The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-06-27

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death aloneP Surely you know, Alice,
that nothing could have induced me to
90 80 far from you were II not that |
felt that II wouldhbe tempting Provi-
dence to reject such an advantageous
opening. A year Will not be long pass
ing, and then, my dear, 1 can return with
the wings OF love 10 your side. y
So they part, and Douglas goes to the
distant country whittier bright prospects
OF certain fortune baye allured him.
The year glides slowly along TO Alice,
whose 'happiest hours are those bright
ened by reading Douglass frequent let
tiers. But suddenly they cease to come
and months intervene, and still she hears
naught Of the lover who, by this time,
was TO have been once more with her,
Then the maiden's heart sinks within
her tender breast as she remembers his
emphatic words; rhrt. H
Nothing can come between us save
death alone. Recommendations.
Twelve months more Of anxious wait
ing fail to bring any news, and then one
day servant brings to Alice card up
on which is engraved an old foreign
came. Dr., u.
AS she enters tho drawing-room and
her caller rises, Alice thinks that never
before have her eyes rested upon beauty
so dazzling.
II am from Russia, " the stranger ex-
plains in correct English, though with a
decided foreign accent "and am winter
ING here in England with some friends.
On hearing your name ! recognised it
as one have often heard upon the lips
of my betrothed, Mr. Rhodes. When |
left home he asked me, if by chance |
should meet you, if | would give this to
you from him." g.
Here she hands a sealed envelope to
Alice, who has been listening, scarcely
.rediting her own powers of hearing.
Who is she, this darby handsome strang-
,rp And what does she mean by speak
ing of one she has taught herself to think
If as no more among the living as her
oetrothedP 20
Mechanically Alice breaks the seal
and reads the letter placed within her
hands, and signed douglas Rhodes. "
There is silence in the room; but sud-
denly it is broken by a plaintive heart
broken cry, and the reader's Slight figure
ways forward and falls prone upon the
floor at her successful rivals feet.
Ringing a bell to summon servant,
.he stranger only pauses to give one
glance down at Alice's white, stricken
face; then, with triumphant smile up
IN her own, she trails her silken draper
es from the room.
Three years have elapsed. Is this
Alice - this quiet, somberlv-dressed
young woman bending her sad face over
her needlep
Yes, it is she. 1t is the old tragic story
| OF fathers failure and sudden DEATH
followed by the flight, like swallows be-
fore frost, of the friends whose name
during her days of prosperity had been
legion. ....
Alone, poor, and friendless, too proud
to sue for help, Alice had left her native
city, and here we find her in the hum
BILE position of companion TO an invalid
lady.
A gay voice sounds in the hall, and
the door opening, there enters the young
daughter of the house.
| "Ah Miss Howard, here you are.
have been seeking YOU to ask of you s
favor. 1t is this Will you play awhile
this evening for us to dancer Cousin
Hal writes that he is coming with {
friend--the one-armed hero he is always
talking about-and I've invited few
others to make it lively. Nowplease say
yes know your distaste for meeting
strangers; but the piano can be moved
into the, alcove, and you will be quite
secluded"
The evening has come, and the guests
have assembled. Alice has been play
ing until she is tired, and now she sits,
her fingers idly resting upon the keys.
The piano stands within lace-draped
recess adjoining a small conservatory
and Just as she is about TO begin the
opening bars of afavorite waltz, voices
fall upon her ears, and name is uttered
that causes the blood to rush in startl
1 ed flood through her veins.
Here, Rhodes, is a quiet cool spot
Come, let's sit down an have an old
time CHAT one says. II didn't hal
want to. come this evening; but had
known should meet you, lshould have
felt differently | didn't even hear yo,
had returned. When did you arrive
And where is your wifeP'
my wife, Montague, are you crazyH
"Why, didn't you marry the incom
parable Olga, after ALP Now, old fel
low, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, chancec
to meet in society the handsome creatur,
whose lamentations caused you to re
main so long in that frigid Russia, ant
when she found out that knew you sh
confided to me all about your engage
mont Of course | supposed, II betroth
ed then, you would be married by this
What broke 1t Off"
Stay, Montague; give me a chanc
to put word in edgeways, and, as yo1
know part OF the story, | will tell you
all.
With suspended breath, and hand
clasped tightly together, Alice listens
ITO the incompatible Olga, as yo,
term her" Douglas goes on, "you will
perhaps be surprised to hear that ow
the injury that lost me my arm, and te
dreary months of suffering in Russia
prison.
' ITO be brief, / met her through visi
ing her uncle and guardian, aprominer
, official, who seemed bent on friendshi
with mo IIio niaca I ,yoo nnl;ta IA Z,