Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-08-08


have told him 50 there So i gave him Inn
q bitter answer and we both grew an
grier still His last ords, uttered with
all the intensity Of passion, ring still
/ in my ears. can tell you them word
for word Hetty, il you let me go now,
understand clearly ron ! will never see
my face again. did not quite believe
him. Perhaps il I had ] should still
have let him go.s AT any rate, I was
far too angry to give way then. Go.
by all means, if you wish it, / said and
iinanother moment he was gone. I had
been tearing to pieces, ia my passion, .
little spray Of hawthorn he had given
me earlier ID the day. I had pulled Of
the leaves one by one, and when lie left
me, the bare stem was leftin my hand,
with one leaf only remaining. See,
here it is, the last relic Of my first and
Hast love. God grant that in your whole
life, my Ruth, you may never weep such
tears as / have Wept over that one faded
LEAF. M .#.4s s s: vs.:
! Aunt Hetty took from her desk the
little prayer book. she always carried, a
quaint little red covered book, with a
gilt clasp, and showed me Just within it
a tissue paper pocket attached to the
cover. This she opened and showed me
the faded leaf sS.s sSSo
This little book, i" she said, was Ed
wards first gift to me; and this old dry
leaf is my only relic of the day when we
| parted in anger il the wood, never to
meet again in this world. Stay, have
one more treasure see!" 4Ez s
She drew from her bosom quaint old
|locket and put it in my hand. It was q
miniature painting, representing a young
man in an old fashioned naval costume.
1t was a handsome face, but stern and
proud looking and ( could we'll believe
that the original would have behaved as
Aunt Hetty had described. u ..4.3s#
! "But did you really part like that,
a1,ntie?" I said. ''Did you never see
! him again?" ..e5 s@ 4: i sss5s
| "Never. He did not go back to the
! picnic party, but joined an outward
bound ship the very next day. leaving a
brief note for my mother stating that
we had fortunately found out iii time
| that we were unsllited to eleh other,
and had therefore by mutual consent
put an end to our engagement" p
@s;But this was very cruel, auntie."
T Thought SO then. Perhaps it was,
q little; but afterwards blamed my
self, far more than him. I had given
the provocation; and knew in nv heart
Of hearts that one word of regret an my
part would have made all right between
US. But I was too proud to say it I
let him go with my eyes open and I have
been justly punished.
But have you never heard Of him
since, auntie? 2" a., -.
"'Once or twice, in early years; but
only indirectly. He had no relatives in
our partsof the country. I know that
he gave up the sea, and obtained COM
mission in some, Indian regiment.
When last I heard of him he was cap
tain, but that was many years ago and
J. do not know whether he is alive or
dead. So ends MY poor little romance
There is one thing I should like to ask,
Ruth, and that isspartly why / told you
my story. You kaye seen my relics
They have been my greatest treasures
in life and I should like them put III
my coffin when / die. Will you remem-
Der this, dear ?" - c.s y:
I could not answer for tears, but I.
kissed her hand and she was content.
y Two month ago, tired of our. hum,
drum country life, auntie and I res
solved, for once, to visit foreign parts.
Accordingly, we went to Boulogne and
took up our abode ina quiet boarding
house in the Rue DIES Vieillards. Our
d6micile was O quaint old house, said
to have been originally nunnery and
afterwards to have been occupied for a
short time by the great Napoleon when
meditating decent upon England. A
broad gateway, hanked on either. side
by disused fe1d-guns, planted upright
in the ground by way of gate-posts, led
into a pleasant courtyard, with seats
under the shade sof aespreading tree
and made musical by hesplash Of amod-
est fountain. There We're q good many
visitors staying in the house, but they
were mostly in families or parties and
we did not alga1nate much with
them. Our Wis, a. Wis at table was q tall,
elderly gentleman Of soldierly appear
ance, who was always spoken of as the
major. He had evidently been very
handsome man-indeed, he was hand
some still. His hair and mustache were
perfectly white, forming a marked con-
trast with his complexion, which was
extremely, dark, as II tanned by. a long
residence under q tropical sun. I think
I was first attracted to linn by noticing
that his French was even worse than
our own. When he ventnred, as he
II %k r. ,Co,, IN,
the uninterrupted waiting maids in their
own language, the difficulties he got in
to were dreadful, and he generally end
ed by getting rather angry with HIM
self and them. Once Or twice / VEN
tured very timidly to help him out Of q
difficulty Of this kind, and in this. man
ner q slight acquaintance had sprung
up between us. It had, however, pro-
ceeded no further than a friendly good
morning or. casual remark across the
dinner table. With other visitors the
major fraternized even less. After
breakfast lie regularly smoked one cigar
under the tree ii the court yard !; after
which he started off for d solitary RAM
bic and did not reappear till din
ner time. So matters stood mn
til the first Sunday evening after
our arrival, when he went. as in
duty bound to the little English church
in an, adjoining street. We were ush-
cred into one Of the pews appropriated
for strangers and 9 minute or two later
I the major was shown ito the same pew,
and sat down silently beside us. The
service proceeded III the usual course,
n n, * ef,,,, ~, "a = q, x1,c