The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-02-12


"No. I have had no confidence from
Sue, Laurence; she is too maidenly to as
sumo your love unless you had spoken it.
Only a woman reads a woman's heart. !
guess what ! have told you"
81 will think of it,
Very gravely, with a serious sense of the
responsibility of his task, Laurence Hal
stead thought of his mothers words.
The result was a letter to Sue, offering her
his hand-a manly letter, promising her
all happiness it was his to give her as his
wife, but not a lovers letter.
But in the light of her own love it SEEM
ed to want nothing to Sue. He would
come for her answer i'll the evening, he
said, and her heart was full of pure, trust
ing happiness as she awaited him. For,
in spite of her merry nature, Sue had a
true, earnest heart, full of tenderness; and
all her love was given to the grave, re-
served man who had asked her to be his
wife.
1t chilled her a little when he came, that
he asked her to hear him in a few minutes,
before she answered his letter.
81 wrote to you,' he said, in a grave
voice that was habitual to him, asking if
you could love me well enough to be my
wife, and yet, Susan, | feel that | must
make a confession before | hear your an
swer. | will give you, | trust, a tender,
true love, if you can marry me, but I can
not deceive you, by letting you think you
are the first love of my heart. | would
spare you the story, but as my wife you
will be sure to hear of it..
a hand of ice seemed to be grasping
Sues heart, but she waited, pale and silent,
for what was to follow.
.sYou have met Adela I~Iaincs, my sec
ond cousin, have you not? Laurence
asked.
mo; | was away when she visited your
mother"
ssThree years ago she was my promised
wife. did not write to my mother, sure
of her consent, and wishing to give her a
happy surprise on my return home. a
year ago, when | was on my way here, |
~purposed going to Baltimore, urging Adela
to again visit my mother, and announcing
our engagement. But in Washington l
met a friend | had not seen for years, and
in Il exchange of condolences | found
Adela had given the love | believed mine
to him. could have frankly forgiven her
if she had frankly confessed to me that
the love had owned had strayed away
from me; but she wrote to me as if her
heart was still all mine, knowing every
line a falsehood. She had seemed to me
all gentle purity, modesty and sweetness; but
by her falsehood she tore away the mask
she had worn for me, and | saw her for
ward, bold and unmaidenly. 1t was bit
ter waking, Sue, for l had given her a
strong mans first love-
''But might there not have been some
mistake ~ said Sue, forgetting herself in
the sight Of Laurence's anguish.
s'Sue, | will tell you all. Adela, my be-
trothed wife-a girl believed all modcsty
had seen in c., a young man, my
IN 60 l. tbttt Nobf 80 iipNAth'bAANs
b~rainlcss fellow, of wealth. She had
written to him in a carefully disguised
hand, such letters as no modest girl could
have written to a stranger, signed in a
fictitious name; but-Sue, will scarcely be-
lieve mc-she had actually inclosed her
photograph to such a fellow as Ned
Hazard, for him to parade among his
c%ronios, and display as his last conquest"
White as death, Sue turned her face aside;
but Laurence, unheeding her agitation,
said:
"In my own breast in a locket | wore
also that photograh, believing it had been
taken for me only, during Adela's visit to
my mother. | abandoned my trip to Bal
timore, and wrote to Adela. | told her
she might nave been free before, had she
but frankly told me her love was no longer
mine, and l inclosed the locket in my
farewell. Now, Sue, you know all, how
the love | bring you has been one woman's
plaything, but if it may rest IN yours it
shall be faithful TO you only"
There was a long silence in the room
after Laurence ceased speaking. Believ-
ing that Sue was hcsitating to answer him
after his confidence. Laurence waited
patiently, while Sue fought a fierce mem
tai battle. She loved him. He offered her
his hand, and a love she felt sure she
could make as true and enduring as the
first one her hand had ignorantly wrested
from him. But it would entail a lifetime
of deceit, a theft of another woman's hap
piness, and, it might be, III exposure that
would win her Laurence's contempt for
life.
Laurence she said in a choked voice,
IF Adela were true to you, would it make
you happy?"
lit is scarcely worth while to talk of
what is past now, Sue, he sad gently,
please answer my question:" she
pleaded.
Il have told you | loved her, he an
swered.
"And she loves you. She never wrote
the letters to Ned Hazard, Laurence
never sent him her picture"
GLOW do you know that -
because | wrote them. | sent the pic