The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1898-08-03

has been more than my weak eye
could bear. / have promised to loy
the man who is to be my husband, br
the love he requires is more easil
given than that the birds echoed an
the flowers blessed. I think, after al
7 my heart is buried on the spot wher
1 you and parted. Let us hope it neve
may be resurrected. Jack, Jack, fol
give mel"
/, So Dennis Doane had done thi
work. Her letter once dispatched, Ne
lie forbade thought to enter more an
dreamed that in her new life she ha
; found happiness, while he who ha
gained her for his own looked on he
wondrous beauty and gloried tina
: with wealth unlimited at his comman,
, so fair bride should grace his hand
some home. The sweetly solemn word
of wife and mother were to him un
known.
But her visit was approaching it
close. A few days more and she mus
return to her home, when the prep
arations for the wedding were to b,
hurried as speedily as possible, and il
the new year Dennis Doane was tt
come to claim her. 1t was the ex
element, she thought, which made
her head throb so heavily as she laiG
it one night on her pillow and caused
her cheeks to burn so holly, while she
tossed to and fro, wooing sleep in vain
They knew otherwise when they
found her delirious and fever-stricken
in the morning, and their fear arose to
panic when the physician summoned
shook his head and pronounced it the
fearful scourge of smallpox.
For many weary days and nights the
poor girl knew not the dread enemy
| which had overtaken her. The house,
which had been ever filled with CAV
merriment, was silent and deserted.
while the shadow of death in it's most
horrible form hung dark and dismal
over 1T. But there came a day when
it lifted its somber wings and flew
away, and those who had well-nigh
despaired knew that Nellie Leonard
would live: In the early dawn, when
her attendants thought her sleeping,
when the wonderful crisis had been
passed, lying awake and alone, she
first realized the full consciousness of
all that had happened. But it was
Jacks hand for which she longed to
press her fevered brow; Jacks lips
once more to meet her own, as in the
silence and the darkness her own
heart stood revealed to her.
A week later, and with strength and
fuller consciousness came a dim won.
derment as to the ravages of the dis
ease. She asked for mirror. The at
PENDANTS pityingly turned away, but
she would have her demand complied
with. Once she glanced into it, then
asked to be left alone. For hours she
lay silent and motionless, only now
and then tear finding its sad way
down the cheek whose first bloom had
forever fled. Then she called for pen
and paper.
"The beauty for which you loved
me-" she wrote, with firm hand ''has
vanished. l would that all is left had
been hid by the coffin's lid, but Gods |
way is not our way, and He decreed it |
otherwise. You asked me to grace |
your home, I can no longer do so, since
you would turn shuddering from my
presence. Therefore, Irelease YOU"
Then came in answer a few cold
words of coincidence and regret, but
no petition that her decision be re-
versed, and Nellie Leonard's life once
more belonged to her to do with as
she would. But such a shattered.
changed life! Jack never would be-
ieve now that had all been different
she still would have burst her links of
gold and asked him once more to bind
her in the chains of love. Home!
Home! This was the cry of her heart.
And at the first hour her physicians
gave consent. BY slow, careful stages,
he was carried back to the home she
lad left so bright, SO joyous. The dis
ease, after all, had been far more
nerciful than she had at first sup
POSED. 1t was still face of fair
beauty, with but here and there some
light blemish to prove it's finger had
'ut touched her and passed by, but
'he covers it shudderingly in both
lands when Jack Harold first enters
he room where she sits. A great rush
# tenderness comes over him, as he
totes the action, and he approaches
Ter side.
Nellie, is this true, that your life is
ours to do with as you will-that no
'ther can assert a right in it's posses ,
ion? If SO, will you once more, my I
airing, place it in my hands?' ;
Then she raises her face to meet his, .
nd Jack starts.
Il thought you altered, darling, but
OH are all unchanged. 1t is not true. t
erhaps," he adds, sadly. 81 have
card wrongly"
mo, jack" she says, finding voice
nd springing to her feet. eff you will :
AXE me with my beauty gone, oh, how j
lad l shall be once more to rest in ,
our love! 1t has been my punish l
lent, Jack-a fit one. 1t is also fit that