The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-06-18

ANNlN lA NInNNtN 70 sense OF ms great
danger. Marion met him with o
warmth which brought q ray Of hope
into the darkness. He might set re-
trieye his late return, and. subtly.
quietly, he laid the anares which were
10 ontrap her feet.
II suppose IL would be hard enough
TO give you up, Marion, to any one, /"
he said TO her one evening when her
lover was absent Notwithstanding
my own love is hopeless, cannot make
a secret Of It's existence 10 YOU. i
could not hide It, If I would, but 10
see you give yourself 10 a man who
prizes your loyeliness only as a Turk
his slave, who will possess Il only that
he may hide il from the world, who
will doom your young life to be spent
only for his own selfish ends, is intol-
cradle 20 me.
"You do Mr.. Ellis great injustice.
Allen. But even did I think him so
selfish as you portray him. 1 certainly
would not discuss his faults with any
one 80 long as looked upon him as
my promised husband.
But when again and again her be-
trothed urged her TO appoint a day
when he might call her really his. Allen
Fane's words came to her mind.
Linked TO her own unexpressed
thought which had ranked 80 long and
sowed the first seed Of doubt, she
shrank at the idea Of taking the step
from which there was no withdrawal
"Why are you 80 anxious, Nelson?"
she at last said to him. ''Think Of the
long years we are to spend together.
Absolutely il is appalling. You will
get tired Of me soon enough"
"Tired Of you, darlingl Does one
tire Of the sunlight or voluntarily seek
the shadow? 1t seems to me since
have met you that 1 have only for the
first time realized what great boon
life may prove. 1 have waited long
and patiently, dear. Give me the
promise ask tonight. Let the June
roses blossom for my bride, and the
robins song echo our happiness.
"Where shall we spend the summer,
Nelson?"
81 have chosen a little cottage far
away from the noise and hustle of the
world. 1t is perfect in its every APP
pointment, and we can spend the long
summer days in forgetfulness that
there exists the seething, surging cur
rent of human life, from which we have
so separated our own. Do you won
der l am impatient, dear?"
ooh, but, Nelson, 1 hate cottage
life, and 1 am sure our society would
become mutually unbearable in such
monotony."
"What do You mean, Marion?" and
Nelson Ellis's lips grew white. "Do,
you, who have promised to spend your
whole life with me, talk of it already
as beyond forbearance? Is this the
fond picture 1 have painted of my
home? Pause, Marion Think while
yet on the threshold. If your life is
mine, it belongs not to the world. If
it is the worlds, then in it have no
claim. offer you, darling, all I have.
I ask Of you only yourself, but I ask it
as a free boon and one which is placed
willingly in my keeping. You must
decide, Marion, for yourself. I had
hoped your decision long since irrevo-
cable, but once more place the choice
in your hands"
"You say you ask of me only my
self. Is it not all have to give? 1
cannot give up the world to lead the
life of a recluse, even though you so
selfshly make the demand. One
would suppose I was a child to be die
tated to at will. 1t has all been q mis-
take Mr.. Ellis, and we may truly con-
graduate ourselves that our eyes have
been opened in time to redeem an
otherwise fatal error. We part as
friends, I hope?"
Friends? Who has been at work?
Whose hand may 1 thank for having
laid this network of worldliness and
suspicion in the mind of a girl, who,
few short months ago, harbored no
such thought? You could not trust
me, then, with your beauty. You
feared 1 would guard it beyond the
reach of other eyes, True, 1 might
have held it as sacred shrine, but its
bloom, its radiance would have been
undimmed till death robbed me OF
both. You give me up, then? So be
it. Go back to your world! Glory in
it; revel in it, and teach men the les.
son you have given me, that the
brighter the eye, the fairer the cheek,
the falser the heart. Good evening,
Miss Reynolds" and, with low bow,
Nelson Ellis went out from the light
into the shadow.
Marion stood as in a stupor. She
had spoken her own thoughts for the
first time, for the first time expressed
the feeling which so long had ranked
How cold, how heartless and worldly
it had sounded even to her ears. What
was the selfshpess Of which she hat
accused her lover but the reflex of hel
| o,,,oQ Had 4hn would rno1lv GROWN q,