The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1908-03-10


L" she trembled violently
He drew her down beside him on n
fallen tree trunk. do you know
have curious theory about you-if
there are any theories in love. Shall
| tell you? We were talking the other
evening about having possible known
Lamb in a pre-eXistence. Well,
think | have always loved you.
| think, by some strange telepathy you
saw my longing and drew my heart
to you. Though many miles have di-
vided us you were waiting for me and
| was waiting for you. Your image
was engraved on my heart; you en-
shrined yourself in the inner Businesses
of my being. You would not let me
fall in love with anyone else you
held me as your lover and your lover
and your lover only. Did you do this
out of mere wantonness? Have you
no reward for me? | have lived in
Paradise this week, yet | have been
tortured, too. They told me-you do
not mind? They told me that you had
long ago given your heart to some
one. Did you give it all away-have
you no little corner for me? You see,
| am quite humble. so humble that |
would share"
She raised her eyes and looked at
him. In those beautiful eyes he read
tenderness that made his heart leap.
yet it was blended with strange
shame, and deep distress. Her lips
trembled as she said: II can never
have but one lover. | would not share
my heart. 1t is all-all given to one
man" She put up her hand to the lit
tie golden cord at her neck. See"
she said, there is only one man | can
ever love-lookl This is he!"
In despair Josslyn turned his eyes TO
the miniature case that she now ex-
| posed to view. To his surprise he saw
| that it did not contain a colored min
iature as he supposed, but print, the
face of a man, evidently cut out of
some illustrated paper. AS he looked
she turned away her eyes.
Don't you know it?" she said in
low voice
us it possible-is it-dear. what does
this mean?" he asked wonderingly
He would have taken her in his arms,
but she rose quickly and leaned against
tree nearby. She stood like a pris-
oner self accused. who found agony
and yet relief in, confession.
Listen" she said, Il have some
thing to tell you--a confession to
make"
Il don't want" he began impetu-
ously.
But she hushed him with such an APP
| peal in her eyes that he desisted.
For a moment there was silence
while the woman recovered her self
control.
The woods were cool and shady, the
| soft green of the underground and the
messy carpet grateful to the eye after
the glare of the sun. The foliage of
the branches overhead barely moved,
but wove as it were network over the
too brilliant sky In the stiffness the
notes of a bird near by could be heard.
JUs-jug-jug, it warbled joyously.
1T is the story of dream" said the
woman at length in low voice, "a
| foolish sentimental dream. think
it began almost as soon as could
| speak, when l wore little white frocks
and blue tie-ups Even then | had a
passionate longing to be loved My
| mother used to tell me how | would
ask people at whose knee | stood do
| you love me very much?' and if they
| leased me or failed to show any af-
| lection for me l would creep away TO
| the woodshed and be unhappy for
| hours At first, like all children, took
| love as my right, then as | began to
| grow 10 womanhood | became doubt
| full. | spent many hours before my
glass wondering If anyone would ever
| love me, plain little mite that | was.
compared myself with other girls that
| knew, and found was not attractive.
I became absurdy sensitive can see
| 1t now-self conscious and introspec-
| tive beyond my years; | imagined
sights that never were intended /
was too miserably self-conscious too
| attract friends, they thought was cold
and naughty. yet I was passionately
anxious that they should like me- At
| ter a bit crept into my little shell and
! dreamt, while other girls of my age,
my companions at school ,- became en-
! gagged married-mothers VI was left
| III MY lltttc ohtll W ultdul vi lutoc
! things"
why do you tell me this, dear?' he
asked gently.
Because | want to ease my con-
! science. to throw off the weight OF my
/ deceit for 1t has amounted to- that
have been playing a part for years. a
| part that easily became second ma
ture to me. / loved It'll Rugged II TO
mel deliberately chose to play 49, Her
bosom heaved tempestuously in the
/ thin white frock
MY twenty-eighth birthday was
marked by two things II was the day
Of my mothers funeral-my father
| died when I was child-and g. was
! the day that saw the beginning Of my
! dream. When I came back from the
graveyard ] sat in the still darkened
room that had been her fayorite sit
| ting-rOOm, amid the books that we
| had both loved the flowers she had
/ always tended. and reviewed my life
! I know myself as au unloved old maid
had read that i'm the faces Of my
! friends for some time previous 1 bit
terly thought OF the happiness that had
passed me bly, of the emptiness of my
| life. of the desolato future that lay
stretched before my unwilling feet
thought of all the other girls who had
married and found love. felt could
| no longer bear their plying looks and