Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-22

they set out.
I've ought to have some experiences tC
exchange" said March. at length smiling
musingly.
Il don't know where we should begin p
/ returned the girl.
Has so much hsppened?"
Everything! Nothing seems ever to
have happened before. / believe you are
the most recent occurrence"
Indeed! | supposed / had been hap
] Pening long time"
You have come back. ! did not i'm
/ agine You would come back"
! You Enderrated my iRteTest3"
! "4es, l think you are Interested. You
j seem TO believe in us. AS told you once
/ sush faith eeems very generous. But |
! never supposed you would give it such
! practical tOrm."
Il hOpe you approve
II can't tell you how much / have
| thought of it, Ii those people were as
wretched as yOE used to tell me it must
be a great thing for them. Evea for the
better ciass-itis such an opening, should
thlnk. = woman can know much about
these things, of course. But It Sc ms
wise aud gOod-veFy good. 1t is the kind
of work / should ike TO do"
March's eyes kIndled.
You doA't know how glad you would
make me If you could. A wO man's hand
"a strong, ciear-signted wOman's hand
is exactly our present need. GU see, the
men brought their families, and now IN
til we can get the hOsses built. there is
such perpleXIty-suoh a host of those lit
tie hourly vexations that draw upon sne
force which ought TO 90 into the project
ITSELF as | can't begin 20 tell you"
I'D you think | could help you?"
''You would be Invaluable, Miss Van
Cleef. There is aninticlte number Of dit
iiculties that only q. woman can smooth.
You would see them at CAce. They would
not be hard, think, to you. The poor
women are not used to, your American
ways. and, living as they are obliged to,
yet, half in bIvOuac, their trials seem to
them very considerable. Yes, you could
do a great deal, Miss Van Cleef. You
see, that [ am taking yoa very much at
your word"
''You are very good. Pm sure l did not
wish 10 be taken at anything less. You
don't know what prospect you open to
me.'
Il hope 1 don't open too much hard
work."
Whatever 1t costs I am sure I shall
enjoy it. [ have my Ittle charities in
QunnimOut. but they Leave me abund-
ance of time. And, if you will let me, !
can't think where l should find more
pleasure than in employing it in that
way"
She leaned aer elbows on her lap and
clasped her hands thOughtfully before her.
Finally she looked up with a little smile.
"Perhaps my enthusiasm seems strange
to you. You don't remember my con-
corning myself much about these thingsg'
You we're always very good"
s'Yes, ! think / meant to be. But it was
a poor goodness, [ am. afraid, with super
fetal roots. 1t never accomplished any
thing. 1t spent its time in intending fair
ly well. Perhaps il is not much better
yet, but hope l have bought some expe-
riences."
81 trust it has not been too expen-
sive."
She smiled sadly.
Il suppose paid the market price. 1t
doesn't often fall, believe"
ono, Pm afraid they Will never sell it
at the Bon .HQTches Ii there is ever an
Improvement l hope it will be in putting
it on sale in the secondhand shops"
Eyes. it seems sad that we can't get it
at some ones else expense. They are al
ways Offering it. All. if | could have ia
ken what nay father offered, what his
whole life seemed to say!'
perhaps it has come to you since. 1t
has not ceased to be good"
March pulled aimlessly at the oars.
'Sincel All sinCe"
'As you say, great deal has hap
pened."
80 much 2"
! March took up the oars and pulled for
| two or three hundred yards. He stoppei
I before tiny cascade that whitened the
/ face Of a mOss-tufted slope of rock. The
| falling water made a cooling sound with
! it's shivering, rustling slip over the stone;
/ it found its way into the lake by tOrtu-
Gus channel, and they fancied, as they
/ looked over the boats side, that they
! could see where the lake drank it in be-
/ low the surface, and that its coming made
/ the water clearer.
81 have not liked to say how much
/ have felt for you in your atitictiOn," he
| said, briefly.
sYou must know that / can't thank
! you for the kindness which made things
/ so much easier at the time. i didn't
/ know Of it until afterwards, and you did
I not give me an opportunity to express
/ my feeling"
1T was not entirely in my choice" he
answered, to the mild reprOach in her
tone.
eyes, they have told me. am so
! sorry," she said, frankly.
''We had not known each other very
( well, am afraid. Perhaps we should not
| if things had been different. But he was
my brother. 1t was very Bitter
1T must have put new difficulties in
| the way of your American plan," said
| Constance.
Yes, it did not make my father more
| willing to let me leave home. He has
never more than yielded TO my project"
! But you will go oack?'
! "After a while-yes."
''YOur unfOrtuuates have their claims
/ but they have not all the claims | sup
/ pose"
mo, but must see them settled. There
| are great many things TO be done yet.
/ Pm just plowing up the ground, So to
/ speak"
! u trust you will gather a large CROP
/ she returned, smiling.
March pulled slowly over to the boat
] house and put up the skif Constance
was rejecting upon the c0pious pOssibili-
/ ties of effective charity which his PROPOSE
! ton discovered to her Imagination as she
walked M &c ~, ,,,.c.,h. It would be the tor
, tunate sort Of work from which one saw
! direct returns. 1t was like doing a email
| tradesman's business and casting up
! ones profits at the end OF the day to a
/ cent. Constance was not without the
| weakness Of her sex for the material as
/ opposed to the abstract and ideal. A
/ pound that one could see and handle was
! better than q ton which one could only
/ fancy. She had despairing feeling about
! some Of her work that it was like drop
! ping stones into a pool. Doubtless it
filled it up, but she feared that she should
not live to see the water perceptibly dis
/ placed. She tried to have faith, and the
/ inhrmity which led her to long for visible
! results was far from the poor lust that
| they might be seen of men. But she
/ could not help desiring to see them her
| self.
I In the work which March proposed to
/ her at Gerrit she hoped to be able to use
/ her orderly broom, so to speak, and to see
| the dust fly, and she tried to humble her
| confdence-atter q habit which had not
| been familiar to her some months before
that she was capable ot this missionary
undertaking.
March was thinking of the evidences of
the change in her of which his provision
had given him hints. The luminous and
far-reaching nat ure of it was a kind of
scandal to his recent doubts Of Its char
acter.
The question whether it was a gain
was like an inquiry whether foliage was
an addition to a tree. 1t seemed a per-
fectiy relevant adornment. 1t sprang as
naturally from the original substance of
her character as leaves drink the sap
waiting their use and leap out upon the
sleeping branches.
The two were amply occupied with
these thoughts as they went up toward
the house, and there appeared to be
tacit under standing between them that