The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-05-01

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hair.
81 hope you are not mistaken, ma
ma," she said, despondently. "But
you must own yourself, that he is
very slow in speaking il, indeed he
really has anything to say, l sometimes
think that it was Genevieve whom no
loved" she added, trying to speak as
indifferently as she cou Il.
"Genevieve A mere uniformed
child, and dependant on my kindness
to boot!" said Mrs Wardroper, half
angrily. "What next, Isabel? Why,
he scarcely spoke to her the last time
they met. 1t was at Mrs. Hunters ball.
1 happened to be Watching him at the
moment. He went up to her quite
eagerly as soon MS he saw her enter the
rooms, and then his face changed he
looked at her coldly, and barely spoke.
1t was almost rude, if such n man could
be guilty OF rudeness. And l thought
Genevieve felt it, poor girl. She
colored to her eyes, and watched him
over her fan as he walked away, with
quite heart-broken look. And, to my
certain knowledge, she never met him
again, for he sailed the next week, for
Europe. Genevieve may have been in
love with him-I don't say no. A hand
some, attractive man, and she a young
girl full of romance--it would be moth
1pe ct~ p,,f ha ,nt -,
with her, my dear-you may take my
word for that. And that is all you have
to consider in the matter you know"
Isabel listened in silence to this we'll
meant attempt at consolation. She felt
utterly small, mean, and contemplate,
as matter of course but she had now
gone too far to recede.
That evening Isabel sat alone in her
boudoir, elegantly dressed, with book
in her hand, while she did not even pre-
tend to read. Eager expectancy shown
from her eyes as Capt. Joyce was
ushered into the ROOM
He saw it and his heart smote him.
He had been going on idly, trying to
forget the heart wound that he had
received, in Isabel's pleasant society.
While she, deeming him i'll earnest all
the while, had evidently given him her
heart
"Why could not Genevieve have been
as affectionate as gentle, rs susceptible
to hndness?' thought he with kind of
groan.
And then, because the wound still
burned and throbbed at the thought of
that once beloved name, and because he
was angry with himself, and almost
ashamed of the rare capacity for con-
stancy with which he was endowed, had
determined to put himself beyond the
spell OF those memories forever, and SO
said to Isabel the words that she had
been so longing to hear,
But even in thus repudiating the past,
its blissfulness and its pain, he was
namely and true, and said to her,
81 will speak plainly once for all,
Isabel, because no such secret as this
ought to exist between us, if you become
my wife. must tell you the truth.
loved your Cousin Genevieve dearly
I fear 1 love her yet left America
because she tacitly refused me, by
refusing to give me pledge of her affec-
ton that I asked. But long to forget
her, Isabel, long and pray to do so.
If ,,o,, ora ,,,;1l;ps, 70 ba1, mo do fiji, l,a
my wife. I will be a true and loyal
husband to you my dear, and from the
moment when you accept me, l will
never mention her name again in your
presence and with you to brighten my
home, l have no doubt that I shall soon
be able to Danish her image from my
heart Are you willing to take me on
such terms? Look up and tell me,
Isabel, and be as sincere with me as l
have been with you, my dearest girl"
Sincere. How he would have stared
at her in utter wonder, if she had dared
to utter one tithe of the tumultuous
thoughts that were surging and boiling
in her undisciplined heart.
At that moment she felt that she
hated him, and that no power on earth
was strong enough to induce her to
become his wife. But then came the
thought of her mothers genteel penury
and fastfailing health. During her
mothers life, if she refused this offer,
they must both endure semi-martyr-
dom, in order to keep their proper place
in society And after death, the annuity
expired, leaving Isabel alone in the
world, without a penny or friend.
at is my business to marry. My
feelings have nothing to do with tn,
matter she thought, swallowing dowI
her angerand her pride,
And that same evening, before sh,
retired, she gladdened her mother
heart by flashing before her eyes tn,
magnificent diamond which was Capt
Joyce's gift as an engagement ring.
Six years after the news of her Cousin
Isabel's marriage to Victor Joyce haC
reached and saddened Genevieve Glare
she sat in her country home alone, on,
evening in the beginning of spring
Poverty Genevieve had known since tn
death of her parents, The bitter lessor
of dependence had been taught her dur
ing the last months of her stay in he
Aunt Wardroper's house and love
which should have cheered and soothet
her through all her trials and bereave
ments, had been the deepest traitor o
the whole
Genevieve no longer wondered VIII,
people called the world an unhapp,
place to live in. 1t had proved so to hei
and ut times she had felt that she woul
gladly lay down the burden of existence
We're it not II sin.
But the years passed ON. Strength t
bear and to suffer came to her b
degrees; and then gradually the suffer
ing itself changed mellowed, softened
till at last she was scarcely consciou
that it was there,
On this evening she sat by warm fir
in the tiny house which her ow
industry had won, and thought great
fully that at last she might call herse
at rest, at peace
A jingle of sleigh-bells sounded ou