The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-02-23
The TelIer's Story.
BY Z. ] VERY.

BILE position of teller. Old Mr.. Day
liked and trusted me and, as an espe,
cial mark of his favor, was in the habit
Of inviting me to dinner on Sunday
afternoons, a favor / shared with
Jerome Naylor, the cashier and junior
partner In the firm. Mr.. Day was q
widower. and his only daughter and
heiress, Enid, did the honors of his
table.
Beautiful Euid Dayl I have never
forget, nor do I wish to forget, while I
live, that afternoon of our first meet
ing. 1t vas n of those dull, sound
less autumnal days, when the frown
ing sky threatens storm and yet with,
holds it, expressing the heart with a
vague sense of something evil to come,
and a profound melancholy which one
can neither define nor shake of.
Yet as I entered that pRrlor a swift
change to inexplicable happiness came
over me. Standing there, where the
warm hue from the half drawn Grim
son curtains fell across her simply
clad figure, she seemed to me like the
embodiment of all the song, perfume,
sunshine and exhilaration of early
spring. She was very young, but her
form, despite it's girlish immaturity,
was nobly developed. Her face, with
it's soft, oval outline, its pRllor, deep
ening in the cheeks to the tints Of a
roses heart, the large violet eyes-a
child's eyes in their innocence, and yet
q woman's eyes in their depth and sug-
geStion of strong emotion her fece, l
say, as 1 said II at that moment,
again faded from my soul. At that
first instant I loved her; aud it was
was with avoice that shook and q hand
that, touching her little palm, trem
bled as if guilty Of a sacrilege, that /
greeted her.
Jerome Naylor, standing by, wit
messed u fist meeting; and as, by
some intuition, l glanced aside at him,
l saw q look in his pale eyes that l re-
called long afterward. Then I was too
confused, too inexperienced in lore of
love, to comprehend it's meaning. But
there came a day when I could inter
pref only too clearly it's bitter malice
and hateful resolve; for Jerome Nay
lor had long loved ENID Day, as such
men love; had even offered himself
and been refused, and his keen glance
had already detected a rival In the
laundering, stammering youth, whose
sole thought at the moment was hum
Dle, almost unconscious, alteration.
Yes. it was more than simple love;
it was wonder, reverence and devotion
such as, in the old time, the PROSTATE
| Worshiper felt for his divinity. AS
time went on, and l saw her again and
again, my love grew upon me, until it
became the ruling principle OF my life;
and as l came to know my own heart
I also learned how wild a hope it was
that I nourished in my breast. Even
if 60 rare an example of Gods handi.
work could have stopped to love so
unworthy a man as I knew myself to
be, how could a salaried clerk Of the
rich banker pretend to the hand Of his
only daughter and heiress9
So day by day the gloom Of a deep
dependency darkened upon my life.
l grew client and a~bstracted. I per
formed my duties as faithfully as ever
but I no longer laughed and jssted
with my fellow clerks, nor joined
IN the amusements of their leisure
hours Jerome Naylor was invariably
/ courteous in his treatment Of me, but
[ caught more than one side wise glance
of his eye, that, had 1 been less CD
sorbed in my own trouble, might have
startled me. But hopeless OF the n
thing which could have made existence
valuable to me, what had l to fear from
the worst bis malice could devise9
Latterly l had absented myself from
the usual Sunday afternoon gathering
at my employers table. One day he
came to me where 1 bent over my
BOOKS, and clepping me upon the
shoulder, in his genial, kindly fashion,
said:
''Trescott, my boy, if you do not
dine with us to morrow afternoon, you
will make an enemy of Enid"
muttered something about not hav-
ing felt very vel of late.
That ia what 1 told my girl, replied
Mr.. Day. II said you were looking
thin and pale and generally out OF
sorts. Whereupon she astonished me
by getting very angry and accusing
YOU of-what was it, -egotism, I be-
- Lo,ub Univ I 6O not unite I'M.