The National tribune., 1901-02-21
able between theh,I add sat looking at

VI, ".
my poor papa was, andLI would no more
censure you than l. would him. Don't be
angry with me, Harry, for recalling these
sad events. l have no one with whom
can talk about them save you."
To him she seemed. once more a child.
1t was the Ingenious, coniding, loving
child he saw and heard, and not the dear
woman for whom he would have wrested
throne, crown and the jewels of the
earth to lay at her feet.
You remember that evening you were
ut our house, Harry, before papa was so
you would go far away soon?'-
He thrust his hand in his bosom and
took out the little locket with the golden
curl clipped from her own pretty head.
Il have worn it round my neck! IL
had fallen in the enterprise it would have
been buried with me-"
And you win wear it still, Harry, for
my sake?"
She laid her hand on his ms fearlessly
and simply as if not n day had intervened
since she gave him the little token of re-
membrance, and she had only been the
child of wealthy man and he q trusted
domestic.
Il am glad of that. l shall be always
glad to think so. Harry, do you remem-
ber that night, when we were alone, how
you told me there would be a great change
than a great change was coming. That
out of great tribulation we should be puri-
fled and made better"
He gazed at her wonderingly, but was
silent He realized for the first time the
wickedness and selfishness Of his dream.
only of seducing many to danger and
death, but of treason to his country. His
offenses seemed to rise mountains high
all about him.
II know not what you are thinking,
Harry" she said. do not blame your
self; you were young, ambitious and de-
ceived by q wicked, bad man whom you
trusted. He beguiled you astray, but older
and wiser men have been deceived by
false hopes and promises, so do not blame
yourself"
Harry looked upon her while she said
this, with a face full of wonder and
amaZement. Now he caught up the hand
that touched his so entreatingly and held
it between his own.
''Oh, Miss Livingston" he cried, sis it
possible that while l was daring so much,
suffering so much, striving with all the
powers of heart and brain to render some
service that might make me worthy of be-
ing your slave, | was really tool in the
hands of subtle foes, to work your ruin?
was so blind, so foolish, that can never
forgive myself
Don't blame yourself, please don't"
she began. He went on:
"Never have from the first, and never
shall l to the last, regard your part in
my life but as something sacred, never
to be lightly thought of, never to be es-
teemed enough, never until death to be
forgotten. Again to see you look, and
hear you speak as you did on that night
is happiness to me that words cannot ex-
press; and to be loved and trusted ns a
faithful friend or slave is the next great
oil r
Harry" said Maude, looking at him
earnestly, but with changing face,
what is that which is due to me, and
must be rendered to me, at the sacrifice of
all this!"
"Respect and raaverencew said Harry,
in low tone. v
The color dawned in her face, and she
timidly and thoughtfully withdrew her
hand, still looking at him with unabated
earnestness. ~ ~
Il have no brothers right" said Harry,
sadly. II have hardly the right to claim
respect, for | who sought to be CON
queror and the founder Of an empire am
a criminal"
Her face flushed and; paled by turns.
She made gesture as if to entreat him
to say no more. and dropped her face upon
her hands. They were both silent for
time, she weeping.
II owe it to heart so trusting and
pure and good" said Harry, ''even to tear
myself from it, though l rend my own"
She was weeping still,
IF you had been happy, surrounded as
you should be by loving and admiring
friends and all that makes the station you
were born to enviable," continued Harry,
with touching pathos, ''then might have
consented to receive your sympathy for
one who had shot his arrow DER the house
and hurt my brother. but l must have
answered to the name from my distant
place, with no inward assurance
wronged your spotless truth By doing so.
But here-and now
Harry, Harry, why will you blame
yourself for our misfOrtunes"
.'Maudc, Mauder' said Harry, passion
ately, Il am hurried on to say what L
thought few moments ago nothing could
force from my lips If my dreams had
been fulfilled, if the conspiracy had been
successful, and l could have laid an en-
pire at your feet; if had returned con-
queror instead of the conquered; if l even
yet had any means or hope OF being one
day able to restore you to station near
your own would have told you that
there was one name you might bestow on
me-a right above all others to protect
nothing but the love and honor / bore
you, and my whole heart being yours l
would have told you that it was the only
claim that you could give me to defend
you which / dared accept or assert. But
instead Of coming back cOnqueror l re-
turn with the consciousness of not only
having brought on my own ruin, but OF
being the innocent cause Of the ruin of
your family"
Her head was still bent, her tears still
falling, and her bosom convulsively heav
ing with sobs. Moved by some powerful
impulse Harry bent over to the weeping
girl and murmured:
Dear Maude. Dearest Maudei whom
so called in my thought before l could
consider how impertinent and presumptu-
Gus it was, one last time let me call you
by your own dear name, and touch this
gentle hand in token of your sisterly for
getfulness of all have said and bid you
farewell"
She raised her head and spoke to him
with such Il solemn sweetness in her eyes;
with such a calm, bright, placid smile
such a low, soft tremble in her frame and
voice, that the innermost chords of his
heart were touched and his sight was
dimmed as he listened:
mo, no, Harry; do not talk that way.
And are you very poor"
II have always been poor, Maude; now
/ am worse, and must leave, perhaps
never to see you again."
Where are you goiRgE
''AlaS, | know not.iS The prison may
yawn for me, for although am temporar-
lily released, they haYes since arrested
Blennerhassett and lothers, and may eA-
pect to share simiainfate."
She sat looking at1him for moment;
then timidly put her hand in his
''If YOU will take fne for your wife,