The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-06-26


ing you has made me bitterly repent.
That is all. l do not presume to ask
you for any thing, not even forgive
ness"
$40 you wish me for a friendP If so
my friendship is yours"
God bless you! 1t is much for you
to give"
She let him take her hand for an in
staff and then turned to enter the
house.
mot yet" he pleaded, ''give me a
moment more. Perhaps in this world
we will never walk thus again"
She took his arm once more and
they walked slowly down the long
veranda. He kept nothing back, did
not seek to p~alliate errors, and was
very manly through it all, but fifteen
years should be enough to teach one
manliness; and as they were parting
she said:
~ " AUS "'
that think kindly of You"
After he was gone she wondered if
she might not perhaps have been too
cold. not kind enough during his con-
f~ession, too unforgiying to his repent
ance and that night in her room sat,
down and wrote him a letter. She
revealed more love in it, perhaps,
than either she intended or Paul had
ever hoped to receive from her.
The next morning as she went down
to mail it she met the charming Mrs.
Osborne. she of the bank account, and
the latter by a slight maneuver de-
tccted the direction of the letter. She
was very good, was Mrs. Osborne that
morning, and on their return to the
hotel followed Helen to her room.
Il have something l must say to
vou," she explained as her reason for
intrusion. for Helen had never been
over cordial with this woman whose
little firtatlons and intrigucs she had
never looked upon with pleasure.
As soon as they We're in Helen's
room Mrs. Osborne began:
.'Oh, Miss Winters, | can not begin, >
and buried her head in her hands,
while Helen wondered vainly why she
tried, as there was no call whatever
for her revelations. But at last, be-
tween dainty little sobs, the weeping
woman told her that onlythe afternoon
before she had been guilty Of am i'm
propricty which was weighing so
heavily upon her mind that she must
east a share of the burden upon som"
one else by revealing it. Perhaps Miss
Winters knew that before she, Mrs.
Osborne, was married, Paul Lyndon
had been her lover, or not exactly her
lover, for she never encouraged him,
but her sutton; and yesterday, early in
the evening, he had met her in the par
lor of the hotel and begged her to de-
cert her husband (whom she loyedD
and flee with him; had even gotten
down upon his knees and kissed her
hand. She did wrong, she knew, in
allowing him to speak to her in that
manner at all, and she could never for
give herself for permitting that last IA
miIiarity. And she could tell of it to
no one but Miss Winters, because of
all the people in that great house she
was the only one Mrs. Osborne could
trust, and besides, she knew Miss VIM
tors knew Paul, and did not favor him,
etc. etc.
Helen gave her very little comfort,
and after a few polite remarks man
aged to dismiss the woman. Not that
the tiirt cared. not she; she had done
her work and was satisfied.
&c had done her work! Yes, and
done il well, for no sooner was Helen
alone than she sat down and wrote a
second note to Paul. In it she made
no explanations, but requested him if
he should by chance, open this second
note before he did the first one, to let
the first remain unread; and if not, to
consider the first as if ii had never been
written.
How time does fly. Notwithstanding
heart-achcs and troubles. Five years
seem a long time TO look ahead to,
with their long stretch of hidden posi-
bIIitic>: and five years are long to look
back to, crowded as they are with
events. changes and deaths. And yet,
nevertheless, how quickly they pass
away. In the first moment of sorrow,
Of dull. heavy heart-pain, to pass them
seems equal to passing eternity. Yet
each year has 50 many seasons, each
season its milestOnes, and each mile
stone marks just about so many days
and each day has but t%wenty-four
hours, all told. And somehow they
all pass away, and pass away quickly,
too.
Five years! With Helen they sped
quietly by, much as other years had,
though some days did seem to drag
terribly. She had her lovers, of course,
hut they for some reason all went away