The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-09-12
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
4 CHAPLAINS STORY.
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Jim Bourn and were boys together
at Westminster, we went to Oxford
together, to Ballot, we took our degrees
together in the classical (honors)
school, and we We're ordained together
by the bishop Of L. as curates for
his diocese. Here our paths separated
for some years, and when next we re-
newed our old friendship 1 was the
vicar Of the town, still single, at thir
ty-four, and Jim was the chaplain of
the famous jail in the same town, and
married.
We were talking in my study, as i'll
olden times. Somehow the conversa-
ton drifted to the subject of a recent
newspaper article: Ought Married
People to Have Any Secrets From
Each Other?' l said NO" Jim said
Yes We both smilingly stuck to
our text 1t was not often we differed
in opinion, but this was one case, any
how.
why. jim" said l. you would have
been the last person l should have en-
pected to take that line, for I am sure,
from what l have seen, that if ever
two people We're happy and loving they
are Ella and yourself. I can't con-
ceive of yonr having any secret which
you would not wish Ella to know
"Ah'' retorted he, with peculiar
smile, that's just it. Well. Howson,
I'll tell you one, if you like, though"
he added, lit must remain a secret be-
tween us two. I have never spoken of
it to anyone in the world, and never
shall, except to YOURSELF
Thanks, jim, you need not fear me,
as you know. I'm only curious to
know the case" And I assumed an
attitude of eager attention to JiInss
story.
81 was the chaplain Of Lowmarket,
as you are we'll aware, before l came
here. 1t is a pretty place, and one
wonders whatever made the govern
ment build jail there. However,
there it is, and there was I. The
amount of society that one got a Low
market was perfectly astonishing.
Had ] the time and inclination for it,
l might have turned out regular SO
ciety' clergyman. AS it was, I had a
full amount of lectures, sooirees. par
ties and entertainments. Among the
people I got in with, none were nicer
than the Yorks. Miss York maiden
lady Of fifty, lived in large and beau
tifully furnished house, called The
Cedars,' in the best part Of the town.
She was known all over the district
for her charity, kindness Of heart and
pure life. Everybody had q good word
for her. Nor was her niece. Ella York
any less popular. People in Lowmar
ket fairly WOrshiped both Of them.
Il was twenty-eight when I first sa "
Ella York, and at once succumbed tC
her charms. For weeks her praises
had been in my ears. and now, on
acquaintance, I found her beauty, hei
manners, her kindness of heart not one
whit less than report stated. I loved
her. Of course 1 could not say so al
once, and whether. after two or three
meetings in the course Of my work
for Miss York, the elder, took great
interest in our sphere of labor-sht
guessed my love and reciprocated it,
could not then say. I found. from i1l
dicious inquiries, that Miss York-Ellf
had lived with her amt from child
hood; that she was now tWenty-four
that her mother was dead and hel
father lived on the continent for hi!
health; also, that she was her aunt!
sole heiress. These facts were, O:
course, only learned by degrees. as on
cannot go to the fountain head TO,
such information. '..e, r.. s., K
~ AFTER much heart searching and de
batting with myself, I thought I saw
that Ella York was not wholly indif
ferent to me, and I resolved to ask he
to be my wife. l need not go 'intCAd
tails as to how l did it beyond sayins
that it was one summer morning rath
er more than five years ago, when
having gone to see her aunt, who wa
out, I met Ella in the grounds, AM
after talking as we walked along o.
various subjects, somehow it came GU
unexpectedly and almost before coult
comprehend what it all meant, Ell.
York had promised to be my wife, sub
ject to her aunt's consent.
'But her aunt didn't consent / nc
ceiyed dainty note that night-hov
tenderly L regarded it. Howson!-frol
Ella, saying that she had spoken O
my visit to her aunt, and had told he
was coming tomorrow for her ar
proval; that Miss York had been kline
but acted rather strangely and sal
she would see me, but she could no
consent, as she did not wish to los
Ella. My dear girl went on to say tina
she had in vain tried to get from he
any more than this.
II was in a curious frame of min
as l went next morning to see Mis-