Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-07-21

the deep lane. Once more il is summer, and
the snme two people are there together; but
they are not talking and laughing ns before.
She is standing still with downcast face, and
her companion, pale and trembling, is looking
down upon her from his great height.
The train OF thought broke off sudden
ly. Minnie stroked her letters, and pressed
them TO her lips.
Poor Frank" she thought; "poor Frank
II was cruel Of me to break his heart like that.
But was so young-so easily persuaded; and
who can resist the dean when he becomes ar
gumentative? And Frank-how dreadfully
he looked that day he came home from Cam
bridge and heard about i'll l don't think l
shall ever forget his face in the laue-it makes
me shudder to recall it Win he ever forgive
me, wonderY ~ She leaned back
against the wall with closed eyes, and soft
smile broke over her face. How inexpressi-
bly, sweet it was to be able to let imagination
loose and think freely of Frank Quornham-
to recall with less sharp pang of remorse
those faraway days before Mr.. Pierrepoint
had dawned upon her horizon.
Looking back It seemed to her that she
must have been very impulsive, very childish
and very helpless in the hands of the people
about her. Ones memory is apt to become
rusty with respect to ones old self; we almost
always look upon ourselves as the products of
certain causes, setting down anything unsat-
isfactory TO the charge of training and cir
cumstances "Ah, if my aunt had only whip
ped me for stealing her horn-book, 1 should
not now bo here" whimpors the wretched
criminal on his way to the gallows.
SO Minnie forgot the remarkably clear
sighted, intelligent young woman who had CIV
en- to Mr.. Pierrepoint the hand long promised
to another, and substituted in her memory a
creature of her own imagination--an inno-
cent, uniformed thing, much more picturesque
aud in every respect more satisfactory.
Long she sat there musing, with closed eyes
and half smiling lips.
When she awoke from her reverie the sun
had set, and the wind was beginning to blow
in chilly through the open window. She rose
hastily, a little shocked perhaps at her own
| abstraction--it seemed almost like dsrespect
to the old man lying in his nowly y-made grave,
and Minnie, as perhaps you have seen, craved,
| like most of us, her own respect as well as
that of others. II her notions lacked gran
| deur il even they may seem to you (ob, high
minded reader y to have touch OF meanness
in them, we should set them down to the par
ticular twist which nature or training had CIV
en- to her mind. She had meant, she told her
self, to think over things in a general way
that night but her thoughts had insisted on
| gathering defniteness, and she, half uncon-
sciously, had given herself up 10 their delights.
/ There was an irresistible charm in recalling
the happy past, and in figuring a still happier
future. But she checked herself suddenly,
aud, rising, rang for her maid.
Have any letters come for me p she said,
when the woman appeared.
| "a great number, ma'am, but did not like
to disturb you"
'Yes, Of course. But you may bring them
up to me now, and light the candles, please.
l shall not want you again to night"
In few moments she was impatiently turn
ing over pile Of black-rimmed envelopes, al
containing the same stereotyped form of con
dolence. She opened them all, then, shaking
her head with half-disgusted movement, rose
and began pacing the room with impatient
| footsteps.
''No sign-no foken!" (She could not helI
thinkng.) 81 might have expected it-he il
very prond. shall have hard work. Bu
one thing feel, kHOl0-Frank is not mar
to love twice. His character was always no
bier and stronger than mine-he always seem
ed so far above me-"
She stopped and buried her face in he,
hands, while the slow tears trickled through
her fingers; then she flung back her head anC
spoke aloud;
"Only year-a year-a whole year Oh
Frank, will you forgive me?'
She sank down on her knees and relieved
her excited mind with one Of those long fit
of sobbing such as only women know.