Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-11-20
NOBODY'S ENEMY.
BY c. Il. c.

him, when as chlld IN he' arms
his innocent eyes smiled back into
her own, giving love for love; and
with the PRAYER on her lips that her
Dieudonne might meet her in
the presence of her God and his,
she went early hOme-her soul as
untouched by sin as the white soul
of the little babe on whose uncon-
scious face her last tears fell.
How often in the after years the
boy longed for the mother he had
never known, pressing his lips to
her portrait with a heart breaking
yearning for the touch of mother
lips his brow had only felt before
the soul of MIN awoke. In the
still watches of the night he had
held communion with her, feeling
her presence with him-himself
drawn nearer to God through his
longing to be with her. How often
in the recklessness of his man.
hoods wasted years, he thought
with an agony Of remorse and de-
spair of the innocent child whose
stainless soul was as far removed
from his as the inviolate skies from
the black abyss into which he had
fallen
lie had been left alone so young
If he had only had strong, yet
loving guide in his early youth, he
felt that life would have been so
different. But his father had Civ
en- up without a struggle to the
blow which struck him in the death
of his young wife.
Never were there men like the
DanesiOrds for loving and hating,
was a proverb in the country and
surely the poor lad was no eXcep-
ton to the rule. He had stood
half dazed beside the open vault
and had seen his father given up
to the eternal silence with pas
sion of tears and longing to be at
rest beside the only two who loved
him-alas, for him in the after
years that he had longed in vain.
Still life swept by most happily;
for, given rank and wealth, all the
other good things of earth lay new
er far behind. From school to col
lege, from college into society, from
boyhood to manhood-quick work,
a brief dream of happiness, and
| then-the awakening.
There was one thing only lack
ing; where lives the man who has
not known at one time the need of
Hfe's supremest goodl Even Eden
must have been more beautiful in
Adams eyes after they had looked
upon the face of Eve. SO in its
appointed time Guy Danesford's
fate came to him-and he lived.
She was fair woman the Dan
esfords loved beauty-and, as he
learned when it was too late, 1t
was the velvet. sOftness of dark
ewes, the sunny warmth of golden
hair that had held him captive.
SO for a little while, he lived in
a FOOLS paradise and then, as he
said afterwards, trod the lowest
depths of a despair such as he
looked upon who, in life, passed
through hell.
There came, Of course, the usual
chorus from friends, who sympa-
thized from safe stand point, and
from enlmies, who exulted in his
despair. He had been so sure OF
her truth-there lay the sting; if
he had ever doubted her, he could
have borne it better; but he had
placed her by the side of his SAINT
liest memory, and the awakening
was worse than the agony of death.
He went mad-Of this there
could be no doubt, for his actions
were marked by an uDbridled ex-
travagance no one had ever before
observed in him. He left Eng
land, and passed in rapid success
sion from one gay continental capt.
tai to the other, leaving behind
him always reputation as black
as his soul had become. Then
new humOr seized him-he had run
away Ikea whipped schOOl.boy
{ he would 90 home and so prove to
the world that his brief madness
was over. SO he returned to Eng
land and settled down in his prop
er place as Lord of the manor OF
Danesford, and dispenser of the
Danesford bOunties.
Until one day-it was only q
ride to hounds, but she was there
with her husband, cold, proud, in
solently lovely-sOme said that heI
ouondam lover was not the only
sufferer, that she had reckoned
without her host, ignorant of the
Danesford pride, and only, though
a fair woman's confidence in her
self, desirous of testing her power
What happened no one clearly
understood, but the gossips sale
afterwards that she called him by
his name with a few smiling words
p as though they had been nothing
o more than the best of good com
rades. Though no one knew tb'
reason, all the world knew the af
ter scene. The old Manor Hous'
was closed, the townhouse given
up to the care of the watchman
oo1 Tho counfv in which he haf