Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-05-29
on p'HEn yTTu

ner-that hltty might get weary of the gold
fishes, and might interrupt them. No such
thing happencd:I stranger appeared on
the path which wound through the garden.
She was alone with him. The influences of
the still and fragrant summer evening were
influences which breathed of love.
"HaNe you thought of me since yesterday?'
he asked, gently.
She owned that she had thought of him.
us there no hope that your heart will ever
incline toward nle?"
Il daren't consult my heart. IfIhad only
to consider my W feelings" She stop
ped.
What else have you TO cOnsider|'
my past life-how | have suffered, and
what ! have to repent Of"
HAS your married life not been a happy
one?' he asked.
Not a happy one-!n the end" she an
swered.
Through no fault OF yours, / am sureP'
Through no fault of mine, certainly"
"And yet you said just now that you had
something 10 repent ol?'
IL was not thinking OF my husband, Capt.
B%ennydeck, wheA | said that. II ! have in
jured any person, the person is myself"
She was thinking of that fatal concession
to the advice of her mother and TO the inter
eSts of her child which placed her in a false
position toward the honest man who loved
her and trusted her. II he had been less in
nocent in the ways Of the world, and not SO
devotedly fond OF her, he might, little by lit.
tie, have persuaded Catherine 10 run the risk
OF shocking him by n confession of the truth.
As II was, his confidence In l. y raised him
high above the reach of suspicious which
might have occurred to other men. lie saw
her turn pale; he saw distress in her face,
which he interpreted rs a silent reproach TO
him for the questions that he had asked. Il
hope you will forgive me- he said, simply.
She was astonished. What have | to for
glvc?"
"My want of delicacy."
"0h, Capt. B%ennydeck, You speak of one
Of your gr,at merits as il it was u fault!
Over and over again | have noticed your deli.
cacy, and admired it,"
lie was too deeply in earnest to abandon
his doubts of himself.
Il have ignorantly led you to think of your
Sorrows" he said; sorrows that | cannot
console. / don't deserve to be forgiven.
May l make the one excuse in my power2
May | speak OF myself?'
She told him by a gesture that he had made
q needless request.
"rhe life | have led" he resumed, sac
counts, perhaps, in some degree, for what is
deficient in me. At school | was not Il pop.
ular boy; | only made one friend, and he
has long since been numbered with the dead.
Or my life at college, and afterward in Lon
don, | dare not speak 10 you; | look back at
II with horror. My school friend decided my
choice of n profession; he went into the
navy. After awhile, not Knowing what else
to do, | followed his example. | liked the
life--l may say the sea saved me. For years
/ was never on shore for more than a few
weeks at q time. i saw nothing Of society
i was hardly ever In the company of ladies'.
The next change in my life associated me
with an arctic expedition. God forbid |
should tell you Of what men go through who
are lost in the regions of eternal ice! Let
me only say | was Observation-Disclosures
preseryed-to profit by that dreadful expert
ence. 1t made a new man OF me; it altered
me Il hope for the better into what | an
now. Oh, | feel that | ought to have kept
my secret yesterday mean my daring to
love you. ] should have waited till you knew
more of me; till my conduct pleased you
nerhaps, and spoke for me-. You won't
laugh, L uU bllt, IL i NOlllNSo Ndi NY hStl
that / am inexperienced. Never till ] mel
YOU have | known what true love iS-and
this is at 40 years old. How some people
would laugh! And yet 1t seems melancholy
10 me-
mo: not melancholy"
Her voice trembled. Agitation, which Il
was not Il pain but a luxury to feel, wa.
gently taking possession of her. Where AN
other man might have seen that her tender
ness was getting the better Of her discretion
aud might have presumed on the discovery
this man, innoccntly blind to his Owl inter
ests, never even attempted to take advantage
OF her. No more certain way could hay,
been devised by the most artful lover o
touching the heart OF a generous woman and
making IL his own. The influence eXerteC
over Catherine by the virtues Of Bennydeck':
characteristic unaffected kindness, his man
ly sympathy, his religious convictions s(
deeply felt, 50 modestly restrained from
claiming nOtice-had been steadily increas
ing in the intimacy of daily intercourse
Catherine had never felt his ascendancy owe
her as strongly as she felt it now. BY fin
degrees the warning remembrances which
had hitherto made her hesitate lost their hol'
on her memory. Hardly conscious hersel
of what she was doing, she began to searcl
his feelings in his own presence. Such low
as his had been unknown in her experience
the luxury of looking into it and sounding
to It's mmost depths was more than the VIC
mans nature could resist.
~ think you hardly do yourself justice,
she said. Surely you don't regret havin
felt for Inc 50 truly when told you yestel
IA., tIat ,A,, ali N.in.,l I.nI .InrarinI ,,aDl
mo, indeed!'
DO you. like to remember that you show
ed no jealous curiosity TO know who IN
friend wasp
Il should have been ashamed of myself
i had asked the question:
And did you believe that | had a goo
motive-a motive which you might yourseI
have approximations not telling you tn
name of that frlendy'
rs he some one whom | knowY
Ought you to ask me that after what
have just saidy'
Pray forgive me! spoke without thinl
ing"
II can hardly believe it when | remembC
. how you spoke TO me yesterday. l ecu
never have supposed, before we became a
qlainted with each other, that 1t was in Il
,, nature of a maj 10 understand me so pc
| fectly, to be so gentle and so considerate
feeling for my distress. You confused me
: little, l must own, by what you said atteI
! ward. But | an not sure that | ought to |
I severe In blaming you. Sympathy mea
, such sympathy as yours-sOmetimes sa.
. more than discretion can always approx
D Have you not found it so yourself"
u IL have found il so with YOU"
!, "And perhaps | have shown a little Il
0 plainly how dependent | am on yOu-ho
dreadful it would be to me ii | lost you, TO
y rs a friend?"
She blushed as she said 1t. When Il
y words had escaped her, she felt that the
y might bear another meaning than the simp
meaning which she had attached to thel
lie took her hand; his doubts of himself, h
d needless fear OF offending her, restrained hi
. no longer.
You can never lose me-" he said, 'if "
will only let me be the nearest friend that
Oma can have. Bear with me, dearest!
ask for so much; | have SO little to offer
return; l dream of a life with you which
perhaps too perfectly happy to be enjoy
" on earth. And yet, 1 cannot resign my Z
fusion. Must my poor heart always long
happiness which is beyond my reach? If
IN i n.. n-tl.-A .....AA. Aaa m