Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-12

came first to Miss Janie's hands, and
while it breathed the utterances of a
grieved and wounded spirit, it was not
what she had expected. He did not hint
at any severance of their connection, and
she felt that she must resort to more des-
perate measures still. She closed it up and
sent it forward to Clare, rejoicing in the
thought of the suffering it would give her
her own disappointment
at its tenor.
Great was Clare's surprise and aston
ishment when she read this letter of Ar
thurs. His letters of late had been very
unsatisfactory to her. She scarcely knew
why. They still breathed for her the fond
est affection, but there was a vein of pre-
yailing sadness in them; but in this he
expressed himself as one who had a right
to be aggrieved. What she had said that
could wound his feelings in such way 1t
was impossible for her to tell. She
thought and thought, until her head ached
with her perDlexity, and cried until her
eyes were swollen with weeping. She
wanted no breakfast that morning, but
seated herself to reply, and
cried and wrote alternately all the morn
ing. She did not go down stairs all day.
Mrs. Honfieur came up to see her, and,
with an almost breaking heart, she sub
mitted to her mother the letter which she
had received.
'What could you have written him, my
child, to call forth such an answer as
this 2" was her mothers inquiry.
81 am sure / % not know, mother.
never dreamed of MS being offended with
me-"
''Well, do not distress yourself in such
way, my darling. You must write him
and dissipate his suspicious. He is evil
IDENTIFY jealous of Mr.. Green. / have felt
considerable uneasiness myself about
=. = L.
been on his account, not yours. | have
feared that he was indulging in passion
for you which would be hopeless, and
bring to him a disappointment which
would throw blight upon his life"
"Why, mamma, never dreamed of such
a thing, nor as any such results as this
growing out of our acquaintance, neither.
wish from my heart l had never seen
him. l do not suppose he cares any more
in him a pleasant companion. But he
will never be such to me again, if he
comes between me and Arthur. | shall
hate him."
'sYou must disabuse Arthur's mind of
any such suspicious, they are unjust to
you, and you must convince him that
they are so. l will leave you to your
writing, when you have finished your
letter you had better lie down and try to
sleep your headache away"
When this letter of Clare's reached Miss
jamie, she rejoiced in the success of her
schemes, confident that they would work
out such results as she desired. In order
to make every thing sure in the desperate
game she was playing, she retained this
letter and addressed yet another one to
Mr.. lie Verrier as if from Clare. She
wrote him thus:
''MR. A. LIE VERRIER-Perhaps my re-
Lott tsr how
for this, or perhaps it may take you by
surprise. 1t is my desire that the engage
ment between US should be Cancelled. IL
you will consent to my wishes in this re-
spect our single lives will be sufficient.
Please let there be no determinations. If 1
could see you l could tell you some things
which would, think, exOnerate me from
all blame. L hope you Will find some one
who will prove more worthy Of you than
she who was once your friend,
"CLARE HONFLEUR.'
The next letter which came from Arthur
Miss Thompson suppressed and did not
send Clare anything in the place of it.
There were other letters in the satchel
that day, so she could do it without sus-
picion. Arthur had regretted having
written to Clare in the way he did;
thought he had been too hasty, and in order
to make amends had made this unusually
lGuuGI anu dnECblUndbGs anu DGAAGu uGI W
burn his last and forget its contents. OF
course it would never do for this to reach
it's destination. When Arthur received
the letter from Miss jamie which she had
made so insulting, hoping when she sent
it that it would lead him to break the en-
gagement, he did not reply to it at all. 1t
was the first time since his return to the
city that he had suffered the mail to go
out without a letter from him to Glare,
hr,f bo no lrpnVrr hOv 70 70 0n6
thought he would wait for another letter
and be governed by that. He was more
miserable even than Glare. He counted the
hours until the arrival of the next mail.
When it came what was his horror at
finding the few lines over her signature
asking to have their engagement can
celed. He could hardly credit his own
senses. He excused himself from bust
ness on the plea of not being very well,
and went to his home and shut himself
up. After struggling with himself for
some hours, he wrote the few lines which
were the doom of death to him as far as
happiness was cOncerned; he walked the
room back and forth in speechless sorrow,
fearing all the time that he might be lead
to do some desperate thing. At length he
Gained himself somewhat by writing a
long letter to his mother asking her SYM
pathy, which, when he had finished, he
concluded to destroy, for fear Clare might
perchance see it, and his pride forbade
her knowing how intensely he was suf-
fering. His letters when he got them
ready for the office read as follows;
'MIss HoNFLEUR-As it could give me
no pleasure to cOnsummate marriage ties
with an unwilling bride, herewith re-
lease you from your engagement, and beg
you to consider all ties between us as
Cancelled, and when we meet again let it
be as strangers. There have been some
gifts passed between us. Those which l
have received from you, among them your
miniature, are subject to your order, also
your letters. | will seal them in a pack
age, and leave them with your uncle, Mr..
Houghton, from whom you can get them.
1t is immaterial to me what becomes of
those you have received from me, either
letters or gifts.
''Your obedient servant,
''ARTHUR LIE VERRIER."
Then to his mother he said:
ssDEAR MoTHER-I sadly need your so
ciety and counsel. Win you not come
home. l cannot come all the way after
you, but if you will take the stage Tues
day morning and ride as far as the dinner
house, which you Will reach by 2 O'Clock
in the evening, will meet you there with
the gig and a servants wagon and bring
you the rest Of the way myself. You will
stage ride, and we can spend the night at
that dinner house, which is the Mr.. La
more's, where we spent the last night when
we went up the road. | feel 80 confident
you will crafty me that | will be at Mr..
Lamore's on that day expecting to meet
you, and if you are not there will remain
until see or hear from you. Should any
unforeseen circumstances prevent my
reaching there as soon as you do you
must remain until come. Dear mother,
no words can tell how long to be folded
in your arms once more.
"Your own devoted son,
ARTHUR LIE VERRIER.''
OF course Miss Thompson had the first
reading of these letters. 1t is unneces-
sarY to say they gave her infinite salts
faction.
When Clare opened hers, which she did
in her own room that morning, and saw
its breVity, she shuddered with the
dread of evil tidings. Short as it was she
had not read the half of it ere she fell in
a dead tainting lit on the floor. Her
mother heard the fall and flew to her sue
cor. She and Rosa succeeded in restor-
ing animation after a while, and when
she was fully herself and could explain
to her mother what had caused the shock,
she said, "Does any one know of my
When told that none but themselves
had witnessed or heard anything of it she
charged them not to let it be known.
''Not for the world would l have Mrs. LIE
Verrier to know t." she said.
She kept her bed for many days, and
saw no one, Miss Thompson had called |