Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-09-29

| stronger, deeper claim upon a mans ten
| derness than any other woman could have.''
Becauses am-different to other wo-
men?" ....-. ... .....
| "Yes; set apart as it were; sacred
| doomed, to a certain extent, to stand alone
in the world. without those near ties"
He meant that ought never TO marry?'
could not see Hetty's face. saw the
closer. Once / felt shudder shake the
poor. misshapen frame that made my dear
est girl different to other women"
SAID not rightly that my task was hard.
Yes he mean. that your life was differ
g Yes; had forgotten. ~ -
long, deeply drawn breath told me my
arrow had gone home. HDfl -s Gri"1. Sal
"And so, just because he holds you in such
reverence, such tenderness; just because he
is so ready to fear you might fancy he could
change to you, it is hard for him to tell
you"
She turned her face-white in the gray.
CHASTITY light-full toward me. Her eyes,
wild, wide, full of fear, met mine. She
threw up her hands as IL to keep off some
horrible knowledge that threatened 10 crush
her to the earth. ~ d. -.,- ..if ......
All my courage, all my caimness, forsook
me. ~ ..,...--. :,
"Oh, Hetty, Hetty!" cried, flinging my
arms about her, gathering her to my, breast:
rocking her to and fro as one would sick
and weary child. ut is true what you think,
what you fear. oh, my darling. il 1 coali
suffer in your stead would; but l can not
II can not; no one can. - ---.-..
The whittier face lay back against my
/ bosom. Hetty's eyes were closed. could
see the won derful silky length Of their long
lashes even in that faint and feeble light. %
Had the cruel blow killed her? Had lost
the one thing loved on earth: ..s ...
No.; for her arms close about my neck
fast-fast and close she holds me.
Tears rain down her moor. male face. SODS
choke her utteraDce.. .,.,
1t is best so, and let her weep on.
At last she speaks:
cit must have hurt you terribly to say all
this to me. You did it, l know, to save me
from myself. How good you are to me-, my
dear! l have been selfish, thOughtless.
wicked; but he grew so dear-sO dear that
forgot, quite forgot, that my life must be
different to that of all other women forever.
See,' she went on, drawing little packet
from the bosom of her dress, "this is the
posy he wore that happy Sunday when he
and went to church together, and the bells
rang sweetly, oh, so sweetly, and all the
world about me seemed full of music
All this happened many, many years ago.
Hetty and live together now.
We have done so long while; ever since
Mrs. Deacon died. ~. 90
Jacks marriage turned out very happy
one, and his children dOte upon and tyran-
nize over their Aunt Hetty beyond anything
l.
Not only SO, but their father has the same
gentle, loving tenderness, the same reveren-
tial love for his old playmate-the woman
who is different from others"-as ever he
had. e. q :4,,-r 80. 'r
The withered posy stilrlies in a corner Of
Hetty's desk. 1 know, for 1 have seen it
many times and oft.
1t serves, doubt not, to remind her that
she once forgOt--Once loved but too well, and
then lived her sorrow down and took up her
70 had hnnv nrVn for hnr n
brave woman should. .''
My tale has no plot in it after all. 1t is not
half as full of incidents those l used to
write in Paradise Place, while the hOarse
dog put me out by his barking and the lark
cheered me up with his song. 1t is only the
story of one woman's heart, told by another
woman who loved her dearly and loves her
dearly still.-AU the Year Round.