Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-05-01

! Spite of her efforts to be calm, her
voice was hoarse and broken. Her
very attitude betrayed the faithful
| trust.
| A sudden, generous motive sprang
up i'll the scared mans heart. His
own happiness had been blighted,
Might he not make the happiness OF
another. He could no longer doubt
that this child loved him. He wei
knew by his own pangs the torture &c
which his leaving might condemn her.
So he spoke:
"Sapposc | say, Fay, that l shall:
STAY only OH one condition, and thai
is that my little faithful nurse, who
has thought fit to save his life, will
take that life into her own sacred
keeping, and that when restored to
health and strength, leave the farm,
my wife goes with me-"
"Oh, Mr.. Jameson, what do mean?"
And now the hot, scarlet face was
buried i'll the two little hands. Very
| tenderly he drew them down, impris-
oning them III his own strong grasp.
rs my meaning SO hard, little one?
Cannot vour heart interpret it? Have
I read wrongly, Fay? Is it dumb,
like your lips"
Then she burst into a passion of
so5s. Otherwise, her happiness must
have killed her.
He kissed her tears away, and she,
in broken words, told him, in a half
| shy way something of the Joy he
had brought into her life.
1t was his conscience which left
him 50 little now for regret, he
thought. in the days and weeks that
followed, which bIottel out. ami even
| blurred, the WOUid-bG memories of
that far-otf time, AMI which brought
to him something strangely like peace
Is. on the fair morning, in the carly
June. he walked TO the little country
church, beside Fay, and, standing up,
| spoke the words which bound them
each to the other till death did them
| part.
His mother was abroad at the time.
| His flthcr had long been dead. He
was the Eeld OF the house. What
| would his mother say when she learn
ed the truth? Yet not the whole
truth. She would think love had
been his guide, and he could never un-
deceive her.
With pain he thought he never
could feel, he slowly and unwillin9ly
came to the conclusion that he could
never love as lie should love the wife
he had taken to his bosom. \ pitt
full comedy this, but his pride and his
sense OF honor babe him hide from the
world his almost Indifference. With
| Spartan fUrtitnde he resolved to hide
his pain-yeC as time went on lie grew
Uroudcr OF his wife.
Sill, six months after their mar
riagc. he heard Of her homecoming
| Not that she COnld say aught to himself
which could sting Or wound, bat she
had never written him since the news
Of his marriage had reached her, and
he feared she might wound Fay. He
was strangely tender to his young
Wife III these days.
1t i because she loves me SO well,
and L have so little to give in RETURN"
he said, ever to himself, and wondered
IL to every man the sense of duty full
| filled brought the same quiet happi-
| ness.
He grew 10 feel pride as well in
his Young wife. Her beauty had al
| ready created comment, and though
she shgHmk from the demands of So
cicty, now that they were Winterjng
in town, lie had no reason TO blush for
his rustic bride.
Ny mother will be here to-day,
Fay, he sad to her. as they sat one
morning at the breakfast table.
"DOubticss she Will telegraph me of
her arrival, SO chat YOU may look for
Us together, though | hardly think
the steamer can arrive before evening,
and, Fay, it she is not quite cordial
just at first, dear, have little pa
thence. Sic has always been first You
know, and she may be just little
jealous Of her boy
On. Harry" size answered, II do
not wonder | think if / were to
share your love with any one else it
would Kill me :"
40 share my love-" he unused, 'she
said would Kill. What would it be
Ii
Bat lie dared not add the rest.
'PyrdOu, madam, | did hot hear
your knock" sud Fay, few hours
later, as she sat III her pretty boudoir,
and looked up in surprise at the elc-
CANT WOlu.;n who, unamJulced, had
| opened the closed DOR and intruled
upon her privacy, and now stood re-
oariin5 her with fixed stare.
lit Is not my CUSTOM She answered
at last, ITO crave adnittanc3 into amy
room Of my sons house.
Fay sprlng to her feet, coming
forward with outstrctcncI hands.
"tor-ivc me. You are then Har-
: rvs lnotncr. Al, now | see you have
his eyes. You did not telegraph him,
then, ami let him meet You: /, ma
dam, am ms WlIe."
| Ills wife = ana in the two simple
words sounded Il tempest OF conccn:
trated scorn, While lays hands drop.
ped to her side. and an expression of
, n.'ute anguish swept over her beautl-
! full face.
. Gle Lowell me, m1dam, and he mar
y ri0l inc" she answered, with Il gentle
dignity.
: lie loved vou?" the other repeated
cruelty. You do not know, then
, | tnat he married you from the ycricst
pity. lie had quarrel with the Wo-
: man who was to have become Iii:
! wife. whcn Fate threw YOU i'll his
: path. Iou betrayed Your secret, ant
: Inc reckless oil his life. gave it to you
Al. you s3hc ncd we'll but | am III