Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-05-27
"You can wait. I have waited for the

desire Of my heart Is long years.
"Oh, but-mammal I just will not
wait any such time. Neither will John
Eighteen yearsl Why, it is an eternityP
IF the time seems long for youth to
look forward to what must it be for age
to look back upon9"
"But what good have you done hy
waitingp And what good will 1t do for
me to 20 ON waiting with you perhaps
all our lives for that which may never
conner"
"Oh, yes It will come. Prayers like
mine must bring it. cannot die until
it does Twill not die until your fathers
name is cleared and vengeance is
wrought upon the man who ruined him
and US Can you forget that the wretch
not only robbed him, but made 1t appear
that his endeavor to regain possession OF
his own was an audacious attempt at
robbery? That stain has never been re-
moved It Is as a perturer and an in:
tended thief that your father lives In
mems memories today. And would You
offer that smirched name to the regard
Of the honorable man who loves you?
Would you put it in the power Of other
men, his enemies, to point the finger OF
scorn at him and say, He married that
thief's daughter3' Can you, as you are,
know any grief that will bite your heart
az deep as would the consciousness that
you had brought shame to him? No,
girl Better remain as you are. Keep
the VOW you have taken to remain by
my side until justice is done"
"But, mamma, John would not feel
ashamed Of me. He is too noble, too
Just. And he knows the truth. he un-
derstands that poor papa was not to
blame, and II he was not surely can
not be-"
Remember your VOW"
"I did not know what I was doing
when you made me promise that How
did know then that I would ever fall
in love with anybody did not even
know what love was You should not
have required Of me such a promise.
And now it is your duty to release me
from it. It is not fair to hold me
to it. It is not right John would
be good husband to me, for he is
good man, and he loves me well, as
do him, and / want to marry him.
Think Of how you and my father loved
each other. Oh, yes, you must have
loved him very much, for 1t is that love
which has inspired you all these years
with such bitter hate for the man who
wronged him. In memory Of that love
do not be 30 hard with your poor child,
whose heart is as warm as yours was,
and will break if you are 30 cruel with
her."
"Have patience, my child 1t mny
not be for long. Heaven surely will not
forever continue to prosper that man
and deny its justice upon him. lido feel
for you. Oh, yes, nay child, indeed !
do, but cannot release you from your
VOW. I cannot let you go from me. My
thoughts would madden me If were
left alone"
"But, see, mother. Would 1t not be
better for me to marry and then we
would have John, who is man OF en-
ergy and brains and steady purpose, to
help us2 What can we two women do
unaided? Nothing but wait 1t advances
nothing for us to sit still and wait for
the slow moving Of fate in our behalf
1T is my VOW"
"But suppose John should weary OF
waiting for me, say that did not love
him or would not ask him to do 80,
and should marry some other girl Oh,
mamma, it would kill mel"
"No, no, my child It would not.
Don't cry 30. Don't, dear, don't Grief
does not kill, not even when shame is
added to it. Oh, no. They wound very
deeply sometimes, but they do not kill,
else I would not be alive. If John
leaves you, it will be because he does
not love you well enough to wait, and
you will be better without him. Then
In good time you will marry somebody
else. When we get back your fathers
wealth, you can pick and choose. 1t
will be no small sum. The handsomest
men and the highest in society will be
glad to pay court to you then.
"But, mamma, I may be old then.
And nobody can be handsomer to me
than John, and he is all the society
want, and he loves me just as l am,
without waiting for me to have a for
tune. Oh, mamma, do be reasonable l
love him 30 much"
The old woman's face did not relax
the sternness of its expression. Indeed 1t
seemed as if its lines were 30 fixed that
it could not soften. But tears welled up
in her eyes and ran down upon her thin
cheeks, her lower lip trembled and the
lean hands she was slowly rubbing to-
gether shook as if with palsy. Addie,
who was crouched upon an ottoman, laid
"a