The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-12-31

"No, | never heard it, she answer
ed. "But if he should choose to pre-
sent himself after shall have disposed
of the money, the matter would take I
rather complex turn for him, l fancy.
"How can YOU dispose of it7-hov
would you y he asked, ,uneasily.
"Oh, | might endow an asylum will
It, suppose she said, half seriously
cor ! might found home for working
girls or establish fund ror elevatine
amusemeuts. Only where would b,
the use attempting the philanthropic
the ones desire to benefit woult
not be the ones to rush for the aovan
tages the deserving are not they wht
avail themselves of gratuities."
"The most sensible thing you car
do will be to invest the money in al
elegant little home for Yourself aud de
vote the remainder of Your life to east
ard contentment," Mr.. Ambrose com
mented, bluntly.
81 am satisfied as | am she return
ed, with lingering glance about her
humbly cosy apartment, where every
article of use or adornment seemed bu
an endearing memento of some tri
umph over adverse circumstances. 81
have neither heart nor courage for new
experiences amongsnew faces sand new
ways of IT, hiking and acting. II
would be but the old lesson over again
with perhaps more painful variations.
"Would it be painful to learn some
thing of the worlds diversions and
pleasures 7" he queried, gently.
"My knowledge is already more THAI
sufficient" she declared with laugh
full of music, but sad as the sound of
tears. at Is to eat and dress, walk
and speak by rule and measure it is to
dance at mid hight and be i'll in the
mot ming; it is to sit in the pew of a
fashionable church and let somebody
take an exact valuation of your cos
tune; it is to be stabbed to the heart
by cruelest words politely uttered, to
be frozen by well bred smile, TO be
crushed by shrug. At least those
were the observations / made while /
CHANGED upon time to sip from the
cup the world calls pleasure; the sip
cloyed, l want no more"
For few minutes both were silent,
the girl bending over the little table
where she painted the exquisite trifles
of decorative work which was begin
ming to yield her more fattering
appreciation than the monetary recon-
pense. Her face was slightly averted,
and fascinating face it was, too, de.
spite the pallor of the daintily cut fea-
lures, despite the shadows of pain in
The soft, large, gray eyes and the satir-
c curve of the firm, crimson mouth.
And despite the look of satiric pride,
It was face all womanly and''n less
,ender than strong.
Harvey Ambrose, unconsciously
watching her, felt more than pity stir
ing in his heart. How grand she was
n her lonely independence. in her
proud reliance upon her own tender
girl strength, in her quick, incisive
corn of anything petty or base
Emily he began so abruptly that
he curling black fringes OF the soft
gray eyes fared wide open in surprised
; emily there is still sor-
'ow of which you have no knowledge
there is still happiness beyond
What you may have comprehended
The happiness is that of loving one
whose heart will never give back throb
or throb the passion of our own.
And such sorrow seems foreshadow-
ID for me, Emily for unless you be-
'ome my wife, shall go wifeless to
ny grave. Why will you let the past
larken all your life-wty will you not
earn to care for met you must trust
ne; you cannot suspect me of anything
you knew ! loved you and
ought you for my own long before
his fortune became yours"
'Do not ask me 20 trust you or any
'ody," she cried impetuously, her swift
agitation crimsoning each pale cheek
md kindling like flame in her large
oft eyes. "My friends l take as they
ire; if their friendship is less than
thew fail me sometimes, |
,ave schooled myself to stifle the pang
3ut of one nearer and deared / should
Expect a fidelity, more than is human
# humanity, as have learned it. With
NJ, to love much would be to fear
much, and my faith in mankind perish
ID long ago, Harvey"
"You thinn so, perhaps he returned
yravely- "But it is not possible that you
who are so all noble, who have con.
Iuered your own fate and yourself,
would yield to a foolish weakness to
listrust the loyalty of the man you
owed. The true will find truth in
his sad old world, EN- lily tho faithful
will find fidelity
"It is not for me to find either" she
answered bitterly, her tears pouring
ike rain over her burning cheeks. 81
must go my way alone and lonely to
he end. And yet would gladly bar
.er all the years to come for one mo-
nent of a blessed belief in the un-
,hangeable truth of which / have
lreamed"
'You are closer to that blessed mo-
nent now than you may guess, Emily,
t l judge this agitation arieht,' he
'aid, very gently and indulgently, as
ne kissed her soothingly as a brother
night have done upon her forehead,
md 80 left her TO herself.
And in another sense than that of
he meaning he had meant his words
% convey. Emily was indeed closer to
,he blessed moment than she guessed.
Sometime later in the day, she was
eaving an art gallery which was one
Of her favorite resorts, when she per-
ceived that the threatening clouds of
The morning had begun to sift down
an uncommonly piercing and persistent
sleet To walk home over the icy
pavements was not to be contemplated
for an instant, and she hailed an empty
cab which just then she espied halting
on an opposite curb, and in a moment
more she was bowling snugly down
the street.
At the crossing of one of the crowd.
ed avenues jam of vehicles checked
their progress for a second. Emily
had only time to note how alarminoly v