Year: 1872

strict a watch over me that it was


impossible for me to 60 TO the village


at all. The old gate post became our
only medium Of communication. and


Douglasnrged more earnestly to leave


he farm and become his wife. He


wrote me one day he must soon leave


oeaton, and begged me to write upon


a slip the time and place where !


would meet hin, and the train by


which we should leave Seaton after


became his wife. Darling, be wrote.
i am rich and Matte shall come TO Us
( as soon as YOU viii. Tell me where


to meet you, aud Rill have a clergy


man ready to make you nv wife.
Trust Your life TO me. Edith, and you


shall never regret it. Matte, / wrote


him hin letter, appointing a time


and place Of meeting. ] went there.


He did not come. Three days | went


almost hourly TO the gate post for


some word Of explanation. Meme


came and when next heard from


Seatou, Douglas Fisher had gone


AWAY


Without writing p


Without one word. He had writ


ten that tie letter / told Won Of was
his last appeal i have urged ycu


so often be wrote, that if ven DO
mot reply favorably 70 this, / shall
know it is coquery, not love, that
makes you smile upon me"
( ~Coguetry.7 said Matte disdain-
fully, As # VOC ever knew the mean
ing OF the word 81


'.PfobablF he repeated, Matte, and
thought a poor eouR1rv gil would
not grace his city home But what
ever his motive, be left me. and con
fess | shrink from meeting him"
ST. -Certainly you do. ! wall not urge
ven to stay now, dear: but after we
return from Newport, where ! sup
pose Charlie viii have Douglas for
hisyuess. you wild come home again p
we. w2fs see, Matte Let me go
new


Il am afraid you viii fad Hi farm
Just as horrid as ever"


Just as horrid as ever Edith con-
Guided il was, after 6 weeks sojourn
ST the dismal farm she had called home
during her girlhood Her Uncle did
not domineer quite so much over the
dignifed stately lady. who came, after
Eve years Of city life, TO replace the
Uniformed girl who had left him, bat
he was morose AID i'll tempered as
ever. and the dreary house had no
added charm. Edith found there
were servants 10 do the churning,
baking and house work she had shared
with Matte, and rambled about the
place, wondering little how many
weeks Of II would suffice TO fit her for
a lunatie asylum.


In one of these rambles, Two weeks
after her arrival, she came upon q
group Of men who were repairing the
tumble down fences and rickety gates
about the place They were at work
upon the old gate pest she had turn
ed into post-ofice, and she stood list
lessly watching them as they loosen
ed the earth around it, 10 lift the rot
tea woodwork from It's place The
loose top was gene, and there were
wide cracks in the wooden slab under
il, where the love letters Of Eve years
ago had lain for eager hands and
ewes.


Edith felt her heart beating fast,
her ewes filing with tears, as blow
after blow fell upon the hollow post,
cracking, bending it, till il fell to the
ground, just as the noon day bell call
cd the men to dinner.


When the curious eyes that might
have seen her were safely in doors.
contemplating meat aud and vegeta-
bles. Edith went close to the old post.
end looked into the hole where it had
stood for so many years In the
damp dark earth she saw folded
paper. evidently shaken from the hol- !
low post by the recent blows. 4
strange suToeatiDg feeisag held her
fast for a moment, then she stopped, /
reached over and secured the letter /
1t was not a dainty missive, such az
she sent to Newport, for i; was not
easy FOR her to End scented paper and /
tinted envelopes at Hill farm Ii was
q sheet OF coarse letter paper, folded.
sealed and stamped with a thimble I
top, directed in round, giriish hand /
to Douglas Fisher; the letter she had
written to appoint time and place for
an elopement-tbe letter be had new
er seen that in her hurry and agita-
ton she must have slipped through
one of the wide cracks down into the
hollow post.


She opened it carefully, her heart
pitying even then the simple girl who
opened her whole loving soul to her
lover. The very words were so dif-
ferent from those she would use now.
No polished courtesy Of address, no
polite evasion Of the tender questions,
but frank, girlish outpouring Of her
happy consent to leave ber hard, bit
ter life, and accept the sunny future
her lover promised her. Edith was
cold, impassive and stately in the
1ays when she shared her sisters
happy home 1t was rare event to
see her show emotion in any way,
and Charlie had wondered more than
once at his cousins admiration Of her
beauty.


But as she read now the secret Of
her lovers apparent iekleness, the re-
cord OF her own young heart, the
tears fell fast upon the yellow, stained
sheet, and sobs shook her whole form.
There was no one TO see her, and she
1nelt down by the fallen gate post,
md wept for her owR lost youth and !
broken hopes.


She was still kneeling there. the
open letter in her hand, when she
heard footsteps turn from the road In