Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-01-04

derstood, but few words had been
said.
"Sit closer, brother-closer," she said
to him fondly, and motioned him to
draw the bench beside her. He did
so, and in her feeble tones many were
the questions which the dying girl ad-
dressed to her companion. All the
domestic associations of her home on
the Santee-the home Of her childhood
and its pleasures, when she had hopes
and dreams of the future, and disease
had not yet shown itself upon her
system. To these questions his an
swers were made with difficulty; many
things had occurred, since her depart
ure, which would have been too trying
to her to hear. She found his replies
unsatisfactory, therefore, and she
pressed them almost reproachfully-
And you have told me nothing Of
old mauma, Robert; Is she not well?
does she not miss me? did she not wish
to come? And Frill, the pointer-the
poor dog-I wonder who feeds him
now. I wish you could have brought
mauma with you, Robert should
like to have her attend on me, she
knows my ways and wishes so much
better than anybody else. I should
not want her long"
And though she concluded her de-
sire with a reference to her approach
ing fate, the sigh which followed was
inaudible to her brother.
But you are well attended here,
Emily, my dear. Cousin Kate"
rs sister, and all that I could de-
sire and l am as we'll attended as I
could be anywhere; but 1t is thus that
we repine. l only wished for mauma,
as we wish for an old-time prospect
which has grown so familiar to our
eyes that 1t seems to form a part Of
the sight; so indeed, though every
thing is beautiful and delightful about
The Oaks still long to ramble over
our old walks among the Hills
The brow of Singleton blackened as
she thus passingly alluded to the
beautiful estate Of his fathers; but he
said nothing, or evaded, in his answer,
the demand-and she proceeded in her
inquiries
"And the garden. Robert-my gar
den, you know. Do, when you go
back, see that Luke keeps the box
trimmed, and the hedge; the morning
left 1t, 1t looked very luxuriant. I
was too hurried to give him orders,
but do you attend to 1t when you re-
turn. He Is quite too apt to leave 1t
to itself"
There was much in these simple
matters to distress her brother, Of
which she was fortunately ignorant.
How could ne say to the dying girl,
that her mauma, severely beaten by
the Tories, had fed into the swamps
for shelter?-:hat her favorite dog,
Frill, had been shot down, as he ran,
by the same. brutal wretches?-that
the mansion house Of her parents, her
favorite garden, had been devastated
by fire, applied by the same cruel
hands THAT Luke the gardener, and
all the slaves who remained unstolen,
had fed for safety into the thick re-
cesses Of the Santee--how could he
tell her this? This ruin which had
narrowed his own soul almost to mad
ness, would have been instant death to
her. and though the tears. were with
difficulty kept back from his eyes, he
replied calmly, and with sufficient
evasion successfully to deceive the
sufferer.
At this moment Katharine re-en-
tered the apartment, and relieved him
by her presence. He rose from the
bench, and prepared to attend upon
his uncle, who, as yet unapprised Of
his arrival, remained in his chamber
He bent down, and his lips were press
ed once more upon the brow Of his
sister. She put her hand into his, and
looked into his face for several min
utes without speaking; and that look
so pure, so bright, so fond-so becom-
ing Of heaven. yet so hopeless Of
earth!-he could bear the gaze no lon
ger; the emotion rose shiveringly in
his soul-the tears could be no longer
kept from gushing forth, and he hur-
ried from her sight to conceal them.
"Oh. why-why," he said, in a burst
OF passionate emotion, as he hurried
below-"wherefore, great Father Of
Mercies, wherefore is this doom? Why
should the good and the beautiful so
early perish-why should they perish
at all? Sad, sad, that the creature
so made to love and be beloved. should
have lived in affiiction, and died with
out having the feelings once exercised
or compensated. which have been so
sweet and innocent. Even death Is
beautiful, and soft, seen in her eyes,
and gathering in words that come
from her lips like the dropping Of so
much music from heaven. My poor
poor Emily"
(To be Continued.)