New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1903-10-17

word. Louis, said she painfully i'm
| pressed by her lover silence and cold
ness, why do you turn away from me :?
am still your Emeline your betrothed
and l have kept. pure and unsullied
my plighted faith to you. Not a
word of welcome. Louis, she said rs
! the tears started to her eyes. Tell
me. do tell me, that you love me still
and that the JOY of meeting me has
overcome YOU and stitled your utter
ance
'Louis Arceneaux. with quivering
lips and tremulous voice answered ::
| Emelne. speak not SO kindly to me,
for | am unworthy of YOU | can love
you no longer; | have pledged my
faith to another; tear from your heart
the remembrance of the past and for
give me. and with quick step he
walked away and was soon lost to
view in the forest.
Poor Emeline stood trembling
like an aspen leaf. | took her hand it
was icy cold; deathly pallor had
overspread her countenance and her
eyes had n vacant stare. Emel inc
my dear girl, come, | said and she
followed me like a child, without re-
sistanee. clasped her in my arms.
"Emelinc my dear child, he comfort
ed there may yet be happiness i'll store
for you. Emeline, Emeline, she
muttercd in an undertone. as if to re
call that name; who is Emeline?'
Then looking in my face with fearful.
shining eyes that made me shudder.
she said in strange, unnatural voice.
Who are you?' and turned away from
me Her mind was unhinged; this
last shock had been too much for her
broken heart; she was hopelessly in
sane
"Ah, Petiots, how strange it is
that such pure and celestial being
like Emeline should be the sport of
fate. and be thus exposed to the shafts
of adversely Is it true, then, that
the beloved Of God are always visit
ed by sore trials? Was it that Enc
line was too ethereal being for this
world, aud that God would have her
in His sweet paradise? 1t does not
belong to us. Petiots, to solve this
and to scrutinize the DEGREES
of Providence; we have only to bow
i'll submission to his will
.Emeline never recovered her rea-
son, and q deep melancholy settled
upon her. Her beautiful countenancc
was titfully lightened by sad smile
which made her all the fairer. She
never recognized anyone but me. and
nesting III my arms like Il spoilt
child, would bestow upon me the most !
.,,,1..., I
rs ever, everyone pitied and
loved her.
when poor, crazed Emeline
strolled upon the banks of the Teche,
plucking the wild flowers that strewed |
her pathway, and singing, in an un-
1ertone, some Acadian song, those
who met her wondered why so fair
and gentle being should have been
visited with Gods wrath.
She spoke of Acadia and of Louis
IN such loving tones that one could
lot listen to her words without
tears. She fancied herself
still the sweet girl of sixteen, on the
we of marrying the chosen one of her
leart whom she loved with such
and devotion and imagining
hat her marriage bells were tolling
rom the village church tower, her
'ountenance would brighten and her
'rame trembled with ecstatic joy.
II sudden transition from joy to de-
pair her countenance would change
nd trembling convulsively, gasping,
for utterance and pointing
Ter finger at some invisible object, in
brill and piercing accents Of agony
md depair, she would cry out: Moth
T mother! What will become of me
nd then uttering a wild and unna-
ural shrek she would fall senseless
II my arms.
Sinking at last under the ravages
t her mental disease she expired in
ny arms without struggle and with
IL angelic smile on her lips
"She now sleeps in her quiet grave,
hadowed by the tall oaks, near the
tile church at the Poste des Attaka-
as and her grave has been kept green
nd flower .strewn as long as your
has been able to visit the
tile town.
All! .Petiots, how sad was the
ate of poor Emeline, Evangeline,
iod's little angel. !"
Grandmother buried her face in her
ands and wept and sobbed bitterly.
mr. hearts. ton. avre1led with emotion