Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-06-14

choicest from our garden for Johns
room. was perfectly delighted when
he one day told me that my "cheeks
put the roses to shame" 1t was the
firsi compliment he had ever paid me,
and for days the thought of it made
me absurdly happy.
At last l felt that John loved me. |
never moved that his eyes did not fol-
low every motion, and how the light
came into his eyes when l returned to
him after some short absencel This
was my first love, and by it my dull
monotonous life seemed changed into
Paradise,
The weeks glided by. John had re-
covered and would soon leave us, yet
he had not spoken of his love but
after a while the words came. We
were sitting on the porch in the moon
light, in the same place from which 1
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 n 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 to 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 day of our engagement John
took it from his finger and placed it
on mine with these words: "Should
aught part us, love, though years roll
between, the sight of this ring will
bring me to protect you.
At last my cup of happiness was
full, but it was destined to be emptied
to the dregs. 1 need not go
over those months of misery,
when John Graham came to
see me with his brain stupeied 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-
edge, and in one of his fits of fury at
the weakness and loathsomeness of my
lover, he literally kicked John out of
the house 1t is enough for me to say
that things went from bad to worse.
could love John no longer, after he
had sunk so low, and at last-it was
on New Year Eve, like ths-our en-
gagement was broken. | returned the
ring, but John sent it back to me,
praying me to keep it, "as symbol
of love that had once been true.
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, | 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.
had been married number of
years aud was the mother of three
children when your uncle was obliged
to go to California to look after some
mines in which he had large inter
est. As he expected to be there for
considerable time, we all went with
him, and decided to rent furnished
house in the suburbs of l.. The
one we fancied most was large, and
only one story high. 1t was hand
somely furnished and had n great
many acres of ground around it. At
first, objected to taking it on account
of the lonely location, but the numer-
ous attractions which it possessed soon
overcame this one fault, and before
long we were comfortably settled in
our new quarters. We had been liv-
ing there only year, when one even
ing-this also was on New Year Eve
your uncle came home as usual, and
after he had been in the house few
minutes, he received dispatch which
necessitated his starting off immedi-
ately, to be gone for two or
three days. 1t was the first time
| since our marriage that we had been
separated, and that night | did feel a
little nervous. | went to the nursery
and looked at my children, sleeping
peacefully, and then, taking a book, |
read until | was 50 weary that l went
to bed
My bedroom was large and had four
windows. Two of them opened on the
piazza, and two on n. beautiful green
terrace. My dressing-table stood be-
tween the piazza-w windows, and on it
was my jewel-casket, containing all my
diamonds, and several other valuable
articles of iewelry. Usually, 1 kept
this locked in an iron safe, but that
evening | had taken it out, in order to
get pin for my husband to have
mended in l., and | had forgotten
to put 1t back. After | was safely in
bed, Remembered my casket, but con-
cluded that no harm could possibly
come to 1t in just that one night, and
thought would put il sway