Year: 1877

For many long year have carried i
close locked within my heart, till it ha
scared both heart and brain. After Deg
ging and praying'ior a week they have
at last allowed me pen and ink; here OF
this untouched white paper can tell il
all. Alice Walton was my first ant
only intimate friend. We were fast
friends from the beginning, for she was o.
sweet, guileless and clinging nature.
was naturally secretive, strong, self
reliant, and somewhat disposed to domi
nate those with whom | was brought in
contact.


My friendship for Alice surprised my.
self quite as much as any one else, and |
was quite as much at a loss to under.
stand it.


Alice Walton was like liIy-fair,
slender and lovely, with dovelike eyes,
and hair like corn silk. was as dark as
Spanish girl with hair like midnight,
and lustrous black eyes; and many an
admirer has told me in the days of my
prime that no Spanish girl could COM
pete with my beauty or with my grace.
But they were not beyond the competi-
ton of one fair girl and she won, right
under my fine eyes and in the face of
my rich southern beauty, the only man
whose love | craved-the one heart for
which would 80 gladly have exchanged
my own.


When we finally said goodbye" to
school | made an express stipulation
that Alice should come and stay month
with me, after she had first returned
home and remained a week with her own
friends. ] counted the days till she
came, for | really loved the girl, and
longcd to share with her, as a friend, a
new and delicious JOY which she had
never known. A far-off cousin of my
mother-so far as to be no relation at all
had come in my absence to spend the
summer with us. Of course had heard
Ofhim in my letters from home, and was
somewhat disappointed at the prospect
of having him there during Alice's stay,
for hearing him always referred to as
mothers cousin'ot course, fanCied him
old and gray haired.


My satisfaction equalcd my surprise
when, ON meeting Arthur Godfrey,
found him to be young man of twenty.
five, handsome, accomplished, gay, good
humored--in short, my ideal of an ele-
CANT, well bred and re fined gentleman.
was pleased enough then TO call him
cousin; and as learned to know him
better, more than pleased TO remember
that he was only cousin by courtesy, |
loved Arthur Godfrey. ! believed !
loved him from the first, although | did
not then understand my own feelings (;
and had but little doubt but what he
responded to the feeling.


He was more than kind and gentle in
his manner. Besides an aiectionate re-
gard for me, ] thought detected in his
manner a certain Difference which to my
mind, indicated the tender devotion Of a
lover knew he had never cared for
any woman before he met me, and |
knew that was bcautiful--what woman
is unconscious of her own charms? And
50 | felt justified in belicving,that Arthur
cared for me, although no word Of love
had yet passed between us.


told Alice nothing of this. ! re-
served my innocent triumph to be given
in confidence during our first evening
together and, though | would have per
ferred to present Arthur as my ahianced
lover, which ] almost regarded him as
being, ] quite intended TO confess to her
frankly the love for him which had
scarcely confessed 10 myself


Alice was a week later than she had
promised, and came Unexpectedly when
she did come, arriving the day before
that on which she had told us she was
coming. There was no one to meet her
at the station; but she had been such a
iayoritc on her previous visits that she
was known to all the neighborhood, and
a neighbor who had 10y chance been at
the station when she arrived brought
hcl over to us. The first knew of hei
arrival was when she ran up to me where
| satwith Arthur listening while he read
1ennyson in that fine, rich voice that
had become the sweetest music Of my