The Opelousas courier., 1893-07-01

Jere Harman?" "
"Your nights" began Jere
Hartman in his harsh, stern voice. J
saw that Neffie Hartman had slipped
out to her fathers side and laid hel
hand pleadingly on his shoulder. She
did not fear the angry men, for will.
ingly not one of them would have
harmed a hair of her dainty head.
saw that she would have pleaded with
hel iather to be gentle with the1.
eyes, Our rightsl" yelled O Voice il
the crowd with an awful oath. He wal
drunken or blind with rage-surely ht
did not see the girl at her fathers side
A stone whizzed through the air. II
| might have been Jere Harman's death
blow instead, it struck her. It cut c
great, cruel cash just above the temple
They sprang toward her-her friends.
her lover-but Nellie Hartman put heJ
two hands out to me with a sharp.
gasping cry.
Jack, Jack" she said, and I caught
her in my arms.
I have lived over the agony, the
Joy, of that moment all through the
long, lonely hours of this night.
It was big John himself who brought
the doctor and cried like o child wher
they told him she was dying. His little
crippled child she had loved and cared
for, and it had died in her arms. "Aye.
and that harm should have come to
her, who vas more good and innocent
of wrong than the angels!" muttered
Big John, brokenly, as he went away
softened and sorrowful.
Jere Hartman sent me out to tell the
men that he had yielded, and in the
silence of death they went away.
The strike is over.
As I Sit here in the gray dawn, wait.
ing, fearing, dreading the coming Of
The morning and the news it may bring.
[ hear the chatter Of horses hoofs. II
is a servant from the Hall riding to the
village on some errand.
"What news?"I call out hoersely,
and learn that the worst is over and
that she will live.
Sc
Nellie Harmar. lowered between life
and death for long weeks, and l
worked as l had never worked before.
Jere Hartman left much of the manage.
ment of the mill in my hands, and ]
put heart and brain in the work or ]
should have gone mad in thoS weeks
with the longing to see her faceINWhen
she was well again I spent many even.
ings at the Hall, talking business With
her father, who came seldom to the
Office in those days. He had broken il
health with the recent troubles and had
lost energy, bnt he was gentler and
kinder than of old.
Harry Desmond was always there. ]
was but q dull guest. I could not en-.
dure his llght-heartedness, the triumph
in his eyes, the happiness in his laugh.
I could not endure that he should call
her by name or smile on her.
I was a mad fooli
] told Jere Hartman that l must &C
away that I must have rest, change
a vacation. Gordon, the young fore.
man, could take my place, I urged.
and he consented, though grudgingly,
The last evening | promised him to
spend at the Hall and go over the &C,
counts With him.
Never had Nellie been brighter OF
gayer. I felt a vague pang that my
going was 50 little to her.
It was early when Desmond left, and
I Immediately rose to go. Jere Har
man grasped my hand cordially IL
farewell, and Nellie said simply "Good,
bye," and I went down the path slowly
and sadly.
Suddenly I heard a light, flying step
behind me as I reached the shedoy OF
the trees.
1t was Nellie.
I stepped back in the darkness. She
stopped, as if listening, and then came
toward me.
II thought / should overtaAe you,"
she whispered, slipping her arm through
mine. "Did you think I could let you
go away tonight without a last word?"
There was something in her voice, q
tenderness, that explained all. She
had come out to meet her lover, Des !
mond, and mistaken me for him in the
darkness. But to have her SO near was
very sweet. She seemed not to cara
for speech. She was very still-iust
my arm and leaning over SC
against my shoulder. The
was great was going
away-just to take away with me the |
memory of a moments heaven.l
/ kissed her.
Forgive me-" I pleaded, desper.
ately. "You thought me your lover.
and I was cruel, mad, to
Jake that kiss. Nellie, forgive me-"
"But I kissed You, Jack" she
"And you won't go-oh.
Jack you won't go when I love you so.
Jack Spencer, gray-haired and forty,
common place and poor-she loved
him!
That is my romance Frank Leslie's
Weekly.
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