The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-05-09

indulge in intellectual compauionships we became intimate at once, and were declared lovers in month"
 And yet you were not betrothed for a year after thatr
 "No; Agnes was very strange in one thing; she was always very decided and confident, but she had a strong aversion to decisive action. She wished not to
 have any engagement between us." She often mentions this in her jour. nal, ," said I.
 "Agnes said to me continually" said George, Sthat our association was perfect
 and that if we changed its form, we should destroy our own happiness. think she believed all that she said in re-
 gard to marriage, or rather in regard to non-marriage. Of marriage, as a topic of conversation she seldom spoke. She
 seemed always to fear a separation in thought and feeling, and to look with dis
 favor upon any change in our relation.
 l was very desirous of marriage, but for year she would not even listen to my
 wishes for an engagement. It was only
 when finally insisted that she was not sure of her own feelings toward me she consented to betrothal."
 "She loved you with devotion which you little knew," said l. "For the year
 preceding the engagement she gave her lie wholly into your hands, and her jour nal never tires of her praises of you, her gratitude that you have entered her life, and the constant happin ess, calm and se- rene, which came to her through yeu. But she seems to have feared that some fa- tality went with the promise, She writes under date of Jannary } 1879:
 I:3o a. m.-I have at last yielded to Georges wishes, and promised to be- come his wife. A pledge has passed be- tween us; neither is free; dread the future. Up to this night love has been the only bond between us. regret the promise, for already feel sense of own ership, as if my lover belonged to me |; l cannot be SO grateful to him as have been, for what before was gift from him has now become the payment of 6eot." :"
 "Is not that strange view for Agnes to have taken ?" asked George.
 q do not think she took that view" said !. "I believe she feared something entirely different. She writes some pages further on:
 'January I4th.-I am sure there is a change in George. Dol wrong him and his love1 It seems to me that he is less enthusiastic over me that he has not the constant, eager devotion which he had while we were simply lovers. am sure that am more fond, that George is dearer and more indispensable to my happiness than ever before. How can I say that5 He has been my whole life since the first evening of our intim acy. If anything comes between US will not live. O, if fmy life could be to him what his love is to me-if could be his whole existence, as he is minep
 ''I cannot understand that in the least" said George. Before our engae ement had felt uncertain of her love her con- stant reluctance to give me a promise made me doubt what my doubt was, did not know. But after her promise, after she began those delightful little tyrannies which she exercised so sweetly, l was perfectly contented and happy. passed every moment possible in her so- ciety, and insisted upon some familiar ities which she had always refused me. You know she had the most beautiful hands ever seen. admired them, and her touch was always soothing and de- lightful in the highest degree to me. I came nearer being angry with her about her hands than over anything else, be- cause she would hardly ever let me touch them. She would kiss me when wished to take her hands, and say they were made to look at, not to touch. Alter our engagement insisted that her hands should be my own property, that she. should never object to nay appropriating them when would. am sure l did not lack devotion or attentiveness. My whole life was at her disposal, and can truly say that had not a thought or a pleas ure which was not shared with Agnes"
 "She knew that perfectly well," said l. "She did not distrust you. Her fears arose from another cause, and a cause which she would not own even to her self" The next entry in her journal is dated January A b, she simply says:
 "To-day called by appointment on Dr. Arndt, who is said to know more of diseases than anyone else in America. feel great confidence in him. and am lighter hearted than for many AoyS' may oS Wnouy wrong. II may be that life will be happy"
 The entries in her journal are very brief here. Agnes had fully resolved in her own mind upon her course. On the goth of January she writes:
 "l shall not see George again, nor shall see Dr. Arndt, nor shall write another line in this book. know now the mys- tery, the hideous, loathsome secret of my existence. My life is a horrible inius- tice. l have a mind and a will. can right one wrong in the world. This is the last act of the real life of Agnes Toxel. Some matters of business must be attended to. The real Agnes Toxel was sentenced to death to-day."
 read George my journal of January goth.
 George listened in silence. It was evil dent that Agnes had never told him her own belief. went on with the journal at the date of February 4sh:
 Everything is done. Ali affairs of