Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-24
OR, THE QUEEN OF THE FACTORY.
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as cheaply as was in his power, and
| worked overtime whenever the chance
was given him.
But this miserliness had noble origin
Each coin he saved brought him and
| Nellie nearer to each other, and thus
| thinking, he subjected himself to every
privation willingly and with love.
Still they corresponded, and as yet no
signs of diminishing affection were per-
| ceptible on either side. Each fresh let
ter from Nellie brought Mark new proof
of the girls answering fidelity to him +,
ana this intensified his loYe for her ten
told, filing his life and coloring all his
thoughts.
One evening, about this time, when
| Mark came home from the mill, he re-
ceived an unpleasant shock. A letter
from Nellie was awaiting him, and 1t
contained several illusions to a danger
Gus illness which his sweetheart had
lately gone through. SILL she was al
most, if not quite recovered now, she
assured him.
The information of his darling's Illness
forced Mark to realize how completely
sundered and far away from each other
were he and Nellie. She had been all
| lng-perhaps near the threshold of death
itself, and he had known nothing. That
thought beaded his brow with clammy
drops of cold sweat.
But the lassie' 3 own assurance of her
return to health and strength and work I,
| quickly dispelled his morbid fears But
in that moment of fear he had realized
how barren life would be to himself, if
| ever harm came to his loved one. And
a deep unvoiced prayer rose up from his
| iph DO in
alive and well.
Another month has passed, six weeks
even, and the usual monthly communi-
cation from Warrington came not. 1t
was the first occasion on which Nellie
| had failed to be punotual in her reply.
| And the matter troubled Mark greatly
for day or two.
Then he cast his fears behind him, in
| dignant with himself for his morbid
! forebodings, his unfounded suspicious.
| There must be good reason for the las
| sic g remissness, and the next mail from
| England would bring the lettering letter
! to him.
So he thought, and tried to feel salts
fed. But another week and fortnight
| passed, and still the long expected letter
| did not come. Mark was by this time
enduring very hell of suspense, and
| the passing of each additional day added
fresh paug to his agony.
He invented thousand excuses to &C.
| count for his darling's unwonted and
| inexplicabIe silence, and simultaneously
he tortured himself by imagining every
! manner of impossible and Ubiquitous
things.
Was not her silence due to another at
tack of illness? Surely not, for in that
case Nancy or Dan would have apprised
| him of the fact. Was she beginning to
tire of him? No! mol that could never
be. He possessed, he knew, every atom
of the girls true heart. On that he
could have staked his life, his soul.
Still her silence remained unexplained,
and he penned a letter, filling it with
all his doubts and fears, his anguish and
| hopes. Then he posted it, and patiently
waited for reply.
Another month went slowly, YEARLY
by; still no word came, and at last Mark
was forced to conclude that something
was wrong. Could it be possible, he
asked himself now. that his confidence
in Nellie had been too great? Had his
absence changed her feelings towards
him? Had his rival succeeded in GUST
ing him from the sweet factory lassie' IS
heart?
To all these questions he would have
been fain to say no, but his belief and
confidence were shaken now, well nigh
broken, and the twin demons of doubt
and fear were tearing with tooth and
claw at his vitals.
Keen as were the agonies he was now
enduring, he would have borne them
had they been a thousandfold greater
rather than stoop to ask Nellie again for
an explanation of her silence. He had
written once-had poured out all his love
and hopes, his doubts and fears, on the
paper; bad prayed, implored her to
speak, and quickly; yet she had not
spoken.
He could not bring himself to write
again, no matter what might ensue.
His pride was as indomitable as his love
was great, and if his last letter had
failed to make her speak and explain
matters, nothing he could ever pen would
move her.
Heartsick near unto death, sinking
daily deeper into the black slough of
despair, he bore himself with what
bravery he could summon, and waited
hopelsssly for what might come. During
the day he was continually tortured by
his bitter thoughts, and the night
brought him little sleep or peace. The
horrible suspense he was suffering was
fast reducing him to q wreck, mentally
and physically. Unless news came soon,
either death or madness would seize him.
At last the end csme-the blow fell,
and Nellie Pemberton IS silence was ex-
planned.
One Sunday morning, when the whole
of the country side around Johnstown
was white with newly fallen snow, the
long expected communication from War
bingham came.
And what letter it wasI The en-
velope was trimmed with a broad black
edge, and Mark Eliot's heart rushed to
his throat as he realized that it contained
message of death.
But who was dead? Standing there in
his room the young man put that oues-
ton to himself, with quiverinG white lips
and madly throbbing pulse. Was it Dan
Ashton, Nancy, or Nellie? Good Godi
If it were Nellie he felt that he would die
too.
With shaking hands he tore away the
cover, and this was what he found in
side:
''THK STAR, WARRIHeHAM, Dec. 20.
My DEAR ELIoT.-T have the saddest,
the most terrible news to convey to you.
tkis o-d Oo.o-