Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1893-09-09

shy, childish voice. HE Is very handsome
and quite well of, and he loves me. Is 1t
not strange that he should care for an insig-
nlticant little girl like me?"
II do not think so. i think he must be q
young mar OF excellent Judgment
And Nelly, l do wish after we are mar
ried you would come and live with us. DO
say, you will"
THANK you. my darling, but that could
never be. Now j have listened to your plans,
listen To mine, and do not find faul with
them, Rose"
What are theyr" looking up with startled
eyes.
Far away from here" begins Eleanor,
speaking In calm, steady tones, far away,
near the sea, where i was early in the spring
you know, there is an old stone house.
There are vide, green lawns stretching in
'front.', and back a little white chapel, and the
bells there have been ringing, ringing in my
ears as though they called me, and l am go
ing. They Will let Inc live there, and surely
among those sweetfaced sisters l can lind
some rest"
"Do not CO." cries the other imploringly.
'Oh Nelly, to bury yourself, as II were. | had
o cousin who became a nun, and do you
think she Is any better, any happier for IL?
1 know she is not. She would lind more
good TO do did she stay In the world; she
would be a better woman"
But what good can 1 ever do any one?
NO, my dear, do not try to dissuade me; 1t
Is all That | can do"
1T Is not. Oh, my dearest Nelly, il Is not
the good, pulc life you think 1t 10 be. The
convent Is but a petty world, with sl the 1T
tie jeaiOusies ana trials that we have here.
Take my, advice, / pray you, and do not CO."
But when had sne--this willful, ,willful
g gn1vv shsE.I taken ak, any ones advice? She
And about this house," she continues,
~0f course l am obliged to sell it; 1 could
not possibly keep II. have had a very good
offer for it, but / must leave very soon."
Where will you GO"
IL am going home first, just TO see the Did
house once more, just to see Denies grave.
1t may be e~xtravagant, but l must-l can
not help It."
Tomorrow has come and gone, these short
autumn days fly so. Eleanor has hidden
farewell TO her home, she has wandered
through the soft-carpeted parlors and long
saloons, she has said goodbye to her costly
pictures, TO her grand piano, which after all
never sounded 50 sweetly as the little cracked
one at the parsonage, but she tells them all
goodbye. She has not kept q thing, not
one, for what will she wish with them? In
the quiet home she has decided upon she
VIII not want any trace OF the old life TO
hang about her.
And now she is all ready TO leave the city {;
she will go tomorrow. The short day Is al
most ended and she thinks she will 90 out
for the last time. 80 she gets ready; II Is al
WAYS dark, but what OF that? Who will no.
tice her--a woman in. a black dresC, a wo-
man with q sad face and sadder heart?
So she goes out through the busy streets,
past the handsome houses, and farther on.
She will never be here again; she would
like TO see them all. And presently she
comes upon a little church, and there Is mu-
sic. She opens the door and goes in; the
service Is almost over, but she sinks down
upon the hard bench and listens.
Or old she had not been fond OF church.
She did not used TO go, but now, now all Is
different. And the old man before her, with
hair as silver as ever DOnie's had been, he
looks like DOME; she loves him for il.
Then In those old days she had such a
bright, fair life before her. She had never
known any sorrow-nineteen happy years
OF Joy! But now she has but one thought,
one desire-to be with DOME and that other,
whose name she will not whisper even To
her heart. And IL she can not be with them
here, why then let her strive and fight 10
meet them sOme where in that vast eternity,
the borders OF which she has touched Dut
moi entered.
They rave lighted the candles in the
church; they form a sort of halo about the
grey-haired minister as he reads, come un-
10 me all We that labor and are heavy laden,
and | will give you rest" Is not she weary
and heavy laden? Is not rest, rest, the cry OF
her tired heart? The service Is over, the
people file out. but the girl In the black dress
kneels there alone, and the OH man with the
face like DOME goes hone all unconscious oi
her presence.
And presently she rises and makes heI
way home, and In her ears those tar-oft bells
keep ringing, ringing.