The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-01-16

II hear you are to be married. my
SOM was the well meant interroga-
TORY of the professor. as soon as his
greeting had heen returned.
You hear it truly, | believe" said
Adolph, coloring.
Aud to n young, ~uncducated peas
ant girl. from a secluded hamlet,
whom you have known but these two
monthS?'
Neither is that unlike the TRUTH"
was the cold response.
Are you not about to commit n
grave error" was the still kind in
quiry which succeeded. accompanied
by 4 searching. though Il parental
look.
Il believe | have arrived at what
should he years of discretion" re
turned Adolph. i'll the same calm tone.
AT any rate. the question comes too
late to be %prohtably pondered."
\ new incident soon marked the
progress of Bertha's for some time
monotonous and tranquil life. A youth
of her native village, Albert Korler by
name. who had fed from the ravages
of the pestilence which bereft her of
her last remaining parent. had wan
dered to Gottingen, and, hearing that
his former playmate had found there
Il residence. he sought and found her.
The meeting was to her of lively
pleasure, though the memory of form
Ell joys and SORROWS eventually gave
to this and tneii succeeding inter
views a more pensive interest. To
him. alas. that meeting was one of
mingled rapture and despair. He had
loved her from early childhood; at
first with a boyiSh preference and ad-
miration, which grew with adding
years into the wild idolatry of a doting
lover. No word of this had he betray-
ed to the object of his intense devo-
ton. But now. when h met him
among strangers, after an interval
most sad and eventful. she had grown
wiser in the knowledge of the heart.
and the truth flashed, though doubt
fully, upon her. Albert was IN no
haste to confirm her suspicious. So
long as he remained avowedly but a
simple acquaintance and a friend of
her childhood. she could not deny him
her presence without implying all that.
were it true, she would be most anX-
ious to conceal. And thus he tottered
on in the gloom of a fast deepening
twilight. to find its only consumma-
ton in a night OF blacklist despair.
And Bertha, too, even she had learn
ed in her Utmost soul to fear, if not TO
dread, the great event of her life, now
with rapid strides approaching. The
intimate communion of months had
taught her to respect still more the
lorfty character of Adolph and to es-
teen his many virtues. Yet her spirit
was awed rather than attracted by the
greatness of his intellect and the mai
,,+ - hia TOMS =,
brother she would have gladly soothed
his hours of depression and cheered
him on to labors of which she would
know and seek to know only that
their aim was worthy even of him. AS
a lover. she was chilled by Il sense of
his superiority and sat mute and con
strained in his presence. How strange,
how painful was the contrast between
an evening shared with her lover and
one enjoyed with the admiring. simple
hearted friend of her childhood!
Bertha had instinctively concealed
from Albert the day of her nuptials
indeed. she had not trusted herGelf
nor allowed him to speak of the matter
at all. and when the thunderbolt fell
il announced that all was over. The
marriage had been privately consum,
mated. the parties had Immediately
set of TO visit the widowed mother OF
AdOlph. living at a considerable dis
lance from GOttingen. Albert heard
this. and sought to hear no farther. A
raging fever and deliriun overcamt
him. and when his consciousness anG
health were restored. Bertha, in happy
ignorance of his misfortunes and won
dering at his sudden disappearance
had been for some time quietly settled
in the discharge of her matronly du
ties as the head Of her husbands
humble household.
In the union of Adolph with Bertha
each had blindly looked to marriage
to reconcile differences which it's init
mate relationship could only serve t.
display more prominently, and to sup
ply deficiencies which it could but rem
der more painful. The very devotion
of AdOlph to his engrosSing pursuits
which in a lover she had regarded
with pride, Bertha found in a husban'
to require an abstraction from and
neglect of the petty but still needfu
cares of daily life, and a habitual tao
turnity. Her o urgent question
often remained unanswered becaus
unheeded; his thoughts We're wander
ing afar. Often did she desist fror
NOFS 10 IN MS ATTENTION vi SOll
topic in which she also could feel an
express an interest. and retire to lac
chamber to weep tears of bitterness
and despair. Her sky had now n
CLEAN; her future no hope. She ha
, doomed herself to bear the heav
curse of a lire devoid of sympath.
+ and must reap as she had
Adolph felt, at times acutely. that h
: had indeed committed "a grave mi
[ take and that 1t was 10Y truly to
late to repent it.
One evening Adoiph was absent frol
: his home, as was not unfrequently tt
case, when a rap at the o appriSe
. Bertha of his supposed return. 81
: opened, and Albert stood before he
do not spurn me. Bertha" he in
5 plOred, as with n shrek of SurpriS
e she had motlcned to close the door:
am very i'll and w~retched." In hu
ried, broken accents. but with a fir
Z ness of purpose. he unfOlded to her Il
v dark picture of his blighted hopes, h
y crushed affections. his sufferings al
his intense despair. Bertha could II
r, @SEss;ssSssa