San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-05
! NOT PROVEN;
OR
ESTHER HILLS SECRET.
BY GEORGIANA NJ. CRAIK.
OR

her power to keep her secret from
reaching their eyes; and when her mind
was once wholly made up she even sat
trembling with feverish, irrepressible
eagerness and desire to have the thing
done at Once;-for what might not an
hours delay do? she thought,-might
not one hour lost make it too late?
II must go to him, whenever I can
find him alone, and ask him to listen to
me-" she said to herself. ut is no use
to think of the misery of it. / think 1
would rather put my hand into the fire
than speak to him, and yet 1 must
She dressed herself early in the morn
ing in her walking dress, and then sat
down beside one of the windows i'm her
parlOr. She knew that in all likelihood
she should not have to wait there long
before she saw young Gilbert; and she
was right, for soon after she had taken
her seat he came out from the house.
But for long time after that she was
kept sickening with suspense while he
fingered about the place, mailing up q
creeper round the porch, doing some
bit of carpentry for his mother, reading
his newspaper in the sunshine. The
young man often used to go out early,
but to-day he seemed to have no bust
ness to take him out. His intention
seemed to be to spend his morning at
home idly; so she YEARLY thought, as
she sat watching him through that long
hour and a half before at last her heart
sprang to her lips as she saw him throw
his paper aside, and walk down the
garden path to the little gate.
Her plan was to follow him whenever
he should leave the house, and go
straight to him and address him; and
she did this. Happily for what she
wished, when he reached the road he
turned his back upon the village, and it
was in very quiet place, where there
were few houses and few passers-by
that she spoke her first words to him.
He had gone only little way, but he
had left the cottage before she had, and
she had almost to run to overtake him.
He was still a few steps ahead of her
when she first addressed him, saying
his name in a quick nervous voice.
He turned at once, and recognized
her with look of evident surprise. AS
he stood still, and raised his hat, she
came up to him.
"Will you let me speak to you for
few momentsp" she said.
Certainly" lie replied. And then,
half hesitating-"Shall l turn back with
youp"
mo, no." she said quickly; IF you
will allow me l will just walk with you
a little way" And then they went on,
side by side.
She was woman whose acquired, if
not whose natural, self-possession was
very great,-so great that even when
deeply moved it rarely altogether left
her. When it was of little comparative
consequence whether she preserved
compOsure or not, Esther Hill some
times let 60 the strain and broke down,
but she never broke down in the i'm
portant moments Of her life. Her voice
trembled as she began to speak to Mr..
Gilbert now, but that was the only sign
of weakness that she showed. Her
whole soul was shrinking from the task
that she had set herself to do, but she
did it nevertheless, and in clearer and
simpler words than many women would
have used.
81 know you will be surprised at what
am going to say" she began, ''but 1
am forced to speak to you by something
that Mr.. Dunstan told me yesterday.
He told me you had said to him that
you thought you had seen me some
where else than here"
She paused when she had got to this
point, and suddenly, with look whose
intense eagerness was wholly unin-
telligible to Mr.. Gilbert, lifted her eyes
up to his face. AS she seemed to wait
for reply he answered her.
II believe I did say to Mr.. Dunstan
that your face seemed to me like a face
l had seen before, but have not been
able to recollect-"
'sYou have nOt?" she interrupted
him, with the blood rushing to her
cheek.
mo, cannot remember where may
have seen you," he said. perhaps my
impression of having ever seen you any
where else is only imaginary. l hope"
said the young man. looking at her,
and entirely perplexed by what these
questions meant,-''Iho hope that nothing
of any consequence, depends upon my
recollection of whether | have ever met
you or not?" ......
Yes, something does depend upon
it." she replied quickly. SIN one sense
at least something depends upon it.
do not want you to remember where
you may have seen me before-l hope
you never have seen me at all,-but If
it should be otherwise, there is a request
that am going to make to you. Will
you earn the deepest gratitude of
friendless woman by promising me that
you will tell no creature in this place
anything that you may come to recol-
lect about me?"
She was prepared for his look of blank
surprise as she asked him this, and for
the sudden suspicious glance he gave
her, as if he doubted whether she were
sane. She had known beforehand that
he would look at her so,-that any one
would have looked at her so to whom
she had made a similar request. 1t