Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-29

uluc a HOIu lIOm 9Ous nut now S0dli
be in sore need of all your faith in me for
a day or twO." He turned away quickly
Il cAnnOt cloud it. Bear with me for a
little, Rose"
''For always, brother" and with the
perfect tact of her love she slipped silent
~ out of the room.
Her trust indeed sustained Mr.. X alto
In the days which followed. 1t was tn
single beacon by which he found his way
in the fog which life had suddenly be-
come.
The two days succeeding COnstance's
departure were alwaE filled 10 MS m mo-
nv with a sickening confusion OF thought.
His mind seemed to have grown blank;
but 1t was the sort OF blank on which de-
lirium writes a thousand irrelevancles in
her invisible ink, crossing and recrOss-
ing; then burning Them into intellIgiblllty
and setting them instantly fading again.
His brain whirled. lie could not COM
mand it long enough 10 make with him
self a consecutive argument Of his situa-
ton. He came 10 his meals in daZe,
aud tired Rose by sitting vacantly silent
and eating nothing of the deIicacles with
which she strOve 10 tempt him. When be
kissed her goodnight she could have
wept for his haggard face.
Conrad tried To make him aware of his
sympathy with trouble touching which
he could frame no guess. But his we'll
Intentioned kindness failed, as it had
failed with March.
Mr.. KeatOr was haunted by one pur-
pose; pursued by COnstance's demand
that ne submit this question, which had
become the question of his life, TO the lot.
In the labyrinth in which he CROPPED this
path at least was clear, aid he followed
it. with the desperate tenacity of the mad
man who knows his one eit of knowledge
so we'll. He did not look forward beyond
the awful decision. He did MOI dare. 1.-The
considered moment in the fOrlOrn strait
to which he had come he was Certain that
he should not 90 on. He chung to the let
ter of Constance sdemand. That at least
he could obey, and he went about the
preparations for carrying out her wish,
finding a kind Of salVe to his conscience
in this blessed sense of responsibility.
or his own notion he never could have
done the thing for which he now carefully
laid the train.
Several missionaries, as their wont
was, had written hIm TO provide wives for
them at the first meeting of the confer
ence, and th-re were besides two young
men IN the settlement who had reached
the marTiageable age and we're desir 'us
OF such partners as the lot might appoint
to them. In the proper exercise OF his
power the minister called meeting Of the
conference tor the purpose OF satisfying
these wishes. OF his own determination
he said nothing.
On Thursday morning the elders began
to gather in response to this summons IN
the room at the rear OF the church used
for theii deliberations. 1t was an apart
menC much employed by Mr.. keatOr in
his own work, ami in summer it became
mis- study and he wrote all his sermons III
it. The light flooded 1t through many
generous windows SO deep set in the ma
sorry that the heat abandoned its mis-
sion before it reached tine inter or. In the
spring the lilac AMI syringa bushes, aud
the like simple shrubs nuns their fresh
flowers in at the open easements; and be-
tore the little private door through which
IN summer the gentle mountain bre, u
made free of the room. A monster horse
chestnut from year to year sent forth It's
trembling shoots. declared itself in swOl
len blossom, Swallowed the wall with its
prOdigal foil sge, and dnallY in the autumn
sent 1t down III a shower for the minister
to tramp through. The room was Very
dear to him with it's treasury of assOcia-
tons; and as ne looked about now at thu
walls decorated with portraits of tue de-
voted labOrers for the church in the first
hard years OF its life in America, and AT
the lOng shelves burdened with memorial :
of their sutferings aud cOnquestS he ex-
perienced sudden pang. Fhe hateful
sense of the discordance of the thug he
was about to do all the mild virtue, the
unpretending TigOr, the scOrn If wrong
| which the precious lives OF these men
| had made vocal for all succeeding genera
I lions of the church's ministers mt a
! sharp pain through his heart. Was he
| not sworn Ia maintain the tradition Of
| their stainless purityS The pure benig-
nant Visage of Count Zinzeudorf, tn
| founder OF tue church, loOKe down at
| hin out OF one of tue frames. 1t seemed
| to the minister's guilty fancy that a r.
/ proof contracted his open forehead. the
| firm lips with their trace of sEcrnness APP
/ peared ab1ut TO rebGke him for the dis
! honor he was about to bring upon himself
and the church.
The munster turned away uneasily and
! from his removed seat watched the gath
| ering at the elders; was il possible that
/ on the morrow he might have iOst tue
! right tn sit among these good m n, that
| his flee of guide aud counsellor might
| ne filed by another, that another might
make his own the associations that mad
so long been dearly his, that he might sit
in his room composing admOnitIOns to
! his d eek and taking the scent OF the lilac
| aud syringa in the early spring? tie
! looked AZ Count ZinZ ndort again; he
! seemed tn smile upon him encOuragingiv.
/ He Glanced at the elders; but he did not
need to look long. lie knew how pityles-
/ they could be. 1t was the crucial mo.
/ mrnt-Lhe one reasonable moment al
| which be might have turned back. Bat
| "A suggestion of the deVIl iusinuated itself
| she mad deceived him. She had wantonly
| broken her pledSe-a pledge of Whose
4 value TO him she best new. Tue wills
/ perings OF forgiveness, of self-denial
! which came t. him from habit, he put i'm
| patiently away. What was the residuum
| Of good in the world TO him since she was
| false? Should he be mercItuIY Fl I'd she
/ spared him? Had she not herself urge d
| him to what he was ABOUT to 1t
should mercilessly rebound upon her.
| But in the righteous wrath which sudden
| ~ possessed him he would not suffer her
| TO accomplish this act of which he had
| for the first time full, reckless percep-
| ton of the wickedness. He would d. it
| he alone, John KeatOr-anu because he
wished to do it, not because she command
ed it.
The eldress Of the single sisters came
in at length with her list, and all was
ready. Mr.. KeatOr mDtIOued for silence
and forced himself to kneel down and
pray for a benedictiOn upon the decision
OF the solemn questions they were about
to ask by the lot. Nothing had ever
seemed to him so much like profanity
but, as he went on, the real anguish which
lay beneath whatever sense of the situa-
ton he was able To pretend To himself
translated itself in an hOLest ferVOr OF
p titiOn. AS he knelt there among all the
officers of the church there came over him
with shifting force a feeling of the ire
mendDus consequence of the result and
he prayed for the watchful Providence of
God with his whole soul, and as he had
never prayed before. lie rose with a
calmness in his heart that he had not
known since he had listened TO the wan
dering suggestion OF the dying man at
Little Slab Hollow. He had that sense,
in which the weakness of humanity al
ways finds comfort, of having transferred
the responsibility. He wOuId indeed ask
for the trial Of the lot OF himself. He did
not mean TO shirk that charge, but he sft
the result with God. The eldress came
over and showed him her list. 1t was
briefly embellished with the names of
dozen OF the most discreet members of the
single sisters choir. Mr.. KeatOr pro-
posed the first upon the list, Benlgna
Gardennauer, for the missionary who had
sent from Greenland for a wife. The lot
indicated that she was not acceptable.
The minister who was willing to leave
this delicate question to such an arbitra-
ment was of middle age and had already
been married; IL was therefore thought
best TO select one OF the more sedate sis
tiers. Caroline RiddlemOser occupied a
place near the bottom Of the list, but as
she seemed next to Benigna to most near
" meeJ this requirement Mr.. KeatOr sug-
gested that she be taken in the lot for
Brother Fielder. The decision was affir-
r1aiC uuh n