The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1882-11-01
IN HASTE

al demand this, because I consider
marriage with such a girl as l know
Violet Du IIayne to be, the only hope
left of r~eclaiming you from a life of
dissipation. On no other condition
will I advance the large sum for which
you ask. In spite of all that has passed,
your still affectionate mother,
"EUGENIA ARDEN"
The written page looked as hard and
i. unchanging to Max's fancy as its au-
thor.
There was that bill which Hardy
had Endorsed for him falling due within
three DAYS. 1t would be total ruin to
poor Hardy if it was not met That
must not he. lie had drawn Hardy
into this scrape, and he must see him
harmless. at all risks to himself. Max
strobe w md down the room, biting
his long, fair mustache.
Marriage! He had never seen his
mothers ward. She had arrived at
Arden after the estrangement between
mother and son; but, at all events,
there was no one else he wanted to
marry.
What a lovely face was that girls he
had met at Mrs. Montfort's reception
She had made him feel like echoing
Geraint's, "There, by Gods grace,
stands the one maid for me"
"Pshaw" Struggling his broad
IL ,ll. MAN nftIltt nor In IN
love with a girl he had talked to for
one evening, whose very name he had
failed to hear?'
What use in rejecting? There was
but one course open to him to save
Hardy's honor and his own.
He sat down, and dashed off in
heavy black letters:
"MoTHER You are usingthe power
given you by my fathers villas you
have always done-tyrannically. Butt
have no alternative-I accept your
conditions on these terms First, that
the young lady be told that I am
marrying as my only means Of obtain
ing a sum of money which is a matter
of life and death tome. Secondly, that
the marriage take place tomorrow
afternoon. l will run down to Arden
on the 3 o'clock train. You can
have a clergyman waiting in the grand
drawing-room, who can unite the
happy pair at once. Your son,
"MAx ARDEN"
There never was a gloomier wedding.
A heavy fall of snow had impeded the
train. 50 that the early winter twilight
was already falling when Max Arden
stood in the great, dim room by the
side of his yelled bride.
The clergyman hurriedly repeated
the solemn service. The responses
were duly made, and it was done.
Embrace your wife, my son." said
Mrs. Arden, with a vain attempt at
cheerfulness.
"Wife ~ cried the young man, draw
ing himself up to his full height, with
q flash in his eyes. q have no wife.
This Young lady understands the terms
of Our bargain. 1 have made her Mrs.
Max Arden-to that you could compel
me, mothcr-but no woman shall be
wife in more than anne to me whom
I have not loved and ~chosen-ay, and
wooed on my Bonded knees. Is my
horse saddlcd, Stevens? l return to
town tonight. In the future, as in
the past, Il paths lie separate.
Scene--the heart of the Black noun
tains. Timc-Scptember, when they
are at their lovcliest. Dramatis per-
sona-for one, a tall young man, with
a wide-awakc pushed back from his
good-looking, sunburnt face, a gun
over his shoulder, but little thought of
shooting in his mind. lie was peering
through the boughs ut what? Only a
girl whom he had ono seen in town,
and of late watched many times from
his lcafy covert, feeling, as Olivia says,
her "perfections with IN invisible and
subtle stealth to creep in at his eyes"
She sat on the other side of the
mountain brook, busily sketching; and
as he watched, her sketch-book fell
into the little stream.
In Il second he had sprung after it
fished it ont, and was presenting it
with a low bow, saying: May l not
claim acquaintance by virtue of this
happy chance and our last meeting?"
"Our last meeting!" The young
lady shrank from him in undisguised
terror.
"Good heaven, Miss Harding! how
have / alarmed you? DO | look like a
tramp in my shooting-clothes? In
deed l am respectable. My name is
Arden-Max Arden. l had the honor
of an introduction at Mrs. Montfort's
reception, last winter"
a sigh Of relief, then he~sitatingly:
aOh, yes. l remember you quite
well, Mr.. Arden; but I-I-you must
pre,ise mel have heard Of you since