The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-03-03

Jeanie entered the ball room on the DOCTORS
arm. her girlish heart gave d great bound
She had been to but few parties, and youth
loves life and gaiety.3
But her pleasure that evening was not
what she had expected, and as she lay in her
own little bed at'y home that night and
thoug Int over herlover's bewldering con-
duct, the pretty head buried itself in the
pillows, and'anyone listening might have
heard smothcred sobs.
Shortly after their arrival her escort had
left her, and devoted himself to Ella AL
mer. Not that ,Jeanie was negleclcd-that
her beauty and popularity never allowed
her to be-but she had watched with a
keen pain her lovers manner toward MISC
Almer.
From their first. meeting the. reserve
which He generally held toward strangers
had boon wanting, and he seemed to be-
come more and more engrossed in her
society,
Theslonng walk home that evening had
been almost in silence, and Jeanie's heart,
all unused to trouble, sank very low, as
she thought she had been unmaidenly iu
giving her love 50 freely, and now her
punishment had come. Yet heart once
out $ot ones keeping cannot be calleu back
'sudden}y$wlthout pain.
And this was only the commencement
Of her sorrow. Day after day Dr. Lowell
was guest at "Waban Hail." and Jeanie
often saw him and Ella Almer riding or
walking together. Farmer Moore ne yer
noticed how grave the wearisome face was
growing, for with the pride of womauhood
Jeanie kept her grief to herself. She had
made up her mind bitterly, that while she
had been loving with all the fcrvor Of her
warm, impulsve heart. he, whom she had
,though so noble, had only been trifing
with her testing his powers of pleasing.
She avoided meeting him as much as
possible, and so the time passed, until one
morning as she arose from the breakfast
table, DR.. Lowell said: Ala.
-, Can you speak with HE little while,
Jeanie2t 1t is almost impossible for3me to
see you, alone lately" s>%.:.g
Never had this voice pronounced her
name e'mcre tenderly. Was he about to
make her confidence of his new found
love9 Jeanic raised her eyes quietly to his
face, then answering, "Certa,nly,' led the
way to- the library. o
She seated herself, and he standing be-
fore her,, after slight pause, began
/. "Jeanie.N the time has come for this n,ys-
terry tosbc explained, and can tell you
who i am" t.8.
The girls large dark eyes opened wide
ly. Es
"Who you are 9''
Eyes" he said laughingly, 81 know!
am DR.. Howard Lowell, practicing ply
sician, Of Groveland; but that is not all.
Listen, and I will tell you the whole
Story.
~ My father died when was 10 years
old, leaving my mother a widow with
three children. Between the eldest of the
two girls and myself there was the most
passionate attachnient-indeed, we were
all an unusually united family. But in three
years my mother married again. Then
my misery commenced. l cannot de-
scribe The prosecutions my step-father in
ficted upon me, whom alone of all the
children he seemed to hate. Perhaps it
was because of my then headstrong, impul-
sive nature. was passionate boy, and
at laat,I driven desperate, ran away from
home and from my dearly loved mother
and sisters.
''Filen for years | was driven where
tate wllled, working here and there at any
thing, no matter how menial, until at last
fortune, in the shape of kind, old physi-
clan, interposcd. .---.. -.
"Dr. Lowell saw me and became inter-
ested in me, and when he died he left
me his adopted son, his wealth,
on condition took his name and never
returned to the influence of my stcp-father
And now, Jeanie, comes the most wonder
ful part of my story. ass,
r 81 have found my mother and sisters at
last, free from the one who made my boy
hood so wretched. Shortly after l left
hohAo lily SICp- ldIucT nau takon MS family
abroad, and from then until now we have
never met. ,..s ...nf
GLOW I have longed to speak and declare
myself But, Jeanie, feared that the
prodigal who selflshly lott all he held dear
could never be forgiven; until last night
my sister ELLA spoke 30 tenderly and re.
gretfullY of the Brother she had lost, I
could keep silence no longer. shall keep
my dear adopted fathers name, but Mrs.
Almer, whom you already like so much, is
my mother, and Ella and Ruth are my
sisters.n
Then with an abrupt change IN his voice,
Dr.. Lowell stopped, and raising the soft,
little hand which lay listlessly in the girls
lap, ,olaspcd, IL firmly, in his own as he
said 49, ~
"Can my darling wonder that my man.
ner has been strange and unlike myself2"
The expression In his loving eyes made
Jeanie flush and trenible, aud as she was
gathered to his manly heart she knew that