund long since.
"The greater debt" he wrote, 81
never can repay; have you to thank
for all have and am. am so glad you
are well, little girl"
"Iittle girl" never "wifo." He
meant her to feel her exact position,
she told herself with sensitive pride,
forgetting who had placed the ban of
silence upon him. She never thought
her girlish error -'sin," she mercilessly
called it--without sense of heart. .brok-
en- misery.
"Oh, how could TY she would ago.
nizingly ask herself and the grandeur
of her offering was lost in the intense
modification and sorrow that never left
her
Twice Douglas Halstead had sought
her presence She avoided him. His
earnest, manly appeal in his letters to