The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1893-02-08

we have made mistake. Give me my
shawl. Quickl Let us gop'
But, mother, whyg" soothed the girl,
who scarcely as yet comprehended all
this byplay. Don't you hear what the
gentleman says? We can have work here
and food and shelter. Mother, sit down
againl You are trembling all overg
II tell you, child, you don't knowr'
said impatient Clara, possessed with a
sort of wild, unreasoning terror. 1--WE
we must gop'
CLARA" said the squire, he himself as
Stunning the direction of affairs, "the
child is right Let bygones be bygones.
You don't suppose l would turn you from
my door?"
Clara looked into his face.
"Haveyou forgiven me, then?'' said she.
forgiven you? Yes, years and years
ago. Let as be friends again, Clara
For his heart ached to see how pale
and wan she was--how haggard were
her checks, and how like smoulderine
fires the light burned in the sunken eyes
She told him all that afternoon, while
pretty Isora was stripping the clustered
hops from the vines with dozen girls as
pretty and as blooming as herself, how
her life had been an aimless wreck; how
Carlo Caprivi had been no count after
all, but nameless pretender, with nei-
Their honesty nor money; how he had left
her with the baby Isors on her hands to
shift as best she might for herself, and
was killed In gambling brawl; how she
had struggled ON for years constantly
feeling herself less able to wage unequal
warfare with the world.
'"Gara," said the squire, when she had
finished, "why didn't you come to meg'
Because / had wronged you SO deep
ly,"gshe faltered.
"You might have known would have
been kind, even to Caprivi's child. Well,
it doesn't matter now. You are here,
and you must stay here. Do you hear
me, Claraa Mustl Bless my hearth You'll
grow strong in these country breezes,
and that pale girl Of yours will get color
in her face.n
So they staid at the Pendexter farm,
and beautiful Isora Caprivi grew fairer
to look upon with every passing day.
Clara" said the blunt squire one day,
"that girl of yours is prettier than ever
You were."
II know It," said Mime. Caprivi.
And as she spoke the words pang Of
jealousy struck sharply through her
heart. Yet was it not natural enough
that Squire Pendexter should take note
Of Isora's opening loveliness9
And in her room that night Clara
wrestled with her own heart and con-
quered it.
"He will marry Isora," she told her.
self. "Isora is beautiful, and he is in
the prime of life--it is as 1t should be-
while II am only wreck, waiting on
the shore of time for the usual billow to
come and sweep me away. God bless his
noble hearth God bless my sweet souled
grill And God grant that they may be
happy together for many, many long and
happy years.
The squire came to Mime. Caprivi tn,
next day with rather an embarrassed face
at is coming, thought Clara; II knew
it would"
"Clara," said he. "Tve question t.
ask you"
She held out her hand with smile.
"Ask it, then, freely" she said gra-
ciously.
Should be making a fool of myself
if, at my age, I were to marry"
"You would be doing the most proper
and natural thing in the WORLD" Clara
answered, still smiling, although her
heart seemed to stand still within her.
"Then, by Jove, I'll risk It," said the
squire jubilantly. "Clara, win you have
mea Shall we begin our disjointed lives
over again, my girl?"
Nine. Caprivi grew pale, then red.
"Halloor' said Squire Pendexter, shave
spoken too abruptly Have you
"No," said CLARA family. "But--but
thought 1t was Isora that you loved"
"Then you thought wrong" said the
squire brislly. II have never loved any
woman but you, Clara, and ! neve,
shall"
SO they were married quietly, and the
autumn of life shines softly over them
as the yelled sunlight hangs its golden
haze over the picked hopfelds Of Pen
dexter farm.
And poor Clara is content at last
True Flag.