Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-07-31
Observation-Disclosures fasSau. Of,
course that alters matters HIS face
had lost its smiling softness, his brow
fHf.ssa sslii5Y!4 ..ofshe
s ss|d 80 , EN- III dE44dSkElm

M aid gpassSsIenateIy: e WsaI y Gu
viii leave my whole future barren"
Then why need you give me up?'
because. think yen viii be, freer
without me; because you are learning
TO dread me. and so the loye is growing
Imperfect $" } r Z si33 1isior Is II
at was for your sake thought of
Rangoon. I he said. saddenlsaedS 81 Z
ayes, dear, and 1t is for your sake.
Heaven knows, that ]. propose to give
up. I am a drag on YOU, and what You
feel for me is far more friendship than
lovelH ri 80. IS iooS 81 i'ua .3-ssiohs
IF you think so have nothing more
to say. He rose TO CO.. .stiffiy, and
then the tender heart in her failed
'-Oh. Tom, if it were not best for
you, do You think / would have
spoken?- e. I'D, -...-,s s.. = .,su4 ..,y-
She wanted him to teIf her that it
was not best for him; she wanted him
TO prove TO her that all her doubts were
needless; but she had hurt him. and at
her relentiDg he hardeRsd himself.
If it is best for You, that is enough,
he SAID, and took his hat and left her
without hooking at her again H'@h .
When the door had closed behind him
Mary Ranley sat five minutes motion
les. The airy bubble she had spent
seven years blowing was shattered by
her own touch. She scarcely realized
what had happened Yet. but there was
a numb aching at her heart, far worse
than any keen. comprehending pang.
Her tears began TO flow heartbrokenly,
as she mechanically folded the piece of
the peer little rousseau ON which she
N a ha.a En hot
never would be needed now. Tom was
gone, and Tom was the lover of her
life; but-and in this capacity she
would miss him far more-he had al
ways been her pet and Fpwtege. Whht.
woald her phetherE Tnathre do snow.
without any one topian for or frotect2
Nomen's sorrows seek consola ion
in the strange,t ways. IN the first hour
Of men loss Nary k&nley8entub dnong
the gathered treasures of seven hope
full Years, and touched with reverent
fondness the accumulated trifles des-
tined for the future home. There were
tire fittfe-bronzes meant for Tom s
study, aud purchased out OF the econ
omies of her holiday time; there were
pretty vases. and little brackets. and
scraps of tasteful china-all the fem
horne lkeness Ete Mi bare iosigingSr
wkee she had GATH
cred them up-sometimes in Toms
presence and even the words he had
s4ti in eft oysr one thing and another
And now Tom was out of her life. and
there never would be any home for
them together. She felt as though the
big oak chest were coffin containing
all her youth as she locked it, shutting
all the relics out of her sight; and then
she went down and drank her solitary
tea, and tried to reali e all the empti-
ness of the coming years.
Would he write to her, she wondered.
tidisgs?s And when + Sad hegoP md
would he be relieved that they Had
parted after the first edge of pain had
SIX days pissed without even an in
direct word from him, and the morn
ing's work was acquiring a maddening
and tie evenings silence a
despairing loneliness. Mary mad few
sairf friends and no contidantes, and so
her heart-ache missed the common
alienation of talking it over. If he |
never came or wrote, If she never
heard of him again. there was no one
N al the world to help or comfort her.
But he would not be cruel enough to
treat her with SILENCE forever; ne would
send her message one day-and ii
would be ene of peaea asd fif4iA !
That faith grew in her day by day. bat
Ting with the growing despair, and
f 'ehh ees ftt &C. s staEea 8atf s Se
ret ufned frsmfk walk she had taken
10 eseape from her thoughts.
She held it for a moment without |
looking at it, and all her fictitious
strength gave way. She threw aside |
the cloak that had suddenly become a
burden and sal down in her bonnet to |
read Tom message.
But the letter was not from Tom; she |
saw that as she unfolded it. The writ |
She read it all through before she |,
-sached the signature hyhen she fhsl |
Teen that she read the letteraeafn.l Ii /
mad always thought MOUSE Graham's |
over. and ~ sofFainA can offer of |
for herself
II have loved you always, Mary"
be wrote. land / have only refrained /
rom telling you SO because Ihad so lit |
lie to offer till now. did not dare ask |
Tou 10 share a worse home than you
nave been ACCUSTOMED to, and so / held |
ny peace. But at last have attained |
o what Ihave honestly coveted so long:
1t last Armstroug@to 80. have made me
aead Of my depaftmNnt. and SO Tdare.
lfer = detotion neat y az r&rsctkdAs
seoS s. to ask you Ar myowae' "a
1t was a plain, manly statement, and
t went to Mary ,kanley's sore heart.
ThaesYaS NIB aashy no agony of pas
ion in it; nothing but the simple tale
IF man who had known now to be
7ery patient and faithful Yet his love
or her startled her inexpressibly. She
lad never dreamed of it. There had
lever seemed anything but the merest
,ood-comradeship in his attitude to-
ward her-but of course his silence and
rendered his love all the
more t.attering, and John would make
J good hasiand- Mary (ha@ ap sidka ! {
hat the naEwifo II "a Sstr&ghSH aid
would love AsteadfAstfy, aud
he fe.t that the woman who became
ohm Hayward 8 wife would hape all ,
AAppiaess an HerEAssbh For
N instapt she wished this offer had
ONE Years befoEAs Eow. although
Tom was not half so fine character as
ohm Hayward, she loved him, and that
made all the difference. II
when she came to think of it. it was 4