Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1882-06-20
"CrevaSse."

come out yere?"
"Tell him I'll come in, Cappie." Cap
spun around on her bare toes few
times, then started slowly for the house,
while Ruth swung idly in her hammock
in the shade of the live OAK, and 1 ex-
claimed:
"Think what you are doing, Ruth.
He Is not happy q moment without you.
He loves you so that the thought of not
being able to sail with you brings on q
fever turn, and you know he had a hem
orrhage the last time you went riding
without him. His life is bound up in
youW
81 know it, Aunty, so shall 60 rid
ing and sailing no more"
"But such devotion will surely de-
ceive him."
when he came to us, with his doom
plainly written in every feature. re-
solved that if could not nurse him back
10 the life he so much loves, his last
days should be as happy as possible"
"Suppose he dies deceived, believing
thst you love him-believing lie?'
'.Don't you think,,that when he sees no
more through a glass darkly' that he
will understand?"
"But should he recover, do you think
he would thank you for his life If you
had taken all hope and brightness from
it?"
II assure you that his happin ess should
be, then as now, my first aud only OBJ
ject."
Ruth" I exclaimed aghast, "you
would not marry him with no love to
give him-loving another rs you do J"
She raised herself slowly on her ell
bow, her beautiful brown eyes looking
steadily through the long lashes wet
with tears. and said:
my life is something that I do not
prize, but by dying I cannot give him
life, 30 if by living | can make his life
happy, why not. Whatever Is for his
happiness that shall do? Now I'll 60
and watch the sunset with him."
I sat still under the spreading branches
CT the great old oak and watched the
swollen river which seemed trying to
force its away through the great wall of
earth that confined it to its course,
and thought of the beautiful girl who
had just left me.
When Major Grant had come to US,
sick and apparently dying, she had just
met the first great sorrow OF her life. A
misunderstanding had risen between
L
had given all the loving devotion of her
warm heart, and by the interference of
friends the lovers quarrel became SER
broken.
She believed herself deceived and cast
aside for another, and life not worth the
living, but she was proud, end lived on
bravely, making no moan.
Eo;0 n Mt moi
exposure during his army life, but would
not for q moment doubt his entire re-
covery. He was always better. He
clung to Ruth-was never happy when
she was absent and built castle after cas-
tie in the air when beside her. And
now the two were watching the sunset
one believing the sun of her life had
already set in clouds and dark ness, and
the light WAS fast failing for the other; !;
she turning in dismay and dread from
the life before her-he longing and
striving for the life that was fast slip
ping from him
A bunch of gray moss swung smartly
in my face and reused me to the fact that
the wind was rising, for added to the
mutteripg of the river was the moaning
of the pines. l walked hastily to the
evee. Everybody was there, walking
or watching, for should a jet of water
force its way through undiscovered a
crevasse was certain and destruction
sure.
There was great danger that the levee
could not withstand the fuace of the
water without the wind, but wiz q gale
It seemed hopeless.
It was u yearly danger to W hich every
one had become accustomed, so that no
plans were chang ed, and all snusements
went on as gaily ;ss if destruc, ion did not
threaten every hume for miles around,
and our nearest leighbors had invited
US to attend country wedding with
them that night. Ruth hesiIated about
leaving her Invalid, but he urged her to
go, assuring here there was no danger
whatever; so when we heard the call at
the gate, "Oh, Miss Ruth, are you
ready ?" we threw on our wraps and
started, gloves in hand.
We found after various apologies that
the family carriage had strayed away
during the ''late unpleasantness" and
had failed to return and that the con-
veyance provided for us was a two
wheeled cart. We were assured the
straw on the bottom was clean and beg
ged to "Sit right down sit right down;
it's all clean" And after much laugh .
ing and crowding. we six. grandma and
baby, mother and sister, Ruth and L,
with bundle of hay for the horse to
eat, were packed away and joited along
right merrily. We drove beside the
levee, but the angry rush of the river
and the rising wind seemed to occasion
no upeasiness in our companions.
The house to which we were going
stood on point of land which the river
had encroached upon year after year un-
tit il was almost an island, and 1t SEEM