The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-07-29

| OUU once InOI6 IL llcS dDOuO bilC lhbh RiAN
woman in the mellow time of youth witt
beauty that baby eyes never yet behelc
and earth borrows of this heavenly light
Did ever such sunlight pass through the
rosy film of the apple blossoms thai
nestled against the wall and made {
bower before Margaret's window? AND
as for the blue bay cleaning below
was it really so cruel after all? Did sc
many husbands and fathers and sons liz
tossing in its depths. 1t looked so caress
ing, washing the feet of the red cliffs
where the greenery crept down to mee
it.
John was free to come and go as he
liked in the Disbursements room, hold
ing learned converse with Mr.. Town
send, meeting his daughter in the woods
now fully leafed, sometimes helping hel
over the rocks in search of anemones
On fine evenings the three would sit or
the little semi-circular pier that inclosec
the ''quay pule'' and watch the sunset
fading and the darkness nesting down
among the wooded headlands, and the
great evening star suddenly appearing
in the blue above the paling primrose
that touched the water. After that the
sky would swiftly fill with stars, and the
moon would spring into the airy silence,
and her light would penetrate sky and
sea and clif-hung village, the lights
would appear one by one in the windows
above, and they would climb homeward.
All this fed the warm friendliness he
felt for her, which is often mistaken for
love. The fragrance of her life filed
his Imagination, and he determined to
make her his wife. But of that delicious
agony, that glorious fear that makes
pallid the face of the lover, the void in
the life that must be filled by the pres
ence of beloved woman-what did he
know? Nothing.
His nature was as yet cold, hers was
all aglow. She was one of those women,
passionate. yet sweet and pure, with
sensitive bodies that culver with pain at
any strong emotion. If she had never
seen him again, it is improbable that she
would ever have cared for another; per-
haps she would have waited in eternity
for the sequence of that first glance of
his.
They fingered on till the honeysuckle
above the village, and the young summer
was in its beauty. Then there came a
moment when, the two being alone in
the woodland path overhanging the sea,
John asked Margaret to be his wife. 1t
was the sweetest time of the afternoon,
just before sunset, when the day has lost
its WEAKNESS and the sky is calm, and
the sunshine is dimmed by soft haze
Mr.. Townsend had left them in order
to write letter which he had forgotten,
and the others had sauntered toward the
village in dreamy silence. Then she be-
came aware that he was asking her to
be his wife, telling her that she was the
sweetest woman he had ever seen.
Whence then her sudden shrinking from
him, as in fearp
II am not good enough" she cried.
She was afraid of her joy, for she was a
timid woman, but in the midst of his
wooing he was vexed at her humility,
not understanding it, for he was only
offering her scanty armful of first
fruits, dshe was returning him the full
harvest of her soul, though she did not
know its value. He drew her to him
anu KISSED Ine Drown neau ana lalu II
on his breast. She began to cry-she
had been SO greedy of joy lately, and
here was its perfection
And hep-well, it was the sweetest
hour he had ever passed in his life
This girl, with her simple dress and
manner, and her serious brown eyes and
undertone of joyfulness about her, salts
fled the more spiritual side of his nature.
And yet she was not the ideal of his
past, which ideal had been compounded
of soft-voiced Cordelia, passionate Ju-
liet, bright Rosalind, witty Beatrice, and
dear Desdemona-in fact, of all the
sweets of many natures compacted into
one. ...
She was not his heroine, but he was
her hero, and her gladness inclined to-
ward sadness; for true woman sees
herself valueless at the moment she be-
lieves that the ''man of men, sees in her
precious jewel.
Are you sorryp" he asked, half jest
ingly.
"Sorryr' she said, and, with frank
yet coy gesture, she nestled close to his
heart.