Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1886-12-03
A HASTY JUDGMENT.
BY MRS. CHARLOTTE NJ. STANLEY.

BY MRS. CHARLOTTE NJ. suANLBY,
Your jealousy is unreasonable and
absurd! / have done nothing TO de-
serve cold looks and insulting speeches
May Elliot 10 an old friend, to
whom I am bound"
"Yes; more strongly and tenderly
than you care TO acknowledge To me.
But you can deceive me no longer, sir,
however you may hoodwink her.
What your motive may have been in
playing fast and loose with two
women, do not know-neither do /
care TO Inquire. Your game is ended,
however; by the merest chance the
truth has been revealed To me. know
that you are engaged to marry May"
Frank Ellerslie started, surprise
his anger.
"You know It'll How do you know
this, prsyP"
"By common report" Grace Selden
answered passionately. "Last night,
OF Mrs. Maldon's party, / heard it
talked Of openly. The heiress, Miss
Elliot, had returned home, and was
" marry Frank Ellersliep Did l
say, just now, that I did not under
stand your motive? l wronged my
own common sense. understand
you very well; ! take you for that
most contemplate of creatures, q for
tune-hunterl You wooed mel am
not rich, certainly, but neither am l
penniless-and begged me to keep our
engagement q secret for awhile; then
You rushed off to WOO the heiress.
Failing with her, you had nae and my
little dover in reserve; succeeding
with her, you relied upon my indigna-
ton to set you free at once And YOU
judged me rightly, sir; l desplse my
self even more than you, when think
] ever stopped TO love you; and rest
assured do not envy Miss Elliot her
prizel You are tree"-and / arose,
and swept proudly to the door-''and
although we shall be under the neces-
sity OF meeting in public occasionally,
l desire that, except before the outside
world, we may be strangersp'
hhu WIN tuht Luduc Ulul one
grand, naughty bow, and sailed out OF
the room and away up to my own
where locked the door, and sat down
with my wounded love and pride, and
raging temper, and felt that my lite
was spoiled, and my heart was broken
Oh, the misery Of not only losing
the object of my love, but realizing
that that object was unworthy / had
thought him so good, so noble, 80 su.
perior 10 the rest of mankind; / know
not now which was the keenest pang,
to think OF him as worthless, or tc
think of him as losti
There was no mistake about il,
either, l had made sure of that. The
gossip at Mrs. Maldon's had been cir.
cumstantial enough, but l had not re-
lied upon that wholly: meeting the
housekeeper from the Willows, Miss
Elliot's residence, that very morning,
i had asked her about the report.
Eyes" she said. at was true
enough, Miss May would be married
in the fall" she heard, ITO Mr.. Franz
Ellerslie. 1t was not a recent engage
ment," she believed, though it had
been kept secret"
And then she was going ON to tel
me more, all the gossip about the ap
preaching wedding, no doubt, but
couldn't bear it; cut her story short
and left her abruptly enough.
Left her, and went home again u
grieve, my doubts and fears confirmed
beyond all hope of escape from them
Frank wac false; worse, he was base
and mercenary; my trust had been be
trayed, my idol was shattered
Three weeks ago, only three week.
since he left me, to see about some
business, which he said referred to oul
marriage, and he begged me to keeI
our engagement profound secre
until his return. expected that re-
turn to-day.
Would he come? Would he hav,
the effrontery TO present himself, mo-
dreaming that his treachery was dis
coveredp Yes, in the afternoon b,
came.
l dressed TO receive him; i locke,
my stateliest and best. l was ia
handsomer woman than May Elliot;
knew that, at least.
He held out his arms to me as en-
tered the room, his dark, handsome
face all aglow. All, why had | heard
that dreadful story last night? WHY
couldn't have been clasped in hi
arms once more, before l found hi
talseness outl
That was the lament of my sou
after l had left him, as l tore off the
dress and ornaments in which hsl
made myself beautiful TO receive him
hated the finery. My heart wal
crying, crying for its lost love; sack
cloth and ashes seemed my fittest raj
ment now.
Suddenly a thought came to met
thought that spurred me into instan,
action.
May Elliot and I had been school
mates-intimate friends. She was 6
genial, afectionate creature, and, wheI
she found / did not call on her, would
come TO me and tell me of her ap
proa ching marriage.
cOulu not nave ~ 30. icit tHat II
would kill me.
So, In hot haste, acting ON the i'm
pulse of the moment, l packed Q
trunk, ordered carriage, sent tele
gram to Aun:ie Gray in Philadelphia
to say that l was coming, and started
of, calling at papa's office to notify
him of my intentions on the way.
The visit had been long promised,
and did not much surprise papa, though
he did think l flew away rather sud.
denly. As l had not told him of my
engagement before, l kept my own
counsel now.
And so l put miles between myself
and my false love-still, still too dear
calling all my pride to aid me TO for