The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1892-10-22

ASA AdlA
to kiss, neither of them guessing that
the deep shadow in the corner was
Genie, and he quoted poetry by the
yard. They evidently considered them
selves very noble and self sacrificing,
wonderful, suffering, glorious beings.
And how tho little maiden sat quietly
two feet from them until they rose and
went away arm in arm she never knew,
neither how she lived through the night.
But the next day found her very strong.
Early ia the morning she went to the
garden fence and beckoned William
Richie to come to her, and took his arm
with a laugh. and made him walk with
her ont Of hearing. Then she said:
Don't you think that when people
have made a great mistake the best
thing possible is to confess it,
And when he answered, Il D
So" she simply took her ring from her
finger and gave it back to him. Then
she left him and walked away, and oh,
hoy gay she was all that day! She had
never believed that she could act SO
well. Her heart was full of burning
pain, and she wished that she were dead.
But her pride upheld her, and no one
guessed how shp suffered.
She was SO glad that she had neve
told any one of her engagement to Will
liam Richie, and could join in all their
merry talk when it was publicly known
that Mr.. Richie had cut out the gen
erals and majors and captains and colo
nels of army society.
As for William, he was greatly con-
graduated, and when the major wen;
back to his quarters with his daughter,
in something Of a hurry, there was talk
of trouble with the Indians. 1t was I'M
derstood that William Richie was to go
out in six months time to claim his
bride and bear her away before the very
eyes of all those envious warriors.
The major did not profess to be pleased.
That a girl who could marry in army
society should choose "a civilian
amazed him. he openly confessed. But
"a willful woman must have her way"
Cora was of age-full five and twenty.
William Richie is very NICE" Mrs.
Afford said.
mo doubt" the major assented. "But
Cora might have had a general"
How glad Genie was when they were
gone! How soon she left off her acting.
Her mother opined that she had been
too gay that summer. Mrs. Richie,
who was broken hearted at her Will
Hams choice, came in sometimes and
was apt to wish herself in the tomb of
her forefathers. But William never
came. He corresponded unanimously
with Miss Cora Standish, who made him
jealous of now one officer and now an
other, and he felt that he received little
sympathy at home.
AT last the time arrived when he was
to go to claim his bride. Between a hor-
ror of having her brought home, 'to
ride over her head" as she expressed it,
and a fear that they would induce cher
William" to take up his residence among
them, Mrs. Richie was quite distracted.
'She is your cousin she said to the
! girl one day, 'or I'd say what l think Of
that creature. She might have kept
herself with her own kind. Why should
she carry off my boy?"
Then Genie felt SO much sympathy
for the bereaved mother that they min
gled their tears.
Mrs. Richie would not go t Wills
wedding-not she, indeed.
She went so far as to hope that when
he returned he would find her dead of a
broken heart. But she packed his trunk
for him and put in a new Bible as her
wedding gift to Cora. Then Will de-
parted.
What with Wills popularity. his moth
er's despair and the doubt as to whether
the young couple would come back to
live or settle down at the fort, this we'd
ding made a great deal of talk, and when
time passed on and neither telegram.
letters, nor anything else in the shape Of
news arrived, there was some excite
ment. Had there been 'strouble with
the Indians" the newspapers would have
revealed the fact. This silence was ve1v
strange.
Old Mrs. Richie was sure that VIII
was s'weaned from her already" and
consigned herself to despair. Genie read
over and over again a poem which began.
Married, married. and not to me.
Is it a dream or can it be:
and pasted it in her scrapbook. and w&e
reading it in the h~oneysuckle arbor
when an expressman paused at old Mrs,
Ritchie's gate and hauled from his
wagon n solitary trunk with wv. e."
upon it. Later Will himself walked M
the road alone. with his portmantean in
his hand, and stood at his mothers door.
Something had happened. Genie
would have been an angel if she had
grieved over the fact. As it was sh.