Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-03-26

I
roon l was perfectly delighted when
he one day told me that my ''cheeks
put the roses TO shame" 1t was the
first compliment he had ever paid me,
and for days the thought of it made
me absurdly happy.
At last felt that John loved me. L
never moved that his eyes did not fol-
low every motion, and how the light |
came into his eyes when ! returned to |
him after some short absence This |
was my first love, and by it my dull
monotonous life seemed changed into |
a Paradise.
The weeks glided by. John had re-
covered and would soon leave us, yet
he had not spoken of his love, but
after while the words came. We
were sitting on the porch in the moon
light, in the same place from which /
had seen him carried in on that
eventful day when he was hurt.
My fathers consent to our engage
ment was soon gained, as Johns past
life, SO far as he could discover, was
irreproachable, and his worldly pros
poets We're good. Everything went on
happily for the first few months, and
it seemed that in our case love was to
run smooth course | must not for
get to tell You about my engagement
ring. 1t was one which had been
handed down through several genera
tions tc John. He had always worn
it on his little finger. 1t was SER
pent of silver, its head being formed
of an enormous ruby and the tail of
small diamonds. Inside the ring was
written, thine reveals all things. I"
On the lay of our engagement John
took it from his finger and placed it
> on mine with these WORDS: "Should
, aught part MS, love, though years roll
- between, the sight of this ring will
: bring me to protect you"
:. At last my cup of happiness was
J. full, but it was destined to be emptied
y to the dregs. I need not &c
70 over those months of misery
y when John Graham came tC
- see me with his brain stupefied by
- liquor, and tell how / tried to bring
:. =. him back, and how he would try and
:, fail again.
/ At last it came to my fathers knowl-
=
the weakness and loathsomeness of my
lover, he literally kicked John out of
, the house. 1t is enough for me to say
a that things went from bad to worse. |
could love John no longer, after he
{ had sunk SO low, and at last--it was
I on a New Year Eve, like this-our en-
gagement was broken. | returned the
ring, but John sent it back to me,
, praying me to keep it, ''as symbol
| of a love that had once been true"
I After this, my health gradually gave
way, and our physician advised my
father to take me to Europe, which he
did. We travelled several years and
everything was done to divert and
amuse me. At first, 1 prayed to die,
but was young, very young, and as
the time passed by, life again became
sweet to me. Another love came to
me, far sweeter and stronger than that
old, wild passion of my girlhood, and
in your uncle, my dears, found the
, perfect love of womanhood.
E / had been married n number of
: years and was the mother of three
n children when your uncle was obliged
to go to California to look after some
n mines in which he had a large inter
est. As he expected to be there for a
h considerable time, we all went with
o him, and decided to rent furnished
:, house in the suburbs of L.. The
!. one we fancied most was large, and
7 only one story high. 1t was hand
I somely furnished and had great
=, many acres of ground around it. Al
q first, | objected to taking it on account
/ of the lonely location, but the numer-
Gus attractions which it possessed soon
i overcame this one fault, and before
long we were comfortably settled in
o our new quarters. We had been liv-
. ing there only II year, when one even
a ing-this also was on New Year Eve
a your uncle came home as usual, and
= after he had been in the house few
a minutes, he received dispatch which
,e necessitated his starting off immedi-
e ately, to be gone for two or
10 three days. IT was the first time
q since our marriage that we had been
q separated, and that night | did feel a
. little nervous. | went to the nursery
a and looked at my children, sleeping
= peacefully, and then, taking n book, /
e read until l was SO weary that l went
:, to bed.
e My bedroom was large and had four
windows. Two of them opened on the
piazza, and two on beautiful green
t terrace. My dressing table stood be-
, tween the piazzawindows, and on it
, was my jewel-casket, containing all my
diamonds, and several other valuable
/ articles of iewelry. Usually, / kept
, this locked in an iron safe, but that
$ evening l had taken it out, in order to
get pin for my husband to have
s mended in L., and | had forgotten
s to put 1T back. After | was safely in
t bed, remembered my casket, but con-
d cluded that no harm could possibly
y come to it IN Just that one night, and
e thought / would put it away