The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1906-11-16

he owns-he owns with the deepest,
truest contrition-that they we're all
clearly traceable to him. He spoke
of you in such way as good men
speak Of heaven, Aloysius!-of your
magnahimity. your greatness Of
heart"
eyes," said Aloysius. 81 make no
claim, but I understand all that from
his point of view. But since you have
gone so far, dear, let me hear his case
quite out. I should not like you to
feel that you had done him less than
justice, or that you had failed in your
good embassy from any omission OF
own"
"But must I fail?" she asked him;
must fail?"
'Let me know ALL" he answered.
Il think 1 have told you all" said
Lillian, "but 1 know that have told
it poorly, and that have not conveyed
to you a, 1.-THE of the grief and agony
| of heart he feels. But, dear Aloysius,
let me add something for myself. Am
to lose my friend? Do you remem-
Der how you carried me in your arms
and ran with me on your shoulder
when was little child?"
"Ah yes" he answered, with a pa
tient sigh. II remember. But we both
know that we are best apart. You do
not know it as we'll as do, but you
do know that any comradeship is I'M
possible for us. This much can say.
You will never lose your friend. You
have my heart, MY hopes, my prayers.
If ever can serve you, you may conf
mand me. There is nothing have
which is not yours, dear, and I have
no power and no wish to change"
But Alexis?" she asked, appealing
ly. Il told him should lay his case
before you, and he answered with
/! tears that, though you were the best
of men, he had SO wronged you that
you would never take his hand again.
He is quite broken, Aloysius. He is
quite resigned to your continued en-
nifty"
81 have no enmity, DEAR" he said.
II bear him no ill-will. I would not
exact from him any reparation or add
a straw to the load he has laid upon
himself. He has done me no irrepara-
BILE wrong. He has given me bitter
grief to carry, and shall bear it with
me to my grave, but that grief is not
the consequence of any wrong that he
has done to me-"
oh" she said, "if you knew the
1 4
cions!"
Il can measure the regret, DEAR" he
answered, quietly. Il have not known
him from his birth for nothing. But
you must accept his own version OF
the case. For us two to meet is as
painful for the one as for the other"
ut is not like you to be implacable,"
! she said, laying timid hand upon his
| arm.
ut is not who am implacable," he
answered. But any pretence at a
reconciliation between my cousin and
myself would be mockery. He
knows it and know it."
But this open breach between the
! only two surviving members of SO old
house"
"Sad!" Aloysius broke in. "Sad,
but table-inescapable."
"Can nothing move you?"
I Dear and dearest" he made an
swer, "if anything in the whole world
qbuld change me, your lightest word
would do it. But no change in me
would give you what you wish. Do
you remember, wonder, the day you
brought me poem to ask me if
could tell you the writer's name? 1t
had an awful thought in it, you said:
And still voice cries on-will no one
hear it?
Not God himself can call back yester-
day!
What is done is done. No prayers, no
tears, no agonies can wipe it out. 1t
is not L. said just now, who am i'm
placable.' Not I, but that past, which
not God himself can change. Good
by, dear. All good be with you. All
blessings light on that dear head, all
peace make its dwelling place in that
pure heart. Good-by!"
He kissed her hand reyerently for
the second time that day, and she
knew that her task had failed. She
let him go upon the last good-by, and
sat for long time Immersed in
thought. And the longer she thought
the more the words grew. There was
something behind it all. That which
in the mind of the man who had in.
flicted it was an objectionable wrong
was no objectionable wrong at all in
the eyes of the man who had suffered
under it. The cousins were divided,
and forever. But why? Lillian had a
trust in Aloysius's truth and honor,
which she had not In the truth and
i honor Of her plighted husband. Her
trust in the one and her faint mistrust
in the other were alil1 instructive and
/ unconscious. n, al
She turned over and over In her
mind the words Aloysfus had used. II
would not add a straw To the burden
he has laid upon himself. He has
given me . bitter grief to Scarry and !
Il o1a1I Is<.n, a. 4, - Z. ~ s$t,ns Sa "a