The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-05-25

death. They had taken her back to
her old home for burial and / found
all the family there when / arrived.
| The house was crowded with old-time
| friends and neighbors, and l noticed
| that all seemed instinctively to avoid
Uncle Geoffrey.
That evening my mothers cousin
| called me into the library and closed
the doors. He seemed overcome by
emotion, but at last spoke.
| You and your sister have the repu-
| tation of being beautiful, Mary. but
| neither of you can compare with your
Aunt Eliza when she was young. Ev-
eryone loved her and she had but one
fault. an ungovernable temper. / see
you start, but the calm that you SO
much admired was purchased only at
the price of her happiness and reason.
"She was the belle of the country,
and numbered her admirers by the
score but it was plainly to be seen
that only one touched her heart. This
suitor whom / will call Lewis, was
everything that girl could desire.
He was young, handsome and wealthy,
and they seemed an ideal couple. Both
were equally popular, and as the we'd
ding day approached the whole neigh
borhood rejoiced in their happiness.
"Then came trouble. Lewis was called
away on business, and a new admirer,
YOUR uncle whose real name is George
REYNOLDS, appeared. Although know
ing your Aunt Eliza to be engaged. he
pressed his suit. and she, l am sorry to
say, encouraged him.
."She cared nothing for him, but
talked and danced enough with him to
stir ND neighborhood gossip. Of course
it reached Lewis, and after 4 brisk
but unsatisfactory correspondence he
hurried home.
"a long interview followed. What
passed we never knew except that
your Aunt Eliza lost complete control
of herself and bade him leave her
and never come back; and he replied
that he would go, but would return
whenever she sent for him.
"The next we heard was that Lewis
had enlisted in the Civil War. which
had Just broken out. George Reynolds
now became the accepted suitor of
your aunt. Six months went by and
the wedding day was set. Eliza be-
came pale and thin. 1t was whispered
that she was slowly dying Of broken
heart. Members of the family ap:
pealed to Reynolds to give her up, but
he refused. Then we begged her to
cancel the engagement. pointing out
the folly and wickedness of marrying
q man she did not love.
"At last she needed, broke the en-
gagement, and wrote long letter to
Lewis, apologizing for all that she had
done, and telling him if he still cared
for her to return.
Now came the hardest time of our
lives. l do not like to think of her suf-
fering as weeks and months passed
without any reply from Lewis. She
had dropped until we despaired Of her
life, but pride came to the rescue and
she frightened up, going into society
more than ever. No party or ball
was complete without her. 1t was cur
rent gossip that if she had ever cared
for Lewis, she had outlived it.
Your uncle renewed his attentions,
was accepted, and the wedding shortly
followed. The following day we had
big reception for them. The whole
countryside was present. In the midst
of the festivities Lewis walked in.
Without word of greeting he went
straight to her and said:
81 have come in answer to your
letter. l have come to claim you
with one agonizing glance she
dropped seemingly lifeless at his feet.
vt was weeks before she regained
consciousness, but with reason forever
dethroned.
by this time Lewis was dead and
buried. having been killed at the Battle
OF Bull Run.
"All the past was blotted out for
your Aunt Eliza except remembrance
of names. and the strange part of it
was she thought your Uncle Reynolds
was an old friend of hers, Godfrey
| Craydon.
"ln order to keep ~ the delusion,
which was happy one for heT, and
which the family physician said was
necessary to prevent her becoming q
| hopeless maniac, the family broke up.
severed old ties and associations. and
went to IlliHois, your uncle reluctantly
changing his name to that of the man
she believed him to be. Happily she
died without discovering her mistake.
She is to be buried by the side of her
old love-"
But the letter?"' I inquired. "Why
did not Lewis come as soon as lie re-
ceived it,?
"He did. 1t was claimed, though
not proved, that Reynolds bribed the
postmaster to destroy it; that he held
it instead. and at last driven by re-
morse sent it when too late to do any
good"
The next day, as I stood by Aunt
Eliza's grave, l glanced at the neigh
boring headStone and was hardly sur
prised to see the narlc, "Geoffrey
Lewis Craydon."
looked at Uncle Godfrey, as Cousin
Rawdon, interpreting my thoughts,
whispered:
Yes. his punishment has certainly
been bitter ough."-Waverley Maya
zine.
The First Coal in England.