The Lamar register., 1891-04-25

.ee' anu was shuiiiing and swaying to
the accompaniment OF all the starched
skirts.
Come on de bench OBJ de mournin,
sinnersm exhorted Brother Smith who
had shrieked himself hoarse. IRE.
member | tole you de debbil mighty
angel and he got you-he got you suah.
befoh you knows it, He one of de
great angels-yes! Yes. | shouldn't
wonder If he be one OF de cherubeem
angelsl"
Lord hab mercy!'
Eunice was dissolved in tears. Reck-
less of her fnery-of Miss Vernon
Leigh's green India silk, with the vines
of pink rosebuds-she had thrown her
self on her knees before the mourners'
bench, the bench of the "seekers.' ),
Brother Smith had come down from
his platform, remarkably composed
and bustness-like after all his emotions.
and was exhorting each OF the Weep
ing women prone on the ground near
the altar while the congregation in
toned a rousing hymn. Eunice, after
being the most no count galH in
Hominy Grove and the most .'putfed
out with pride and the love Of fine
clothes-whether belonging to herself
or TO whomsoever it might be most
convenient to steal from-had. sudden
ly, in short. become n seeker anx-
ious TO repent 10 fellowship"
Now. il happened that while Broth
er Smith was doing so much good
work at Hominy Grove Church bitter
tears were being shed for different
cause at a big house with pilasters in
front, not more than two miles away.
What has happened to Colonel?T
said Captain Leigh, looking up over
his batter cakes st the supper table.
They say he's going away" His
humorous old eyes turned to his daugh-
ter's white-rose fucc. Either his dulled
imagination had had sudden youthful
renasceuce or it was more of white
rose face than usual.
Il did not know that Colonel SENS
was going away said Vernon. Her
fingers We're so limp and cold. surely
every one at the table must see how
hard it was to hold knife and fork.
Oh, for the silence and the shelter of
her own roOml
They were reached at last and the
white rose hung upon broken stem
in verify, now. No more superb
little airs of the head and shoulders;
no more elaborate disdain; no more
mute sayings 10 that little determined
ache in her heart: What care 1?''
He was going. She had sent him
away. He would never. never come
back
Neycr2 Was there no way no way
At all 10 keep him-to bring him
back2
oh. his leiierl Passionately impa-
tieut, the poor pretty, cold fingers be-
gan TO upturn the contents OF drawers.
OF clothe presses. Where-where was
that India silk gown with the pink
roSebuds which she had worn that last
afternoon they bad walked together?
II was a pretty gown and he liked 1t
aud the lettor WIS in the pocket OF it,
and she had sc0rned him-scorned him
- that she Ind not deiGned 10 draw it
out or toueh it since.
But. alas. 1t could not be touched
now, Tho green silk with the rosy
vines had disappeared. The big
southern house had been open all day
and she in another part of it, and there
was negro revival at Hominy
church. II vas no; difficult to realize
Just how the India frocal had vanished.
Vernon Leigh threw herself down
and wept. What cared she for the
India silk. even though it were her
very prettiest gown2 All her wardrobe
might have gone to Hominy church
for good and for ever If only, if only
her letter had not gone. too! Now
She could not send it TO him. And
that one little act would have been
the one and sole one which would have
brought him back.
At three o'clock the next morning
while the first little cold breath. pre-
curor of the dawn. was creeping up
through the pines, Euuice, with the
other converted sinners who had grow
eled before the bench and been prayed
over and sung to since eleven the night
before, crawled ont into the grove, n
much rumpled and tear-stained figure.
The blue feather had lost ITS crispness
and the starched skirts their assertive-
ness. But, after all, it was the India
silk gown that had suffered most. which
ldGls ApNbNtis tAA Al'g HAtst4At hllthNf
when at sunrise Miss Vernon Leigh,
who slept ON the ground tloor opened
her heavy, redeemed lids the first object
her weary glance rested upon was the
pale green simmer of her lost gown
strewn with its pinllish buds.
The shutters had been opened from
tho outside during her sleep and the
gown laid over the window sill.
With one bound Vernon was out OF
bed and had clutched her mysteriously
restored property, In the pocket was
the rustic OF paper and in moment
more she was crying and laughing over
her letter-oyer his letter!
The sudden repentance of Eunice
and her new religious fervor had led
lust in time to the happiness of two
lives.
For an hour before his train left the
Colonel was found by u small black
boy in ragged breeches, who held II
most disreputable-looking envelope in
his hand. Nothing was added to the
letter. but the boy said it came from
Miss Vern.
And so, when a tall, eager figure
came stalking up toward the house