The Brunswick daily news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1903-1906, 1903-06-14

|
then.
Shall tell you,' he said, "why /
became a wanderer on the face of the
earthf"
She sat down quietly opposite him,
her folded hands ON her lap. The night.
ingale sang loudly and passionately;
the moonlight flooded the little room
through the still open window.
when | was a boy-a wild, head
strong boy, if you will, but with q
strong, loving heart-I loved one of
the sweetest women who ever walked
the earth. She was scarcely woman
"a girl, almost chlld-an angel"
| Sylvia smiled.
"And she loved me- or said she did;
and then, and then Why revive
| these old memories?"
Perhaps" she said, softly. at is bet.
ter to revive them. There may have
been some injustice done. in thought,
righted."
at could never be rlghted now" he
| said. ut is so long ago-nearly thirty
years"
| what is thirty years in eternity?'
| she said. Gan unconsidered moment"
"She. the woman-or shall 1 call her
the child?-I loved, ruined my life
without an explanation, without even
a warning. l had gone to London to
look for work. had almost the prom.
Use of a situation in an office, salary
on which we might have marrled-for
she was always, even then, thrifty and
| housewifely in her sweet ways-when
| heard from her just these words:
Forgive me. For reasons / can
never explain we can never marry
l am going to marry there she gave the
nance next week."
Sylvia's voice sounded small and very
faint as she said:
"Was that all? Didn't she even send
her love? Didn't she tell you that she
should always remember your love for
her and hers for you?"
"She did" he said. How well you
understand women"'
"Not all women. but perhaps this
one"
''There was nothing for me to do"
he said "All was inevitable. 1 went
away. She would not see me. She
gave no eXplanation-non My father
died suddenly. Her father had urged
her to marry My mother was dead.
What was left for me? l went away.
| could not forget her; / shall never
body were opened. her name would be
found written on my heart"
WAS she so beautiful" Sylvia
asked. and in the agitation of that mo-
ment the femininity of the question
passed unheeded.
"She was-herself," he said, "the
woman God had made for me. and she
rejected me-
you do not know ALL" she said
Perhaps if you knew all, you would
be merciful"
II was never less than merclful to
her. God bless herr
perhaps you have never heard that
her father forged a mans name for
great sum, and that the man refrained
from prosecution on condition of the
daughter marrying him.
The wayfarer started from his chair
"Was that the reason? Oh. my God!
And did she think so poorly of her
loyer?"
'She thought of her fathers and her
mothers name" Sylvia said quietly,
though her white face flushed a rosy
red and her hands grasped the arms of
her chair. "She knew that, great as
love is, honor is greater. Therefore,
she knew that she must save her faith
er's name and lose her own. She knew,
that she must lose the whole world,
which was her love, to save her soul,
her honor, to save her fathers. She
knew that she must let the man she
loved. the man whom she had loved all
her life, whom she had played with
and quarrclled with since they were
both babies, look on her all the rest
Of her life as n vile coQuette and q
jilt She must send him forth with
his faith in womanhOOd ruined, to seek
such comfort ms she could never give,
ruined by her father; married to man
old In sin, and who only desired her
for her youth and what men called
beauty; and be despised by the man
she loved, and be silent for honors
sake"
Sylvla's tears ran over her cheeks
and still the wayfarer never spoke.
"She accepted her lot The man she
tDNvn Oh, l.,
whore, believing her false; and the man
she married made her life a tragedy
she dares not let herself think of. And
then came ruin. She was glad when
ruin came. She could work with her
own hands for the little son; she loved
the child And the mamie lost every.
thing strength. and all worldly
goods, and she nursed him till he died.
She knew the price he had paid for
her. and she would fulfil the bargain
to the uttermost farthing-and it was
the uttermost farthing.'
There was deep silence in the little
| room.
Very gently the wayfarer rose from
his chair, and he stood before Sylvia,
looking at the lovely face-lovely still,
| though the sorrows of many years
Swallowed the eyes and followed the
| delicate cheeks
And now he knows all" he said.
Sylvia rose and put her hands into
his.
Did you know at once?" she asked.
"At once, my love, at once. And
you?"
Sylvia smiled
Even now l can keep secrets"
And so her wayfarer came to stay.