Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-12-30
AMONG The LAVENDER.
+ CONCLUDED.


ing to smooth ont thu lines Of care and
thought, and to give her back the gut OF
youth for the moment.
II Suppose not; neither could 1; bat, for
AL that, when he told me-wheh ne asked
me to be his wife, said 1t could not be. "
"You tramplsd on your own heTt-snd
bis?"
'SYss,n she said, quietly. Three times
oysr-and tbeu-hs went" Then came
heavy, ioEg-3rswu sigh.
I expect that had been bad time to
ST told bia that the difference was too
great; that time would b!irg it out. That
Sor ms 10 marry him would be o mistake"
'IHs did 70: be isve your"
ono. not at the time; but he might
have come 10 do So was right 20 decide
IsSI did,
''Pexhapi yau were"
had TO make this admission because
he was so true herself you could not even
spuiyoeate 10 her; but l made it unwiu-
inEly.
"But then, you Sea, things changed.
Mr.. Allardycs, you have been so coed to
Ms: Won have grown 80 dear TO both Of Us;
Won seem so like an old, old friend that
should like 20 tell you the rest; but it is so
hard to tell"
kept silence; I knew thai, Just then,
any words would hurt her more than
none.
''Some time after, when be and ssem-
ed 10 have driftei quite apart, l met q
man who knew him. and he told me
what you have seen"
EarhoA Pm khraa hlinS9f1
s'Yss: that ooe quite understood the
case-they don't now, you know-he had
thote teIrib!s attacks Of pain, and grad
ually bis sight went; first grew misty,
then more DIN, then dark. Il was terri
BILE t. me 20 hsar il. It seemed too piteous
To BE- borne. Bat SOME of us can do othsr
than lie down under the iuayitsbie--hght-
ing is no use. I thought offer 1t all,
prayed, wrestTed with myself, and then
I--Asent 10 him"
Oncs more the warm color rose TO the
yary ripplss of her hair. Deeper this time
was thai rosy food Of beautiful shame than
befo-a. We were both silent awhile. This
river, gGnting IN the evening SUZANNE,
was smooth as glass in the still air; the tail
spesrJ Of the Pur pie lcoseatrite, mlrroIed
In the water, scarcely stirTed-the current
was so still. Now snd then bindy cot
slid ont from tne csisr5 and darted across
to the reeds on the opposite bank, or red
brown water rat set SAIL from his hole On
one bank TO that Of friend on the other.
A thrush laughed in the tree, and nimsle
little cole tit ran tEittering up the bole
of a Willo6.
How fair, how beautiful it all was-iu
such strange contrast 10 t6e blightej,
broken lie OF the man whose story / han
lust heard II was my companion who
broke the lOog silence:
'1Sc, after all, ours was what We call
here an Ann Hathaway courtship.' You
see, in the AIidlandt, where every flower
aud cd custom seems culed from
Shaksspeare'4 pages-rShich is another
way OF saying thai his hand gathered
and set them thsre-every one is IA
milisr with his life and sayings,
90 may say that, Ike hiw, my
theory and my practice are at varience. He
said tie woman ehould take an eker than
herself yet ma. ried Ann Hathaway. /
said the same-7st married Malccm afSsr
an. We'll. wCll'-this with q passing
sweet smile-"though my hair i3 turning
SO white, to him it is always the same. 1t
feels the same to his hand now, as the first
time ne eyeS smoGthed it down-it will al
WAYS seem the same; and, indeed, ne Will
MOI believe me when l lel him 1t is lined
so thick VITA gray"
We wandeIe1 long by the river, and
through the wood, talking Of all things IN
heaven and earth, o that when we reached
the farm the g,o1misg had fallen like 8
val over Everything, and faint mist,
snow-White, stretched o1t the course OF
the river.
There at the gate stood Malcolm.
at heard your footsteps ever 50 far Cff,
he.sssa,smiliug Il am like the bats
- fond Of the slOamipg, ycu see" he added,
taruinz to ms with slfs laugh, sit suits
my eyes,
Tnen We all three went in together; but
he took nv arm this Cnce, because was
going in the morning. So the long, white
hand, with It's bl0Od-red Iing, lay sg'inst
my sleeve, and somehow on my long jour
ney next day the meaning Of Il haunted
me-.
Altar all we are very like straws or
fallsn leaves on river-drifted here and
there BY the wind and stream Of circum-
stances
wrote 10 my good friends at Orcnsrd
Farm; they, or rather Margaret, wrote to
me. The Influence Of her pure, sweet ma
ture left me NOT, showing itself in deeper
sa;nestnsss of life, N higher aim Of hfs.
We even planpe1--in writing another
holiday for me among the lavender when
the SIMMER should come again.
And then family affairs Of my own took
re abroad. travelled f4r, and from place
to place. Ny name and Iaias as writer
were gro wing everywhere. had . warn
iFeleome; and 50 came spring and grew TO
simmer, and summer ripere1 to sutumG,
and palsd again to winter, and still was 3
Wanderer. But with summer, like the sYal.
lows, ] came back to England-to the hum
ard stir and dear delightful sense Of life
thaf only Lo1don gives one.
Ms sister was at my rooms to greet me,
and hsd slgthiugs fair sId sweet set out to
w-lcoms me.
II an so glad you. like the laysn-
~ che said. i bought it Of poor,
sst-Iooki1g girl in the street to-day. l
,Ionshf all che hsd.
A. TAera IL stood, = miniature grove of
h1ue gay spears, set in wide china bowl,
and It's faint, puBgens scent filed all the
foon
WY. S,evie, " said my sister, suddenly,
t'teW strange you look! After all, par
-, you don't like the spell Of lavender"
Lid Pot answer.
Eaas sitting before q pile of letters,
p1cois what no.?-all waiting to be
......,s1s ta..d fhara anony fha raaf SOW n