The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1889-09-14


ne w1na sweeps down from rne mis- and
whirls the snow into miniature noun
| and valleys out there In the front lawn,
where last summer she stood so wrought
IN with sorrowful vengeance among the
lilies Would she ever have suchsa sad
countenance again as on that day s 4 did
not know Would she ever almost hiss
spitefully through her pSsray teeth that she
hated her home her Heatherlei gh home?
Most likely, if / should be foolish enough
to breach the subject again. Bull Will not;
I have more sense now.
"a rustic of paper and q sigh, and i look
up to see Miriam bury her face in the letter
written on Allan PercivaRs knee in Heath
erleIgh Park. can not tell whether she IS
happy now or not, but watch her furtively
and pretend that I do not care to be enlght-
ened in the matter.
The better way to find out some secrets
is to dissemble and play perfect indifference
to the import, and, according to the natural
perversity of things, they will unfold them
selves before your disinterested vision.
Some persons are like oysters; undertake
to be familiar with their affairs and they
shut up, shell-like, and you are left VIC
Tim to your own over-inquisitiveness
fancy Miriam Percival Fairfax is one o.
these, and so work away with needle AND
gray and black zephyr as it made my Nv
ing by my endeavors in this line, and glance
up about every tenth stitch over my glasses
to note any change IN the occupant OF the
deep, easy chair.
I hear another rustic of the letter, and
look up to find her doubling it over her
finger and looking at me with such q re-
ieved, sweet expression that again let the
words slip from my tongue that rise: "Love
is Transforming you. Miriam, from sad
faced, revengeful Percival to bright,
beautiful woman
sHush!'' she said, with a smile. ''Would
you not like to read Allan's letter! There IS
nothing in it that you need not snow, and
since you have been so faithful and Thought
full and true, why, it is your dueLonly your
DUE"
She offers me the missive. take my
chair and go over and sit down beside her,
and she lays the open letter in my lap.
adjust my glasses better, lay aside my Gro.
cheting and read as Allan Percival has
written:
miriam, my love, the unexpected meet.
ing with a friend Of yours in the park at Heath
erlegh gives me an opportunity of sending you
a letter The great burden of my life is. dear
one whether you love me, as desire with my
whole soul, or not. remember OF giving you
my address when I visited you at the Rest
but you have not written to me as yet. The
love born IN the dark days of thread ng the val
ley OF death is not to be put aside easily, and
must beg of you, dearest, to say it you have
changed S,our mind, Or i you have by our long
separation found that you love me even alittle.
II was poor when we parted, but am now
IN independent circumstances, having fallen
heir to landed property In and near Trouville
from my mothers family. tell you this, not
because merely wish to speak OF my anu
ence but it may be that you think am think.
ing of your wealth, though can hardly see why
you could imagine a Percival assembling.
s.If you have found that you can love me, OIL
Miriam, darling, bid me come to YOU II not,
keep the locket gave you at the Rest as the
gift of only a relative. Iremain yours,
"ALLAN PERCIvAI."
II must answer it, she said, when I had
finished. ssAllan will be so disappointed it,
she goes on to say, ''ana find, after such
long separation, that can never be happy
without him.
Then that is the problem she has been
trying to solve all these months of separa-
tion-whether she could forget her anguish
for the dead enough to be happy with the
living. She doesn't say this, but divine it
to be the case, nevertheless. Well, she he's
solved it, sitting here in the winters sun
shine, and the rose will bloom where the
rue hath grown, for love can never forget
his own.
II never have shown you his gift men
toned in the letter,' she says with smilei
''though, of course, you caught sight Of it
during my illness. Yes, the face inside"
she adds, with a faint flush.
Drawing the locket from her bosom, she
unclasps the chain which I had restored ia
her neck while she was asleep in the first
stage OF convalescehce, and touches the
secret spring as had done in those days OF
uncertainty, and again Allan PercivaPs
face beams up to mine.
''He is very handsome there,'' I say
"but I believe he is handsonaer over in
England.''
tinue. IA finer looking gentleman thar
Allan Percival was when I saw him last
would lie hard to find; we'll dressed, courtly
and kind.''
She smiles again and slips the locket
back in its resting place with sigh of con.
tent. II must write to him Immediately"
she says, caressing the letter, and looking
up for an Affirmative as suppose
eyes, certainly" and bring her writing
materials, and once more step out of her
souctun sanctoruna of thought. am conf.
dent that Allan Percival will receive the
answer which he desires and am content.
X X
A letter has come to me from over the
sea; a letter with a big black seal, and
read with swimming eyes and sinking
heart that Peggy is dead.
Poor Peggy, who wished so much to see
1.-THE face of her young misthress'' once
more, has left the shores of time without
even that boon being granted. Ancil has
gone back to Ireland to end his days, which
can not be many, among his relations, and
Heatherleigh is desolate now of even q liv
ing sound.
Miriam reads the letter dictated by old
Ancl before he left the Hall with strange,
far away expression creeping into her face.
''Well, we all have to die,' she says,
handing me the black bordered missive, and
Ill., - ~. i