Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-10-24

in my bosom. You believed me tickle
and false; you despised all women be-
cause of me, and I have suffered you
to go in ignorance, while all the time
my heart has been slowly breaking
for the want of your love. When you
left me to go out into the world in
search of fortune, my love wrong
| ed Heaven! was an idolater, and
you, Richard, were my idol! But if
my love was strong, my pride was
stronger, and when your letters, after
growing less frequent, ceased alto
gether, sought no explanation of
of your silence.
Georgia Dale, my step mother,
was my counsellor, and because I lis
tened to her, my whole life has been
ship wrecked. She it was who whis
pered in my ear Of your devotedness
to a fair heiress; she it was who
brought me the letter containing the
tidipgs of your marriage. Oh Richard.
Richard! why shall picture the days
of agony which succeeded? But for
my pride, I should have lost my rea-
son!
"Well, after that, Charles Gray
sought my favor; my step mother ap-
proved of him, and I perjured myself
at Gods altar. Too late learned the
truth! It was all a vile plot of Geor
gia Dale's; I stood between her and
you; but for me she hoped to win
your love. You know the result; her
plot was failure. You fed from the
country, hating me in your heart, and
never guessing that the smiling bride
of Charles Gray cast a thought after
you.
'Seven years ago my husband died,
and during these intervening year I
have earned my own and my children
bread by the labor of my hands. Only
once in that time have I look on your
face, and then you thought me hun
dred of miles away; but my love was
potent, and journeyed on foot and
alone a hundreds leagues to see you
once more.
"You were walking in the garden,
and the woman whom you turned
away when she asked for draugh of
water was Violet Dale. I would not
reveal myself to you: it is better as it
is. And now Heaven bless you Rich
ard Steele! [ have loved you long and
you only; and in heaven where [ am
going there is neither marrying nor
giving in marriage; meet me there.
Violet Gray"
He finished the manuscript, and,
bowling his head on the open sheet,
the long-pent sorrow Of his heart
burst forth in tears, tears such as only
one like him can shed. The closed !
chamber was opened at last, the dou-
bic granite doors were rolled back, |
and the angle Of tender memory flew
in and took up their abode there.
Violet Dale! the soft-eyed girl whom /
he had loved with the freshness of his
Violet, who had made his whole life a
failure! And yet she had been inno
cent; before the tribunal Of his judg-
ment she was blameless. Yet she was !
dead-what mattered this long defer
red discovery?-it was too late now.
Too late for her, but not too late for
her children. They should be his, !
and be would be their father. And it /
was even so. Richard and Violet Gray |
went forth no more from Ireton Hall; |
henceforth their home was with .
the early friend of their mother.
z o,.le, No 1ox
his deathbed, loving and grieving
friends were around him, and at the .
very last he fancied he saw the face
of his lost Violet lowering above the
couch. At his funeral there were few
dry eyes, for the poor had learned to
bless his bounty, and the sick and dis
tressed offered up his name in their
prayers.
You invite disappointment when you ex-
pertinent. DeWitt's Little Early Risers
pleasant, easy, thorough little pills. They
cure constipation and sick headache just
sure as you take them.
H. G. Pierce. Barton; II. S. Webster
Barton Landing; G.. W. Russell, Irasburgh;
R. F.. French, Glover.
A story illustrating Admiral Dew
ey's prompt way of preparing for any
emergency is brought from Manila by
Captain Sebree of the steamer China.
When the cablegram reached Dewey
that Camara's feet had actually en-
tered the Suez Canal and might be ex-
pected at Manila, Dewey paid visit
to Sebree on the China and carefully