Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-03-19


to suppress 1t great pain was at his
heart-almost as severe as a physical
nne-as he saw his Molly being claimed
for dance after dance by the squire's
ton. How she seemed to enjoy the dis
tinction, too, as with flushed cheeks
size was waltzed aro"ll il Il whirl Of
excitement!
And when the evenings amusements
had ended Molly seemed cross when
john pushed his way to the front and
claimed his right of seeing her from the
park to her fathers cottage gate. She
was irritable and moody. john had
never known her so before, and it was
with heavy, aching heart that he
kissed her good night. Nor was the un-
happin2ss of his mind diminished when
fur several nights after she refused to
take her customary walk with him.
at length the climax came, and one
evening, after he had succeeded in in
ducing her to come with him over the
hills, he received the dread ultimatum
which he had almost expected would
fall. Molly was frank. She avowed
shyly that she did not and could not
love him and then, with pretty, dis
d@iuLul toss of the head, declared that
she would be glad if he did not worry
her any more. John took the blow
quietly, but the agony of soul he suffer-
ed no one but himself knew.
Then grave whispers and mods and
winks passed around from house to
house i'll the village. There We're talks
i'll Lated breath of secret meetings at
night, and of Molly and the young
squire being seen toyether And John
would be questioned but he never an
sWerCd. His sorrow was for himself
alone-so he would tell himself - it
could not be shared by the curious. 1t
was his wont to. go and sit by the sea,
and there find sort of melancholy sat
isfaction i'll the low wall of the billows
as they broke i'll at the foot of the cliffs.
AS for Molly after one final attempt to
reclaim her, John avoided her To have
met her would have increased the in
convenience Of both, and in his case
would have opened afresh the wounds
bat hardly healed: In the months that
followed the whispers took an uglier
form, and Longville delighted its soul
at last i'll Il village scandal.
And so Molly went away and left her
poor old father sorrowing
There was only one who ever defend
ed the fair name of Molly when it was
made a byword with the young roughs
of the place, who loafed outside the vii
lage inn or at the roadsides. John was
never known to have become so incensed
as when one evening i'll his hearing one
of these thuughtlcss youths mentioned
inappfopriately Molly's name and cou-
pied it with foul epithet. Then he
thrashcd the young lout within an inch
of his life.
After awhile the sad incident was
forgottcn-at least until Molly's return
to her home again. Then trouble began
anew. She was very much altered, and
the roses had faded from her cheeks. In
fearful sorrow she would sit and nurse
her baby all day long.
The last act in the tragedy came when
one day Molly's father received a note
from the hall. The steward brought it
round, and as Molly's father was grow
ing old and feeble and his sight waning
the steward read the note aloud 1t was
a formally worded epistle giving the
poor, Old, sorrow stricken parent a
months notice because the squire felt
that it was mot conducive to the morals
OF the village that people of Molly's
stamp should be harbored' in the midst
of his cottaSerS. Needless to say Molly's
father was almost broken hearted at
the thought of leaving the house he had
occupied for so long, while as for Molly
herself her distress was too piteous for
words.
Cue morning not long after John
steppCj! down the old roadway, his face
hagSard, but the expression firm, reso-
lutoaud determined. He presented HIM
self at the door Of Molly's cottage and
wa3 admitted. 1t was only look they
exchanged, and the toodgates We're
opened again, and, having sobbed ON
his shoulder awhile, Molly gradually
recovered herself, while John, with Il
choking sensation i'll the throat which
he tried i'll vain to keep down, avowed:
Il have always waited for you, Molly.
| knew you would come back to me. ~
bat | can't You forget that is
his, y and she pointed i'll her anguish
to the cot wherein the babe was slum.
berinS peacefully.
John didn't turn his head to look,
but he took Molly in his arms again.
And love WAS cOnsummated i'm Spry-
ice, London Sun.