Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-10-26
Her MOTHERS SECRET.
BY MRS. sOUTHwORTH,
AUTHOR OF sATHE HIDDEN HAND, THE UN-
LOVED WIFE" ETC., ETC, ETC.

LOVED WIFE" ETC, ETC, ETC.
CHAPTER I.
THE MISTRESS OF MoNDREER.
There is a wound within her-'tis wound
That lies too deep for tears; and many
while,
When all that is around her seems to smile,
Within her heart of heart a knen doth
sound.
ISAAC WILLIAMS
"Mother! Oh, mother ! it will break
nv heart p walled Odalite, sinking
at the lady's feet, and dropping her
head into her hands, face downward
to the carpet.
The lady gently raised her child,
took her in her arms and tenderly
caressed her, murmuring softly:
''Ns, my ownl hearts never break,
or one heart, / know, must have bro
ken long ago. Besides she added,
in frmer tone-"Hosor must be
saved, though hearts be sacrificed.
Honor, mother, dear l do not
understand. I do not see what
honor has to do with it. Or if it has,
should think that honor would be
better saved by my keeping faith
with LIE than by breaking with him =.
Oh, mother motherl 1t will kill
mel" moaned Odalite.
''AIy child, my dear girl, hear me!
listen to reason! Leonidas Force
has no claim to be remembered by
you. You have never been engaged
to him. You were but little girl
of thirteen when he went to sea on
his first voyage, three years ago, and
you have not seen him since. What
possible claim can he have upon
you, since no betrothal exists be-
tween you?" gently questioned the
lady, tenderly running her fair fin>
gers through the dark tresses of the
young head that leaned upon her
/ bosom.
"Oh, Mother, replied the girl, with
a heavy sigh. 81 know that there
was no formal betrothal between LIE
and myself f-but-but-we all knew,
you and father and LIE and I-M
knew-and always knew, that we
two belonged to each other and
would aIaoays belong to each other
all our lives. LIE and l never thought
of any other fate"
idle, childish fancies, my poor
little girl too trivial to cause you
these tears. Wipe them away, and
look clearly at the higher destiny
more worthy of your birth and beau
ty, mutmured the lady, pressing her
ripe, red lips upon the pale brow of
her darling.
"Oh, mother, l do not wdat ahigh>
er destiny do not want dng des~
tiny apart from LIE. And these are
not childish fancies, and not trivial to
me! Oh, think, mother, LIE and /
were playms tes as far back in my life
as l can remember. We loved each
other better than we loved any one
else in the whole world. You and
father use to laugh at us and pretend
to be jealous; but We saa0 that you
were pleased all the time; for you
both intended us for each other, and
we knew it, too, for father used to
say when he saw how inseperable
we two were: so much the better;
hope their hearts will not be
estrauged when they grow upr And
our hearts have never become es-
tranged from each other"
''Oh, yes, dearest, T know that
there was some speculative talk when
you were children, of uniting you and
Leonidas, so that the name of Force
might not die out from Mondreer.
But 1 never really approved of mars
rying cousins, Odalite, merely to
keep the family name on the family
estate
'But, mother, darling, LIE and !
never thought of the family name
and estate; we only thought of one
another And, besides, we are such
very, very distant cousins-only
fourth or fifth, I think-that tkdt OBJ
lection could never be raised. Oh,
mother dear mother! do not com
pei me to break with Le! cas not
[ can not! Oh, indeed, [ cannot =
she cried, buryiDg her face in the
lady's bosom.
Elfrida Force caressed her daugh-
ter in silence
Presently Odalite lifted her head
and pleaded:
He is coming home so soon now,
and SO full of hope He expects to
be here by Christmas; and he ex-
pects-oh, yes, l know by his last
letter that he expects to-to-to'
The girls eyes fell under the com-
passionate yet scrutinizing gaze OF
her mother, and her voice faltered
into silence.
''To marry you early in the new
year, 1 suppose you mean, dear.
eyes, mother"
He did not say SO.
mo, mother, dear, he did not say
so, in SO many words, but from the
whole tone of his letter he evident
ly meant 10. Father thought he did,
and even tried to tease me about
the New Years wedding-asking me
how many hundreds I should need
to buy my wedding clothes.
"What was it he said in his letter
that leads you to suppose he has
any such expectations I confess
that 1 saw nothing of such an in
tention when I read the letter"
'Only this, mother, but it was very
significant. He wrote that now he
had inherited Greenbushes and all
,, his Aunt Lauras money, he was rich
enough to resign from the Navy, anc
he need not go to sea any more, MOI
ever part with me again but that hi
could stay home, repair and refurnisl
the house, improve the land, and farm
it on all the new principles, and mak'
4 the place q paradise for us to live in