Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1905-11-24
CHAPTER |.

steamer-crowds hurrying hither and
thither, bales of luggage numbering up
the way, sailors and railway porters
tumbling over each other, the officers of
the ship shouting forth distracted orders,
passengers, men, women and little chill
dren standing together in groups striving
to hear each others trembling words of
farewell, and over all the screech of the
steam from the two great smoking fun
nels overhead.
Ten minutes more and the shore bell
will be rung and the farewells will all
have to come to an end, and the India
bound ship will have started on her way.
They clung round each other, these
poor unfortunates who were parting
some for years, and some forever-re-
peating the last fond word, the last
-caress over and over again, gazing into
each others eyes despairingly as though |
they would fain carry away every line of
the dear face from which they were so
soon to be severed.
Such a couple stood thus together, a
little remote from the busy scene, near
the bulwarks of the ship. The crowded
quay was above them, yet because every
body was so full of hurry and excite
0nenIi so WrHnnen HD eilntr Win thc
business or the grief which specially en-
crossed them, these two people stood
virtually alone-a man and woman,
both young and both tall; they clasped
each others hands with a straning de-
spair, and looked with a speechless ag-
ony into each others faces.
Brian Desmond was eight and twenty
then, he had health and brains and good
looks, and the vigor of a hearty vitality
was in his strong, young limbs but as
he held Rosamond Earle's hands tightly
clasped within his own and looked his
last into her beautiful eyes, he said to
himself that life was at an end for him.
at is better" she said, brokenly. far
better that | should go away; try to
look at it in the right light, Brian. What
good could | be to you at home; and you
will get used to it in time; there are
many other things for you to live for"
81 have nothing to live for-nothing,
he said, gloomily; without you life is
an absolute blank"
The tears streamed over her face as
she strove to answer him. And yet l
should be an ever present sorrow to you
were to remain. Consider, Brian, how
desperate, how hopeless is our condition;
how much more terrible to bear were we
to meet constantly than when a whole
hemisphere stretched between us.'
"Ah! you might have waited-you
might have waited" he groaned
What was there to wait for? Would
your uncle and his sons have died so that
we might be happy? Would any one
have given you an appointment? Was
there any chance that even a beggary
cerkship would tumble into your arms
And had we not already waited for this
for years; hoping against hope, striving
against certainty, leaving no stone un
turned so that we might find only a mis-
cradle hundred year to depend uponT
$50 you married old Samuel Earle in
stead" he said bitterly.
II have married a worthy, kind-heart
ed man, who is good to me, and wht
has placed me above want-why go ovel
the old ground again? In these las
few moments, Brian, spare me the re
proaches which, perhaps, may deserve
but which are certainly unavailing now.
Darling he cried, with ,
passionate despair mine always ant
ever, in heart and soul, wherever yol
may be-"
She did not check him. This was NJ
moment for the exhibition of a shan
prudery which she did not feel. Sh
was putting a whole universe between
them, so that she might be as true t,
the man she had married as to the maj
whom she loved and she would not il
this moment of a farewell, that was il
all human probability eternal, cavil a
the strong expression of love whicl
had never been hidden between them
Her tears flowed fast, raining dow
thickly upon the clenched hands whicl
grasped her own.
you know" she cried, suddenl
throwing back her head-''you know tha
to my dying day | shall love you tn
same, but you-you must be happy, Bri
an. not now, know, but after bit, tim
will reconcile you to life, and you vii
marry"
Il shall never marry" he answers
resolutely, "never as long as live
Rosamond, l swear to you that neve
will | make any other woman wife bu
you. | can always wait; how can on
tell what changes life may not bring
Ten, twenty, fifty years! what is tim
to such love as mine? Will it not las
forever, shall anything ever change o
dim it's fervor? Can | not always wal
wait on and hope"
And so Brian, as he swore, believe
IN his own Oaths and Rosamond beey
ed in them too. Then glancing beyon
the strong young form of the man sh
loved, Mrs. Earle's eyes rested suddenl
upon another figure that came Chamber
ing up the companion stair on to tn
dock n short fat, little old gentleman
with gray whiskers, who emerged pant
ingly from the lower regions, lookin
hther and thither as he came up a
though in search of some one.
She neither moved farsher from Des
mond, nor did she withdraw her hand
from his-only she frightened her hold 70