Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1890-07-12
ELOISE.
How the Cruel Flood Revealed to
Her Her True Love.
They had parted coldly.

They had parted coldly.
Richard Holmes had walked rapidly
upthe street to his b~oarding-place with
a white face, sternly set lips, his hands
clasped tightly behind him, and his
whole frame quivering with wounded
pride and keen disappointment
Eloise Ellison had turned her pretty
face homeward with a proud little toss,
and a look of something like triumph in
her coquettish dark eyes.
That she was a spoiled and petted
beauty, every one in the village knew;
and that she was as willful and capri
cious and exactIng, as she was bright and
pretty and bewitching, every one knew
as well. The only child of the wealthy
mill-owner, from her very infancy in
lulged in her every wish and fawned
upon by admiring friends, it was 10
wonder that she was, when she chose to
be, a most t~yrannical specimen Of young
womanhoOd.
She had chosen TO be such the after
noon she met Richard Holmes, her IA
theirs book-keeper, on the street, and
allowed him to turn and walk beside
her. 1t was raining, and she ~graciously
closed her own elegant little umbrella
to share the larger he carried.
They had gone on together enjoying
the rain. laughing and chatting gayly,
gossiping in their light way about this
and that happening in the social life OF
the village.
Perhaps he had chosen an ~inauspi-
cious moment to declare his love and
offer her his hand, but, inauspicious or
not, he had spoken and received his
answe
They had exchanged a few hot words
and then parted in a sudden frigidity
which seized them both. She had added
such scorn and disdain to her refusal
that it was more than he could bear in
silence. She had even insinuated to him
that it was not herself he loved, but her
fathers wealth. She had wounded him
cruelty and intentionally, and he had
lefth her suddenly with a cold adieu.
Eloise raised her own umbrella with a
letiant little laugh, and a glance at the
retreating figure, and then turned home
ward humming a fragment of the latest
opera.
Her fathers bookkeepcr. Presume to
offer her his hand! 1t Mas absurd!
Thus she communed with herself as
she went on up the street to her home.
She tried to be angry at the presump-
ton of the man, but in spite of herself
she could not. She had always ad-
mired him-yes, in a way she had quite
liked him, and it was pleasing to her
vanity to know he loved her-but, mar
riage-that was another thing, indeed,
and quite out of the question!
For days and days it rained. 1t grew
monotonous and wearisome.
Eloise, wandering aimlessly about the
drawing-room, looking over a book abb
stractedly; striking a few chords on the
piano; going from window to window to
look out at the falling rain and the dis
nal landscape, was wretchedly lone
som and i'll at ease.
Why did not some one come! Even
Richard Holmes would be a welcome
caller, if only to quarrel with. He used
TO drop in so often to play a game of
chess or listen to her music. She wished
she had not treated him quite so badly
the other day. Why could she not have
said, as other girls would have said,
that she would be a sister to him? 1t
had never occurred to her to say that.
She wished that she had been less un.
kind that day-wisbed that she had
held him of a little longer at least-it
used to be so pleasant to have him drop
in for an hour or two.
The day was closing in dark and
stormy. Eloise from the window looked
at the swollen river, and the pools that
stood here and there on the lawn.
Suddenly she stood erect and looked
eagerly at a w%ell-known figure coming
toward the house. 1t was Richard
Holmes.
The girl stood watching his progress
eagerly, as he picked his way among
the pools of water, her lips parted, hel
pretty head thrown back, her dark eyes
glad and bright.
a am glad he is coming she said
softly to herself, as she stood surround
ed by the creamy draperies Of the win
dow waiting for him.
She heard his firm STEP on the piazza
She heard him ring the bell and the
speak a few words to the maid VIII
opened the door.
Suddenly a great roar filed all tn
air, drowning the voices in the hal
drowning the silvery chime Of the littl
French clock, drowning every thin
swallowing up every thing in it's avfl
volume of sound. There was a terri,
in it unlike the heaviest crash of thu
der-a strange and terrible menace
the sound, swelling and gathering al
growing louder every moment.
Eloise stood paralyzed with fear. 81
was powerless to cry out, to o " he
self; she could only stand and listen
that awful, all-pervading roar.
She did not think what it might mea
She had heard vague rumors of fea
for the great dam above, but had n
needed.
In q moment 1t was all over; t
sound had CONF upon her in all
awfulness. She fell back, overpo~er
with terror. and became unconscious.
A violent blow on her head reused h