Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-10-02
TEN YEARS LATER.

at his card. sss sa8E5s 81 .@.s #{$
''Tell him." she said to the servant,
shat l will bee own in ten minutes
bcr," said Nettie to herself, q cannot
70 down like this + must calm myself
down to ordinary coolness.' &
Woman-hke, She first went TO the
mirror, and, in spite of her agitation
noticed that she loo ked unusually we'll
Then, with her hands clasped tightly
before her, paced rapid up and down
the room q number Of times.
Nettie was by no nleans a vain
woman, altho,lg she was d remark
ably pretty one, and the half-anxious
glance she had given her reflection in
the mirror was rather OF inquiry than
vanity. 4js4 4&a s3$sE8. IA @zs. ~ a.
1t was ten years, 1T least, since she
had met the gentleman now awaiting
her below, and at that time he was
her accepted5lover;< SO Nettie, with all
y woman's consciousness that beauty
carries it's weight, had first OF all asked
herself the very feminine but natural
questions: &%@ ,sS,1 49,. e 49,
"Will he think me changed?"
The mirror told her, as he did, ten
minutes later, that she had not. So
there was but one thing to be done,
and that was to still the tulnuituous
beating OF her foolish little heart, and
60 down.
Poor, pretty Nettie! She loved him
still, although she had not seen him
in all these years, and he, as we'll as
herself, had married---another! i, "a.
SelE-control, eve: one OF her charac-
teristics, soon came back, and in less
than the prescribed ten minutes her
face was steadily set into an express
sion Of friendship, and she was de-
scending the stairs. sr$Fs@#
But, alas for human efforts and hui
man resolves, they often melt away
before other instincts more deeply hui
mani And the pleasant greeting rest
ing so firmly on her lips, and the nlodi-
fled phrase SO carefully planned on his,
vanished into thin air when they met.
"Harry!'' 49, -.
"Nettie!'' = " s'.,'*%'
And the two, so long parted, gazed
with happy freedom into each others
eye. a@ - Z
A hundred questions they asked and
answered. The dead, the married and
gone were all talked over, and old
scenes and old occurrences recalled.
Then a. thought came to Nettie, bear
ing with it a sickening dread q miser-
able, crushed feeling about her heart.
Harry was, after all, not the Harry
OF old, though, heaven help her she
loved him as tenderly as ever.
The question on his part-----r"'.Nettie,
will you now tell me about YOURSELF
had awakened her from the delicious
dream As in the darling light OF a
single flash Of lightning lnnllmera bic
objectscan be clearly discerned SO in
that one painful instant the hopeless
ness, the unfathomable depth, the very
sinfulness of his love came before her
The sight Of his dear face had chased
away every other feeling, but she could,
she would, crush it now, now and for
ever. n sl ~
Heriace grew a shade paler, and the
curves OF her delicate mouth grew
stern, as she answered the man who
had been the one love of her life, and
who she knew had seen that she loved
him still ,4,as
"You ask me, Harry" said she. E'to
tell you about myself. Shall I begin
where we left off ten years ago."
''lf you will" he answered, in @
troubled voice, avoiding her eye. ~
~ will be brief, then,o she replied,
but a touch OF passion trembled on
the would-be tones of .ice.' s.".You re-
member the night we parted, ten years
ago last July-yes? Then, Of course,
ybu remember the rest---how you said