West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1884-08-22

gu are my youth anu my nap
piness. the end of my dreams" she
said pasSionatcly; the want of YOU
will leave my whole future barren"
'Then why need YOU give me up"
"Becauso | think YOU will be freer
without me; because you are learning
To dread me, and SO the love is growing
imperfect. -
at was for your sake thought of
Rangoon,' he said. suddenly.
EYES, dear, and II is for your sake.
/ Heaven knows, that l propose to- give
up. | am drag on YOU, and what YOU
feel for me is far more friendship than
love"
III you think so have nothing more
TO say" He rose to- 60, stiily, and
then the tender heart i'm her failed
"Oh, Tom, if il were not best for
you, do YOU think | would have
spokenP'
She wanted him to tell her that IL
was not best for him, she wanted him
to prove 10 her that all her doubts were
needless but she had hurt him, and 1T
her relenting he hardened himself.
''li 1t is best for you, that is enough. :"
he SAID, and took his hat and left her
without looking ut her again.
When the door had closed behind him
Mary Ranley sat five minutes notion
less. The airy bubble she had spent
seven years blowing was shattered by
her own touch. he scarcely realized
what had happened yet, but thore was
numb aching at her heart. far worse
than any keen, compromising pang.
Her tears began TO flow heartbrokenly,
rs she mechanically folded the piece of
the poor little trouSscau on which she
had been working, the trousscau that
never would be needed now. Tom was
gone, and Tom was the lover of her
life; but and i'm this capacity she
would miss him far moro he had al
ways been her pet and protcgc. What
would her motherly nature do now,
without any one To plan for or protect?
Women 5 sorrows seek consola ion
In the strange ways. IN the first hour
of her loss Mary hanlcy went up among
the gathered treasures of seven hone
full ears, and touched with revcrent
fondness the accumulated tribes des-
tined for the futu Ii one There were
the little brOnlCs meant for Tom $
study, d pu chased out OF the econ
omies of her holiday time; there were
p city vases, and little brackc :, and
scraps of tasteful china all the fe -
mime triilcs that would have given a
home likeness to h $ bare lodgings.
She remembered where she had gath
cred them up-sOmctimes i'm Tom :
presence and even the words he had
said in est over one thing and another.
And now Tom was out oil her life. and
there never would be any home for
them together. She fc rs though the
big oak chest were colin containing
ali her youth rs she locked it, shutting
all the relics out OF her sight; and then
she went down and drank her solitary
tea, and tried to rcali all the cmpti-
ness of the coming years.
Would he write t. her, she wondered,
or would she be left always without
tidings? And when would he 90? And
would he be relieved that they had
parted after the first edge of pain had
worn off!
Six days passed without even an in
direct word from him, and the morn
ing work was acquiring maddenino
mOnotony, and the evenings silence n
dcspairing loneliness. Mary mad few
girl friends and no confdantes. and so
her heart-ache missed the common
alienation OF talking it over Ii he
never came or wrote, If she never
heard OF IN again. there was no one
IN all the world to help or comfort her.
But he would not be cruel enough to
treat her with silence forever; me would
send her message one day, and It
would be one of peace and iriendsh N.
i hat faith grew in her day by day. bat
ting with the growing dcspa +, and
then one day tact ranged it,ef on
faiths side n letter awaited her as size
rpt 4 h.. l..
to escape from her thoughts.
She held it for moment without
looking at it, and all her fictitious
strength gave way. She threw aside
the cloak that had suddenly become n
burden and sat down in her bonnet to
read Tom message.
But the letter was not from Tom: she
saw that As she unfolded It. The writ
inS was bigger. boldcr, more leo. bic.
She read 1t all through before she
reached the signature. When she had
seen that she read the letter arain. If
was from John Hayward, the man she
had always thought Mouse Graham :
lover, and il contained an offer of
marriage for herself
81 have loved you ALWAYS. Mary. g"
he wrote, land | have only refraineJ
'''' NNii'i'E Npt ~ w N|iht i mao so HI
tie t. oite till now. did not dare ask
you TO share a worse home than Won
nave been accustomed to, and so / held
my peace. But at last have attained
to what Ihaye honestly coveted so lone:
~ last Armstrong o & o. have made me
head Of my department, and so | dare
after a devotion nearly as protracted AS
Jacobs. to ask YOU for my own"
1t was plain, manly statement. and
II went 10 Mary Ranlev's sore heart
There was no gush, no agony Of pas
sion in It; nothing but the simple tale
OF man who had known now 10 be
very patient and faithful. Yet his love
for her startled Ter ncxpressiblv. She
had never dreamed of il. There had
never seemed anything but the mcrest
good-romrado-hip i'm his attitude to-
ward her but OF course his silence and
selt-rcSrain' rendered his love all the
more iattering, and John would make
"a good nus and Mary had an idea
tha. the man who d ed straighfly and
earnestly would love slcadfasflv. and
She ic that The woman who 6ccam
John Hayward wife would haze all
chances Of happiness in her favor. For
90 instant she wished this offer had
come years before Now. althouvb
Torn was moi hah -D fine charac.o- a.
John Il4r.u..rI . d.. f......f