The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-04-28
BY LOVE RECALLED.

BY LOVE RECALLED.
Il am giving YOU a treasure. my son.
Why do you hesitate? Surely YOU have
no other love?"
The sick man lifted himself on his pill
low and looked eagerly, fearfully. in
the face above him.
1t was a naughty Vet frank counts-
nance-a face which mingled strength
of will with pride. and tenderness with
truth, Yet had enough poetic fire in il 10
| make the request his father made of
| Clarence Livingstone very hard one
for him To grant
For Elmar Livingstone. diving. re-
membered the wrongs done bv him in
the days of nature and. recalling a
| lucky venture. which 10y enriching him
had be@gared another asked his son 10
/ take that others orphan daughter for
| his wife
| Clarence knew nothing of the hour nf
temptation which saw his fathers fall -
| knew of no reason more powerful than
| Christian charity which had induced his
father To adopt the penniless girl when
she was left alone in the world; and.
| full of fair dreams for his future he
| shrank from a marriage with one whom
| he had rarely seen. in his years Of study
| and travel. and who was in him only \
| shy, awkward child-no more
Il have no love-" he answered
why do YOU ask this of me. dear
father? Make any provisions YOU wish
for Miss Munroe: dover her as richly aS
you choose; but leave her, as pray YOU
| TO leave me free. | have no love for
her, nor she for me; We are strangers
Let Us remain So, lest in mating US as
you would, YOU do both lives injury
''Stoep down. Clarence. She loves
you. YOU have been her hero, her idol.
for years. l have fostered her idolatrv.
for ] have wished TO atone for the wrong
did her; and there is but one way-to
mskc her the wife of my only son. NV
boy. YOU will not refuse 10 make my last
hour easier9'
Father would purchase your peace
with my life. were it possible. But there
is surely some other way than this. and
| will find IT, What is the wrong of
which YOU speak? | must know it.
since | am To atone; and trust me, my
father. though it take my life. will not
fail To make the atoncment complete
one"
There is no other way. moancd the
sick man; ''and since YOU bid me unseal
my lips. will tell YOU how | gained my
wealth, and planted my life with aloeS
of remorse. my son. Ny cordial The
story Is not long. but very hard to tell
very hard, my boy for il will make you
blush for your father
And. while the summer night closed
IN grey and spectral Clarence Living
stone, listening to his fathers story. of a
crcdulou> friend betrayed. and wealth
snatched from toO-trtisting hand, bent
his young head in humiliation wholly
new and wholly intolerablc To him.
Without. in the clustering shadows Of
the ycrandah. dro ping Ike lily On on
It's stem. stood Lena Munroc. drinking
in the tale. with pulses beating as
strongly a. those in the breast of her
Clarence, in her own gIrlish bosom pain
aS keen. regret a. bitter; for she had
loved Elmar Livingston a. second
father. and felt the sin of the dying as
keenlv as the wrong done the dead.
Besides, another pang WAS hers
for Clarence had begged his father not
TO ask him To be more than a stranger
to her!
The story was told, and the old man
lay painting on his pillows, his face
damp with dews of coming death; and
the girl, peering into the chamber with
wide pain-darkencd eyes. saw Clarence
on his knees beside the couch
Forgive me, my son; did the
wrong for you. came hoarSely to her
from the drawn lips Of the dying.
Make her Your wife. and all will be
well. She has grown dear 10 me rs 4
daughter; and, my boy. she loves youi'
A hot flush crept into her face at the
low broken words, but it died instantly,
for Clarence was replying. and she bert
her face to her hands as She listened
''She may be all YOU say. came in
the clear tones of the young man: but
she is no more to me than a flower
which have no wish to gather. If she
| loves me it is with 4 childish love. which
will net linger. Rest content. father,
she shall not suffer through your-your
regard for me. | will give back all the
| ill-gotten wealth. But | will keep my
| freedom; | cannot sell ii, father
''What do YOU ncan9
That | will make over to Miss Mum
| roe every acre that YOU leave me-every
| farthing that is due her. Nay, not one
dissenting word. a. the old man stroye
| to speak. Let me keep my honesty,
| and make my own way with clean
| hands. if empty ones. | would not offer
my hand 10 your ward now. even though
| | loved her. which do not.
Clarence, my SON.,
Father say no more, but trust to
me: now YOU shall sleep
/ ,rf,l no Eara bxr b1t-had EobE
turned from the silvery night, and
| olided into the house like shadow.
Ere morning dawned, the soul of E.
| mar Livingston had gone where human
eve could not follow its flight, free of the
clogging clay, to its judgment
And, as untraceable. it would seem,
as the spirit of the man who had
| wronred her. vet guarded her youth,
Lena Munroe had also gone with the
night, leaving no token behind her, bid
ding no farewell
Six wears later the accident occurred
| on the midnight train which filled the
| hospital of c. with moaning life, OF
crushed and shapelcss bodies, in which
was left scarcely strength to sigh.
The nurses went from pallet to pallet
holding bandages, aiding TO bind uI
great gaping wounds. shrinking from
the sight of severed arms. bat putting
personal feeling away before the great
needs that met them.
One nurse. with sweet blue eyes, tend
er and pitiful. gave a low cry at last, al
the surgeon whose assistant she wa
paused beside cot on which a young
man Law unconscious.
You know him?" the surgeon asked
her, regarding her blanched face Gu
riously.
| She bent her head in silence, sol
bursting from her lips.
Half an hour later. he lay there uIpdel
her eyes, cold and still. with strips o
linen across his bosom. a broken, ban
daged arm, and court-plasteT holding
together the red edges of cash tina
ran perilously near the temple, and sh
knelt beside the cot. with an ashcn pail
in her young face. a she stroked bacl
the hair from his forehead.
AFTER six years. she whispered soft
Iy. ..Oh. nv love. after six years, dun
inc which have striven 70 forget YOU
face, to see it 80 cold and white, Bu
you shall be more tenderly cared 70
than though you had sister near you
and when YOU are well enough to kno,
me. we part again.
For the crushed and wounded ma
was Clarence Livingston. the kneelins
nurse the girl TO whom he had refused
his diving father to make offer of hi
hand-Lena Munroe.
Long days and nights followed eacl
other, and Clarence walked up from
; stupor to mad delirium. in which b,
} told his patient nurse all of which sh,
already knew, and much besides-tol,
} her of the wealth he had vowed neve
to touch. living in his solicitors hand