Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-07-18
The STORY Tslter.
that DAY IN HIS BOAT.

It was wild night. The wind blew
the rain drove, the waves roared in th'
near distance.
1t had been a fateful day to me
Grandfather Delmar, with whom hat
lived ever since I could remember, hat
been carried to his final home that af
ternoon, and now I was the last rep
resentative of our name. The wide
acres of the Delmar plantation, origi
nally one of the largest estates on the
eastern shore of Maryland, had come
down to me as sole heiress. To mt
also had descended the Delmar dia
monds, which had blazed on the per
sons of the Delmar ladies. I say de-
scended, but I am hardly correct, fol
these broad lands and these priceless
levels, we're mine only under the viii
of my grandfather, and that will con.
tanned a proviso which I had just
learned for the first time. I was tt
marry Randolph Heath, the ward and
adopted son of my grandfather, or else
the entire property was to go to thii
selfsame Randolph.
The will had just been read. The
funeral guests, or at least, the most
important of them, had listened to il
in the great drawingroom below, the
walls of which were hung with por
traits of my Delmar ancestors, hand
some men and lovely, golden haired
women.
"Charlotte," said my aunt, wher
the reading of the will was ended
"Charlotte, my dear, you must invite
our friends for the night. You are
mistress now."
II shall never be mistress of Delmal
hall, Aunt Mordaunt," said firmly.
She clutched my arm, her eyes wide
with wonder.
"And why not, pray ?"
"Because of the proviso. I will
never wed Randolph Heath"
Her face whitened to the hue o.
death. She was lone widow and
was her idol; and she coveted al
those jewels and rich acres for my
inheratage. For a moment we stood
breathless.
"But Randolph Heath's in Austral
ia," suggested friend, Sand you are
mistress until he returns"
Poor aunty caught at this last hope
with a grasp of relief.
$50 you are, my DEAR" she put in
"we'll leave all these disagreeable
things to be settled in the future. To-
night friends, we will shut the dool
against the storm and be comfortable. y
She swept off toward the glowing
parlor, followed by her guests, while
fed to my own chamber.
The afternoon, as I have said, had
turned into rain and the waves thun'
dered on the shores of the bay close
by with hoarse cry, like human
heart in pain. paced my room rest
lessly. I could not marry this Ran
dolph Heath, whose face I had not
looked upon since the days of my
early childhood. I could not do it for
another face arose before me, in the
face of the man I loved. A poor man
landless and unknown, yet who had
grown so dear to me in the few briei
months of our summer acquaintance
that to give him up was worse than
death. Yet I was Delmar, and il
was sore trial to lose my heritage
to lose the Delmar jewels. All the
Delmar women before me had worn
these matchless old diamonds; and
must I, alone Of them, be disinherited
and dowerless2
ayes, cheerfully," I said, "since to
keep them I must give up the choice
of my heart. Dear, dear summer
days!"
For it had been during visit to a
school friend, who lived in one of the
loveliest counties of Pennsylvania, that
I lad met, the proceeding June, Her.
bert Stanley. For the first time in
my life I had found in him a perfectly
congenial soul. We liked the same
poetry, preferred the same music, ad-
mired the same scenery. All what
delicious days those were. We rode,
we sailed, we walked, we read togeth.
er. Our acquaintance soon passed
into intimacy, and from that ripened
into love.
Never could I forget the day, the
blissful day, when my hopes became
certainty. Herbert had asked me the
evening before if I would 60 with him
in his boat. No knight of old could
have handed me into the little vessel
more reverently than he did. How
manly be looked? How strong and
self constrained? My heart beat fast,
for something in his manner told me
what was coming but I was inexpres-
sively happy, nevertheless. He rowed
for about half all hour; then stopping,
he lay upon his oars, and looking me
in the face like a brave heart as be
was, told his tale, though with many a
hesitating word, and many a look OF
anxiety.
Should I give such one up? New
er! Yet the temper of my thoughts
were such that I could not stay in
doors! 1 left the house and ran
down to the shore of the bay, having
first thrown a shawl over my head.
The storm and darkness was terrific,