Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-08-16
But before he had

|
been in his new home many weeks Matte
| Wool6ton's sweet, earnest face, her gen
| tie goodness, her unobtrusive, sincere
piety had wakened in his heart an emo.
| ton he had never hoped to experience.
Love had been far off possibility for hap
pier lives, and he had not perceived thai
it was seeking entrance into his own till
| Ned Gordon reused him to conscious
ness of what his deep interest in Matte
signifed.
He loved her, and he had undertaken to
| plead the cause of another to herl
Thought became such torture that he re-
| solved to have the dread interview over,
to know the worst at once. He found
Matte in the parlor of her fathers hand
some house, and, fearing for his own
strength, told his GRAND gently.
The girl looked at him with white
cheeks and a startled expression, as if
| she had received a sudden, unexpected
| blow where she had looked for kindness.
| Her great brown eyes had a hunted, pite-
Gus look that it went TO his heart to see.
She struggled for composure before she
trusted her voice to speak, and it was low
you are Mr. Gordon's ambassador. tell
him, from me, that he has my most sincere
good wishes for his success in his new
life, He has no warmer friend, no more
earnest well-wisher than myself. But
can never be his wife. / do not love
him. We have been like brother and
sister since childhood, and [ can give him
my sisterly affection, nothing more"
Il think he is sincere in his resolution
to make his life more earnest and useful
than it has ever been, " the Rev. Henry
Stillman said, his own pain urging him
still to plead Ned's cause.
"Ihope he will persevere in his resolve.
He may make noble man."
'CBut his love''-
II can never return" she said reso-
lutely. pray leave me now. II am not
we'll"
He left her. Only a few feet from,
the door he turned and retraced his steps.
He had satisfied his conscience; had
pleaded the cause of the younger, hand
somer man. Faithfully he had placed be-
fore Matte all Ned s pleadings, all her infiu-
eHce might do for him, and be had won
only steady refusal of the suit he urged.
Now-he set his teeth hard, and went
back. Now he would risk his own fate!
But at the door he paused, for Matte
had thrown herself in a deep armchair,
and with her face hidden, was sobbing
with perfect passion of grief.
Was it for Ned? Did she already re-
pent her decision? Irresolute whether to
retreat or advance. Harvey Stillman
stood in the doorway till Matte neither
seeing nor hearing him, felt she was not
| alone, and looked up. In moment she
was on her feet, and for the first time the
clergyman saw her eyes flash with anger.
''Why do you come back?" she said.
s'Have you not sufficiently Inundated
me?'
opp he cried. II humiliate you?"
''What else is it to come to me to
plead Mr.. Gordon's love? Is he an idiot
that he cannot speak himself, but must
make my name byword by prating of
his love to every strangerW
''Miss WoolstOn, you misjudge him and
meme most of all if you imagine de-
| sire to humiliate you. [, who honor you
above all other women! I, who came
CC"AAI9 my "" II hOc'h w PANoOt E'S"ih"U Il"
for your happiness! Do not judge me
harshly, Matte, for my loves sake!"
She had SO visibly frightened as he
spoke, such dewy happiness rested in the
! brown eyes, such tremuIous smiles gath
cred around the small mouth, that the
Rev. Harvey Stillman felt his own heart
swell with sudden rapture.
''Mattie, " he cried, Il am many years
older than you are, and yet [ love you
with all the strength of my hearth"
''And [ love you"
Simply as a child, she told the truth of
her own heart. He was not a man for
any outburst of raptare. Tenderly he
folded her in his arms, saying softly.
''Thank God, darlingw
Nobody but Matte and her betrothed
knew why Ned Gordon resolved to pur-
sue his studies in London instead of re-
naming with his father in Greyport, but
years later, when he came back to the
country town to take his fathers prac-
tice, the Rev. Harvey Stillman felt, with
grateful emotion, that the good resolu-
tions had not faltered, but had ennobled
and purified the entire life of his old ri
val, while Matte gave cordial welcome
to the pretty blue-eyed wife, who had won
and kept the heart of her old lover.