Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1883-03-30

and then, drawing to her pen, ink and
y per, she testified to her consent.
As she wrote her reluctance vanish
ed. She tanced herselfin Elsa's place.
She imagined how some rosebud,
wooed by the sun, would one by one
open its shrinking petals, quivering
'twixtecstasy and pain, to meet the pas
sionate kiss of the Day God and so
her in agination found vent in words.
She covered the sheets with closely
filled lines, aud he read them Elsa
pres ed them to her lips.
"Ah. they will make him love me,
she cried, as she ran with them to her
home. to copy them in her own hand
wiring.
BY the next mail came his answer.
Elsa had been right.
The letter had strangely stirred his
heart, Pulses he had thought dor
ment. he wrote, had le'ped into mad,
rxultant life. He had slept. he told
her, with the paper next his heart.
Again Gertrude wrote, and yet again,
until she looked fr his replies almost
as Elsa She who had never loved in
her life found u strange and satisfying
delight in pouring upon the sheet the
cry Of hungry soul while her own
soul knew no hunger. The passion she
had never felt. the ecstasy of love at
which she scotfed
so might feel" she whispered to
h.rself, when. like the sleeping prIn
cess, in fairy lore, the magic prince
would bend and kiss nay lips
And So to this unknown king she
wrote. The replies btc'rne more fre
Queut, more ardent. until at las, there
ra'ue letter when Frederic Houghton
askeG Elsa to become his wife.
Wuh tears OF jos in her bright blue
ewes, she brought thl. letter, like the
Others, TO Gertrude.
"Answer him" she said. ''and tell
him YES ys-' YES :"
Slowly Miss Meyer read the letter
through. From whence came this
dull pain at her hearts 4 mist swan
before her eyes. The written chsrac-
ttrs Sere blurred from her sight. BY
4 loaerful effort she controlled her
self and spoke with some d gree of
calmueSs.
Not this. Elsa" she id. This
sou aust answer urs.lf.'
"nh. no, no, cannot. Make il I
Set more beautiful than the others.
Gertrude The regiment is ordered
ho;ne again. be writes. so there will
be- asAs.ese lsttess-sf least. until after
~ are marricd. and then there will be
30 further need Of poetry. He will
NJ miss its absence
NE need e poetry :" "Ah. thought
Gertrude, VAS loves perfect fullness
then but prose: p
let ne be alone" she said. aloud /
"Tuis evening | will send YOU your
letter"
Giving orders no, to be- disturbed.
she seated herself at her desk. but one
by one two scsldlng tears fell from
the beautiful. proud EYES upon the
blank page spread before her.
Thes were the unconscious baptism
OF her awakening ~omanhood. Then
she write. hut IL was hearts blood.
rather than the ink, which spread it
self upon the sheet wbereon she i'm.
pressed her soul.
Il give you ALL she wru,e-''m, pas;, nv
pTescu'. M fu-are. To me, 10 all the lexicon
u isuEgAgr, srs ta' g~o words-hushaud sud
~i'e They arr easLlr Eonsd IN geld within
ibe shr'n~ here nv soals knevls I'D .orships
Frederic. love you
H.r pen dropped from her hand
Had she indeed written the words, or
was 1t her heart which had cried them
aloud IN the stiffness. A hundred
mocking demons took up the cry and
echoed IT. She heard il everywhere
around about her. She saw it blazon.
ed IN the air. She sank trembling on
her anees. and buried her fac. in her
shaking hands.
She and her secret were face TO face
at last. She had sold her bi7thrlght
for mess of pottage.
In the evening, true TO her promise.
Elsa received the letter, but unfinished.
add to it that you WILL" wrote
Gertrude. Il could not close it fit-
tingly."
But Ella sent the copy with no all
4ed words.
Another fortnight, and the regiment
had arrived. A month passed, but
Gertrude and Frederic Houghton had
not met. Once he had called with
Elsa, but she had not been at home.
By singular coincidence it was at
another of Madam Froissart's charm
ing and frequent receptions that fate
threw them again together. For a
moment her hand rested in his, and
his keen eyes sarched her face. Then
Elsa came to claim him for dance,
they separat d.
Midnight had sounded, when some
one asked Gertrude for a song. Many
Joined III the plea. Giving some
what reluctant consent, she took her
seat at the piano in the little music.
room, the portiere dividing it from the
drawing room drawn aside.
She he itated moment, then struck
the chords, and soon the rich, sweet
voice filled the space. "It Was a
Dream" was the song she had chosen,
and the pathos of voice and words
broue ht quick tears to many eyes.
AS the last echo died away, amid a
murmur of applause and admiration,
Il man ent close beside her.
"Come into the conservatory a mo-
ment,' he said. Il wish to speak to
you"
She let him place her hand within
his own and lead her where he would.
Among the plants and flowers he turn
ed to her.
81 must speak," he sail. "You
shall know how have loved you! In
another month, to tell you would be a