The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1892-11-03


emily, losing sight of them in the dusk,
they staggered off toward camp, singing
Their leader on this festi-
val had somewhat forgotten the dignity
of the apostle and captain.
This low rioting was doubly disgust
ing to me after the sad evening with
our friends. l. found Sizzum more Of
fensive as man of the world than as a
saint. say man of the world, because
the gambling scenes of nominal gentle
men are often just as hateful, if more
decorous, than those of that night. l
walked slowly off toward camp sorrow
full and sick at heart Baseness and vul-
garity had never seemed to me so base
and vulgar till now.
/ suddenly heard voice in the bushes.
It was Larrap. He was evidently per-
suading his comrade to some villainy.
I caught suspicious word or two.
"Ah!" thought I, ''you want our
horses. We will see to that"
I walked slowly. Brent was seated
by the embers of a camp fire, covered in
a heap, like cold Indian. He raised his
face. All the light had gone out of him.
This trouble had suddenly worn into his
being, like the shirt of Nessus, and poi
soned his life.
'tJohn," said I, II never knew you de-
spondent before"
'This is not dependency"
"What them
despair"
81 cannot offer to cheer you"
"It is bitter, Wade. have yearned
to be lover for years. All at once
find the woman have seen and thought
of and known from my first conscious
moment. The circumstances crowded
my love into sudden intensity. made
the observations and did the work of
months of acquaintance in those few
moments while we were at tea. My
mind always acts quick. seem always
to have been discussing my decisions
with myself, years before the subject Of
decision comes to me. Whatever hap
pens falls on me with the force of a
doom. l loved Miss Clitheroe's voice
the instant heard its brave tenderness
answering her father. loved her I'M
seen, and would have died for her that
moment. When she appeared, and ]
saw her face and read her heart, knew
that it was the old dream-the old dream
that l never thought would be othe,
than dream. The ancient hope ant
expectation, coeval with my life, wa.
fulfilled. She is the other self 1 have
been waiting for and seeking for"
'Have you told her so?"
'tCan a man stop the beating of hi
heart? Can a man not breathe? Not il
in words perhaps. 1 did not use tn,
lover words. But she understood me
She did not seem surprised. She recog
niZes such a passion as her right ant
desert"
ga great hearted woman can see how
man worthy of her can nullify time ant
space, and meet her, soul to soul, in eter
nifty from the first"
$50 meet her; but circumstance
here are stronger than love-"
"Can she do nothing with her father?
"Nothing. She failed in England
when this delusion first fell upon him."
"Did she know what it meant for he
and him?' --.
Hardly. She even fancied that they
would be happier in America than a
home, where she saw that his ole
grandeur was always reproducing him.
"Did he conceal from her the goal and
object of his emigrationY'
''She knew he was, or supposed him
self to be, Mormon. But Mormonisn
was little more than a name to her. Sh
believed his perversion only a transitor.
folly. 1t is but recently, only since the.
were away from succor, off in the desert
that she has perceived her own risk. Sh
hoped that the voyage from England
would disenchant her father and tina
she could keep him in the states. No; h
was committed; he was impracticable
You have seen yourself how far his faitl
is shaken. just so far that his Graz,
cheerfulness has given place to moping
but he will hear nothing Of reason"
"What does she anticipateY'
''She says she only dares to endure
Day by day they both wear away. Da,
by day her fathers bright hope dwindle
away. Day by day she perceives tn
moment of her own danger approaching
She could not speak to me of it; but
could feel by her tone her disgust ant
disdain of Sizzum. Oh, how steady ant
noble she isl All for her fatherl All t
guide him with the fewest pangs to tina
desolate death she knows must come
She gave me few touches of their pas
history, so that could see how nue.
closer and tenderer than the commo
bond of parent and child theirs ha
BEEN"
''That saw from the old gentleman
story. Sorrow and poverty ennoble love.
''She thanked me and you SO sweet
for our society and the kind words w
had given them. She had not seen he
father so cheerful, 80 like himself, sine
they had left England"
"What weary pilgrimage they mus
have had, poor Grant souls!"
"Oh, Wade, Wade! how this TRACED
of theirs cures me forever of any re
bellion against my own destiny. 4
helpless woman's tragedy is SO muc
bitterer than anything that can befall
man."
''Must we say helpless, joint"
care we two an army, that we ca
take them by force? She has definitel
closed any further communication ON on
part. She said that could not hav
failed to notice how Elder Sizzum dis
! liked our presence. must promise he
not to be seen with them in the morI
ing. Sizzum would find some means I
punish her father, and that would b
torture to her. 1t seems that villai
plays on the old mans religious supel
stitions, and can terrify him almost I
madness"
''The villainl And yet how far BAG
of him lies the blame, that such terror
can exist in any mans mind when Go
is love-"
81 promised her not to see her again
for you and myself; to see her no more
That goodhy was final Now let m
alone for awhile, my dear old boy; / ar
worn out and heartbroken."
He mummied himself in his blanket
and lay on the grass, motionless as
dead man. 1t was not his way to shir