Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-07-31

N"'J Wy uui, III Ai'VVtOl hOW ulcICl-
lessly:
"Well, like as not they'll make a
match of it. Birds of a feather flock
together"
Supper was over, cleared away, and
all the dishes washed, but still Ralph
Calender did not come. AS it grew
dark, Mr.. Wood strolled off to chat
with the neighbors, and Aunt Dorcas,
putting on her bonnet and black silk
shawl, went to the weekly prayer
meeting. Rhetta, left free from COM
ment, went up into her little garden,
and leaned against the plum tree,
with strange dull pain gnawing at
her heart. 1t seemed like days
and weeks since Ralph drove away
with smiling, pretty Rose Porter.
And she herself had begun to think
of him as somehow her own. That
very morning, under that very tree,
there had been in his looks and in
his tones touches of tenderness that
had filled her heart with subtle hap
piness. But now it was all over; in
an instant she had lost him. Rose
Porter had taken him away, and
though he might come back, he would
never, never bethesame Ralph again.
She felt a girlish certainty of that.
The little bright dream was over.
At first she did not blame Rose.
Very probably she had loved him
two years ago, and had been infu-
enced to give him up on account of
his poverty, and now, regretting the
step, had come to reclaim him.
"Well, I can take my turn, and
give him up too," thought Rhetta,
with great hot tears springing to her
eyes. "Only Ican never drive after
him and bring him back in phae-
ton"
And at that she threw herself upon
the dewy grass and wept unrestrain-
edly. She was too young to be capa-
bic of the terrible, fearless sorrow
with which an older woman may
meet bereavement and heart-break.
She only knew that everything had
changed since morning, that Ralph
had gone away, that she was very,
very wretched, and that no one must
know of it.
The fire-flies flashed in the grass,
the flowers were heavy with dew,
the air was full of the fragrance of
mignonettee, heliotrope, and roses,
but Rhetta did not heed them. She
only felt that night was kind to make
such darkness and solitude in the gar
den that no one could see her or hear
her, poor miserable little Rhetta
Wood, crying for lost happiness
that had really never been hers. And
now it seemed to her that Rose was
cruel, from the midst of her wealth,
luxury, and dozens of lovers, to come
swooping down upon this one chance
of bliss in a lifetime. For Rhetta
was sure that in all the years to come
she should never, never marry. That
, was all over from this time forth.
The crickets hummed about her,
the night moths brushed by her I'M
needed the moon rose, but she did
not know it. She was thinking how
, she should live all her life long in the
r little old house. After while hel
, Aunt Dorcas would die, and she
I would be left alone with her father
r Then after awhile he too would die
: and she would live on there, an old
e lonely woman.
/ From this reverie she was aroused
: by the stopping OF wheels, and cheer
: full voices at the gate.
t "Rhetta! Rhetta !" shouted some
O body, in joyous, manly tones.
d She rose to her feet in the moon
e light, bewildered and uncer ain. Wa
Il she dreaming, or YVES it Ralph reall,
O calling her?
t "Rhetta, is that you under tn
v plum tree? Come here for a momen
It to the gate"
Yes, that was Ralph calling hel
Y With girlish celebrity she smoothe,
k back her disordered hair, and ran t
a the gate. There he stoed, his arm
t, filled with flowers, which he loade,
d upon her, while Col. Porter's coach
T. man, who had brought him home
was almost staggering under tn
IF weight of an immense basket, full c
IL bloom and fragrance, which he mad
haste to deposit on the garden walk
1t "Everything is here" said Ralph
gayly-"the geraniums, the day lilie'