The herald., 1896-08-04

hunted, trapped look--oh! Emmle I might
have saved himl might have saved him.
mo, won't cry, what are tears in grief
like this? Seem happy. do 1? Well; one
has to live ones life. 1t is only at times
that 1t rises UP again, the pity of it, the
unutterable pity!-Well his story is COM
mon one--I mean the temptation and the
fall. Others do worse, infinitely worse,yet
rise again to better things. That hard,so
Aunt Berry was not one to confide In Fan
cy her heaven and the governors Robin
said one day when l scolded him about some
religious observance, I'd rather go to the
other place, where one would at least have
the comfort of thinking ones friends were
better off than oneself Poor fellow!
Well! There was beautiful Ice that winter.
One day some of our set walked to lake
mile and half dstant-but you know the
lake, perhaps you were there a child, that
very day-that sweet, sad, terrible day.
All was perfect, still, bright weather, sun
shine and wine-like air. 50 exhilarating and
sweet Tall pines standing dark against
blue sky, darker against orange, red and
green of divine sunset, and then. above
the tree-tops, the white evening star! And
ohp "Ca souhb. iouHG iiCsh anu nap
py-one didn't know what trouble meant,
much less sin and shame. Vain, too. one
was, and much admired. l wore blue
gown, fitting closely to the figure, and a
small velvet hat and threw my furs aside
to skate. Robin put on my skates; we skat-
ed a good deal together hand-in-hand 1t
was divine. l heard people say, What a
handsome coupler His eyes were full of
fire. the clear red was in his face, and |
looked up and saw what / knew before
that he loved me. We flew together round
and round that lake. Presently when the
sun was dropping behind the pines, we sat
on the bank and looked on Suddenly
Robin exclaimed, That beastly cad, We're
ker!-Vereker had knocked down some
boys on slide, skating through them, spoil
ing their slide and leaving them bowling.
"'I beg your pardon, Miss Forde, he add
ed, Why do you beg my pardon?' I asked.
He is a cad and wish l was big enough
to knock him down. Then somehow it
came out that he supposed me to be engag
ed to Vereker. Imagine my Indignation
and that Vereker was his authority And in
the surprise of finding me free, his own
feelings came out-and suppose. mine too.
And-well! it was heaven. We skated no
more, but wandered in the wood.
"Then he blamed himself for his selfish
ness and presumption; he was SO Utterly I'M
worthy, had been a bad fellow. scamp;
1 did not know how low he had fallen. Had
he ever thought could have cared for him.
he would have been different-even now
hoped to mend and live better, and become
for sab p,,t
l was not to be bound to him, only to let
him hope that he might win me, hope
would make a man Of him. Poor boy. He
looked so manly, so winning; his voice was
deep and so musical. oh. Emmie, l was
happy, happy. But it was too late One little
month earlier would have made all the diff
ference. In the midst of all this happiness
and poetry, we somehow found ourselves
at home, a full moon had risen and shone
the darkness of real night away. Oh! l
can see Robin now springing lightly up the
steps at my uncle's and opening the door
for me with sort Of tender pride in me.
1 passed in looking up into his beautiful
eyes-how happy he looked. poor, poor fell |
low!-Only think. his sister married and
left home when he was but baby, l was
the first woman who had ever really cared
for him. He came in and shut the door.
We stood by the table, talking. Then, when
least expected, the bolt fell.
1.-THE hall was brightly lighted; he laid
my skates and his own on the table, and
was turning to me with some tender jest,
when Uncle Jackson came out of the libr-
airy, and there was that in his face that
made my heart sicken. Is that you, Ash
worth?' he said, in hard, harsh voice,
Step this way, will your
"Robin looked once at me,-oh! my dear.
the agony and despair in those poor beau
tiful eyes! the expression of dumb, hunt