The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-08-05
WON BY THE CONTEXT.
The Romantic History Of an Engage
ment and a Torn Letter.

rest, MI. StrutherS. Come, let US ST.
in the arbor. l have had enough
tennis for this morning"
And suiting her action to her wish
she tripped gayly over the close
clipped lawn to where a cool green
arbor cast a refreshing shade.
Hugh Struthers followed her rather
more slowly.
When he reached her retreat she
was already enconced upon a rustic
chair-the only n in the place,
sc he had to be content with a grassy
seat at her feet.
After a silence, during which Sylvia
famed herself violently with her has,
and Hugh lighted a cigarette, n
asked
Must you really go back to town
tomorrow-really?"
IL am afraid l must. 1t is very kind
of you to act as if you would like me
to stay, but l cannot. Business, you
know"
"Of course. It is always business
business that upsets all our plans
business that usurps all our pleasures.
Yet"
1--WE could not live without it, in
terrupted Hugh.
mo" said Sylvia, slowly.
But her face wore a look that was
far from contentment, and her little
foot beat impatiently upon the rung
Of the rustic chair.
Then the conversation drifted OH
upon many and varied topics, and
they sat laughing and talking until
the luncheon bell summoned them to
the dim, sweet-scented dining room,
where Sylvia's mother and brother,
Rod, awaited them.
Rod proposed that they go for a
ride late in the afternoon, when it
grew a little cooler.
To this Sylvia and Hugh assented.
The horses were ordered for five
o'clock.
The men retired to smoke and play
billiards; Sylvia went to her room to
write letters and sleep till the riding
hour arrived.
When five o'clock came Rod had a
headache and could not go with them,
SO Sylvia and Hugh were perforce to
go by themselves-a penance they
seemed to bear with great resignation.
They were coming home very
slowly, thinking, doubtless, for they
said nothing, when Hugh suddenly
asked
DO you see that starr
"Where-just above the horizon?
Yes.n 81
See how it seems to follow the
crescent of the new moon. Is 1t not
faithful? Ever it follows; still they
seem to grow no nearer. Thus it is
with my heart and its best beloved;
ever it follows, never it reaches"
SIS your love, then, cold to you and
distant as the moon?" Sylvia asked
softly.
ALAS, 1 fear so.n
''Yet you do not know for sure?"
she said.
II cannot tell merely think.
Now YOU
He paused.
II? she said quietly. III Why l
do not think about it at ALL"
"More's the pity" he said sadly,
''for you are as the moon, and l the
star. You are my best beloved. But
it is useless; | see you do not even
think about it,"
No" she murmured. II do not
think-I know that / love YOU
And the tender crescent of the infant
moon looked down upon that picture
that since the world began has been
old, yet is ever new.
II have written" said Hugh, after
supper; ''but l will not go up to the
city for several days. l am too loath
to lose the blessing / have just ac-
quired, even for d moment"
Sylvia's Joy at this announcement
was acute. She bore him instantly
out to the porch, where, in a 1eafy,
dusky corner, they sat and talked
softly all the evening as only lovers
can.
After the good-nights had been said
Sylvia, in passing through the hall
way to go to her room, found a piece
of paper like the half sheet of a letter.
Idly she picked it up. Her heart
almost stopped beating as she read its
contents. 1t was in Hugh's hand
writing, and was part of a letter. She
read thus;
Dearest Pet
II have new
Sylvia. She is mine
fortune that favors ne
''She is rich
That | do not love her
all its contents-is
81 am chained here
see you soon, and
Your devoted, HUGH"
This Sylvia read. Her heart seemed
to cease beating, and a lump arose in
her throat.
This, then, was the end of it all. He
had not cared for her. She was
nothing to him. And she had loved
him SO dearly. 1t was so cruel of him.
And this Pet? She felt her cheeks
burn. Who could this pet be2 Oh,
the humiliation of it all!
Sylvia hurried to her room, and
there, flinging herself across her
couch, she wept and sobbed far
into the night, at the perfidy of this
man and her own blindness.
Meanwhile, Hugh, utterly uncon-
scfous of the trouble he had caused,
was sleeping as only those can whose
conscience is untroubled and whose
digestion is unimpaired.
When Sylvia appeared, long after
breakfast, looking raj and pale,
Hugh instantly arose, and would have
embraced her, but she gently repulsed
him.
mo, not now, Hugh-Mr. Struthers
| mean. Let us forget last night and
its occurrences. We will let the dead
past bury its dead,n and she smiled
such a poor, wretched, little shame
faced smile that it was nearer akin to
tears than mirth.
Hugh vas aghast.