Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-10-11


resolutions, till even h.s love story
came out in earnest word. LA OIL
by the quietly expressed ), apathy in
his resolves to enter upon q noble and
more useful life, impetuous Ned, by O
sudden inspiration, said:
IF only Matte could know hoy
luch it would help me to feel sure OF
uer love! I cannot say if she ever
cared for me as I care for her, but if !
could believe she would be my wife
when I deserved her it would stimu-
late me as no other hope on earth
could do"
''You think she loves you?"
Harvey Stillman's very lips were
white as he asked the question.
II did think SO once. Now I would
give all I own to be sure of it,"
There was much more to the same
purpose, till Ned, with sudden CLEAN
of hope, asked the minister to plead
his cause.
'.No one has as much influence as
you have. She looks up to you as to
a father" said Ned, never seeing how
his listener WINGED Mt the comparison;
'and if you were to tell her how her
love would aid me she might believe
I do not always mean to be the idler
she has known"
'I will see her," was the grave re-
ply. eff she loves Won she shall have
the happiness of giving you the en-
couragement you desire"
But when the drive was over and the
minister entered his study the quiet
gravity of his face broke up into an
expression of keeuest suffering. He
had borne many sorrows in his life.
Death had taken his nearest and dear
est; poverty had laid her heavy hand
upon him; temptations had assailed
him, only driven back by prayerful
struggles. He Lad hoped to find in
Greyport rest, after long battle in
life. His salary promised him an easy
competence and some leisure for stud
les he loved. without neglect of his
higher duties. But before he had
been in his new home many weeks
Matte Woolston's sweet, earnest face,
her goodness, her uncbtrusive, sincere
piety had awakened in his heart an
emotion he had never hoped to expert
ence. Love had been far-off posi-
bility for happier lives, and he had not
realized that it was seeking entrance
into his own till Ned Gordon reused
him to the consciousness of what his
deep interest in Matte signi6ed.
He loved her and he had undertaken
to plead the cause of another to her!
Thought became such torture that he
resolved to have the dreaded interview
over, to know the worst at once. He
found Matte in the parlor of her
fathers handsome house, and, fearing
for his own strength, told his errand
gently.
The girl looked at him with white
cheeks and startled expression, as if
she had received q sudden, unexpected
blow where she had looked for kind
ness. Her great brown eyes had a
hunted, piteous look that it went to
his heart to see. She struggled for
composure before she trusted her
voice to speak, and it was low and
tremulous when she said:
"Since you are Mr.. Gordon's am-
bassador, tell him from me that he has
my most sincere good wishes for his
success in his new life. He .as no
warmer friend, no more earn we'll
wisher than myself. But I C never
be his wife. I do not love him. We
have been like brother and sister from
childhood, and 7 can give him my Sis
terly affection, nothing more"
II think he is sincere in bis resolu-
tion to make his life more earnest and
useful than il has ever been" Harvey