Omaha daily bee., 1883-11-17
MY PLAIN LOVER.

MI PLAIN lUvtk.
r.. M. l..
l was a ooquette. Many a lovers
heart l had lacerated by refusing their
offers of marriage, for l had lured them
on to q declaration" My last victims
was James Frazer. He was q tall,
awkward homely and ~ungainly man, but
his heart was Us true as steel. | respected
him highly, and l felt panied, when /
witnessed his anguish at my rejection of
him. But the fact was l had myself
fallen in love with Elliott Tracy, n city
who had been unremitting in his
devotions to me. James Frazer warned
me against Elliott, but | charged him
with jealousy, and took his warning as an
In a few days after Elliott and l
were engaged, and my dream of romantic
love seemed to be in q fair way of ~realiza.
ton. l had a week of happiness. Many
have not so much in q lifetime. Many
awake from the bright, short dream to
find themselves in lifelong darkness and
bondage from which there is no escape.
Thank God l was not to be so miserable
as they!
There was an equestrian party winding
through our grand old woods and quiet
country roads. Elliott and / led the
cavalcade. l rode my own beautiful
Brown Bess. Elliott was mounted on
A. lo A1a,l. lo,.o 4I~A IL l~~..
sent him from the city. Following us
was a bevy of merry girls and their caval-
iers, end among them, tall, awkward and
silent, rode James Frazer. His pre-
sence had married all the pleasure of
my ride, and l was glad to be in ad-
vance of them all that 1 might not see
him.
And so we rode on over the soft, sandy
road that echoed not the tramp of u
horses hoofs, and 1 listened we'll pleased
to the low but animated words of Elliott
Tracy, who wished himself a knight and
me a fair layde of the olden time, that
he might go forth to do battle for me,
and compel all men to recognize the
claims of his peerless love. Very elo-
quently he spoke of the inspiration of
love, of the brave deeds and perilous ex-
ploits it had prompted, wishing again
and again that he might thus proclaim
and maintain his love before the world.
1t pleased me to listen to this, and to
believe it sincere, though l surely had
no wish to put my lover to such a test.
A shot rang though the still woods,
and a wounded bird, darting past, flut-
tered and fell at the feet of Brown Bess.
With a bound and a spring, that nearly
unseated me, she was off.
Struggling to regain my seat, ! had no
power to restrain her, and wen as she
flew the fear and madness of the moment
grew upon her. 1 could only cling
breathless to the name and bride and
wonder helplessly where this mad gallop
was to end. She swerved from the pass
ing wagon, and turned in to a cart track
that led to the river. In the sudden
movement the reins had been torn from
my hands, and l could not regain them.
l chung to the name and closed my eyes
that ] might not behold the fate that
awaited me. How sweet was life in those
precious moments that l thought my
last! How all its joys, is affections, its
last browning love rose up before me! l
thought of the pang that would rend
Elliott's heart as he saw me lying man.
gled and dead, and then the thought
would come if he were pursuing and try
to saw me, even, as he had said, at the
risk of life and limb.
| remembered no more. / felt a sud
den shock, a fearful rushing through the
air, and knew no more until days after
ward, l woke to a faint, weak semblance
of life, in my room at home.
/ never saw Elliot Tracy again. The
last words | ever heard from his lips
were those of knightly daring. The last
act of his life, in connection with mine,
was to follow in the train of frightened
youths who rode after me, to contem-
pla:e the disaster from afar, and as soon
as he saw me lifted from the shallow bed
of the river into which had been thrown
when my frightened horse stopped sud
denly on its bank, to ride hastily back to
the village. That evening he sent to
make inquiries, and learning that j was
severely but, it was hoped, not fatally in
jured, he thenceforth contented himself
with such tidings of my condition and i'm
provement as could be gained from vii
lage rumor.
At last it was known that / would
never recover entirely from the effects OF
my injury, and that very day Elliott
Tracy departed suddenly from the vii
lage. He made no attempt to see me,
nor sent me any farewell. When ] was
once more abroad, and beginning, though
| with much alleged bitterness, to learn
| the lesson of patience and resignation
| that awaited me, / received a letter from
him, in which he merely said that he
presumed my own judgement had taught
me that, in my altered circumstances,
our engagement must be at an end, but
to satisfy his own sense of honor (his
honorD he wrote to say that, while en-.
tertaining the highest respect for me, he
desired a formal remuneration of my
| claim.
Writing at the bottom of this letter
'Let it be as you WISH" / returned it u
him it once, and thus ended my brieI
dream of a romantic love.
/ had heard ere this of Elliott Tracy
cowardly conduct Oh that day, and nov
/ first bethought me to inquire who hat
rescued me from imminent death.
And then / learned that James Fra
ger, his arm already broken by the jerl
with which Brown Bess tore away from
him as he caught at her bride, had rid
den after me and been the first to lf
me from the water. Many times daily h,
made inquiries for nae. His had beer
the hand that sent the rare flowers, ant
decked my room. His were the books
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