Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-03-23
gu 0riaiual Storg.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
THE HOUSE ON THE HILL
CHAPTER XVI.
BY HERBERT JOHNSON.

ulOuSly utgeIeu, CoPily ooiieo' VA N- 49,
slant she stood paralyzed then, as Harry
stretched out his arms, she rushed into them,
and fell half-fainting on his breast.
She lay there at first in a sort of delirlous
extasy, oblivious of everything but that her
fears had proved false. Harry was restored to
her. Harry was alive and well. 1t was his
cheek that pressed hers his strong arms that
clasped her his voice that whispered broken
words of tenderness in her ear. In the first
overwhelming consciousness this one fact, OF
10y inconceivable and supreme, the light which
had thus suddenly broken upon her drove every
shadow from her mind.
But only for little while. Like dreadful
phantom the recollection of her true position
rose up before her. She started from herlover,
trying to extricate herself from his clasp.
''You must not you must not ~ she cried
wildly. II forgot"
Forgot what ?-My darling, what do you
mean 80
"Oh Harry, forgive me-" she moaned. 81
could not help it. They made me. on, my
love, how can tell you 20
She shuddered, and the words died away on
her lips. Her wild look and incoherent manner
alarmed him. He almost thought she must
have lost her mind
s'For Gods sake, tell me what you mean, y
he entreated. ''Don't tortue me in this
way !''-Then with sudden sickening fear,
care YOU married to somebody else 20
'sNot marred-yet. But shall be- was
to have been -
"When go
s'To-morrow.'
''To whom ~
''Mr. Erskine."
''The traitor The false villain ~ burst
from Harry's lips. "Was it for this that l
saved his life ?''-
He flung her hand from him; she caught his
own again, and clung to it.
Harry, hear me. Harry, don't look that
way. Let me tell you everything. .Youdon't
understand"
''Let me 60, Sophy. 1 understand enough
to know that this is no longer the place for me.
False-you false-you whom | trusted be-
yond every living creature! Was this your
faithfulness- love ?"
''You must listen to me- I have never
ceased to love you; never could. My heart
is not in this engagement, and he knows it.
But I've all thought you were dead. If
had dreamed of the possibility of your ever
coming back, even twenty years hence,
should not have yielded, if they had gone down
on their bended knees"
'sWho do you mean by they ?"
''Everybody-he, and mamma, and your
uncle. They all persuaded me"
my uncle 1t is strange that he should
have been in the plot too"
SIT was no plot. Oh, if you could only un
derstand p cried poor Sophy, wringing he1
hands in an agony. eve have suffered sc
much-mamma nearly died. Ever since papa's
death she has been ILL
s'Dr. May is he dead 90 interrupted Harry
his voice softening in spite of himself. HI
stood listening to her now, almost against hi:
will, with his head turned away, as if he coult
not bear to look OH her face.
eyes. And we have been poor-very poor
And Mr.. Erskine has been our benefactor He
has done everything for us. 1 do not know
what we should have done without him. In
deed, he is not to blame. He is very noble an(
good"
II see. He is rich, and can give you eas'
and plenty. So many women marry for tina
reason But never should have supposed yo'
one of the many" said Harry, bitterly.
Blame me if you will. l know 1 canno
justify myself in your eyes. Oh, it is all mise
ry. l wish were dead"
mo. 1t is I who ought to have been dead,
said Harry, with laugh that sounded dread
full in Sophy's ears. II have made fearful
mistake. Never mind, Sophy III make i
all right. Just as soon as I've seen my olt
uncle I'll 60 off again, and leave you to you
new choice. don't want to stand in you
light. Cruel as you are to me, love you still
too we'll for that
"You will kill me, if you talk in that way.
She stood shivering al over, as if with al
ague fit. He looked. at her slight figure, he
bent head, her white, Worn face, and a feeling
of compuncton rushed over him
"Forgive me, Sophy,'' he said, more gently
II was brute to talk so. After all, dar
say you are not so very much to blame. Only
after such terrible time as I've had-witl
nothing to sustain me through it all but tn
thought of your love, and what the coming
home would be-and to return to find this"
His voice broke down. He felt chOked
suffocated by the sobs that were rising up il
his throat, and which he was trying to sup
press. They stood, those two, held apart b
the Fate that had thrust itself between them