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Sad indeed was the day to her in which he told her she could never be his wife. Pity her, ye who in happy homes have kind friends to guide your hearts into peace, and refresh your souls with a true and perfect love. Have charity, and raise not hand nor voice against one who, had her life been cast in as pleasant places as yours, would not have trusted so fondly in a broken reed, or nike dunk heels
listened so confidingly to the siren voice of the tempter. She had pined for a warm heart and a faithful love. She had trusted and been betrayed. You owe her your pity, not your condemnation.
"Did you say you were not going to marry me, Clarence?" and asking this, she cast her eyes to the ground, and sobbed like a child.
"No, girl; you ought to have known I could not. I have no money but that which my father supplies me with to pay my board and expenses. I have nothing to support--"
She looked so pale he dared not say more.
"Go on," she at length said, pressing her hand closer to her heart, lest its strong beating might too plainly betray her feelings.
"And even could I support you, my father would disown me were I to take such a step."
"Then you never loved me, Clarence. You only sought your own pleasure and--and my--my ruin?"
She broke down. Life had nothing now for her but shame and sorrow. Alas, the world has no pity for its children.
Hard indeed must have been his heart, had it not relented then. He went and placed his hand upon her head, saying,
"I wouldNike Shox
marry you, Margaret, if I had money enough," and just that moment he meant it.
She looked up through her tears to him, and seeing the expression which accompanied his words, mistook it for real sorrow at parting from her, and answered in a hopeful, bright voice,--
"I can work ever so hard, and we might be married privately if you chose, as no one knows us, and go away. You don't know how hard I can work, Clarence."
"And then, sometime we might become rich," she continued, without looking at his face, "and I would study, too, and improve myself. Then we could return to your parents and be forgiven. They surely could not blame us for loving each other. You will not forsake me, will you, Clarence?"
He bowed his head. She thought he wept, and she continued her words of cheer till he could bear it no longer.
She laid her bursting head upon his bosom saying, "I will go away from here to-day, Clarence, and be no burden to you, till you can support us both."
He nerved himself for the desperate emergency, and shook her off as though she was poison, saying, in cold, measured words, not to be this time misunderstood,--
"No, it cannot be; don't deceive yourself; you can never be my wife," and then he left her.
Angels pity her. Heaven have mercy on her who sank prostrate with grief that bright dayCheap nike shoes
on the green lap of earth. One heart-piercing cry went up for help and mercy from above, and hope and love went out of that heart, perhaps forever.
Faster and faster flew the betrayer, as though he would elude a pursuer from whom he could not escape. But he could not close his ears to that pleading voice, nor his eyes to that agonized look. Aye, erring mortal, that sound will pierce your soul till some reparation, some pure, unselfish deed, washes the sin away.
"Why, Clarence, you look as pale as a ghost; what on earth has happened to you!" exclaimed his college chums, as he walked breathless and weary into the house.
"I am sick," he answered, and went by himself to evade further questions, which he knew would rend his soul with anguish. He early repaired to his room, but found no rest, and finding himself unable to attend to his studies the next day, obtained leave of absence.
Chapter 13
How long Margaret laid there, she never knew, but when she came to consciousness she Nike Blazer
found herself in her own room, and her father bending over her, with a look she had never seen on his face before,--one of deep anxiety for her.
"All this ere comes from letting her go out in the air every day," were the first words which broke the silence, and conveyed to her senses that any one beside her father was in the room.
All the recollection of her misery came over her then. She had forgotten all, save that her father looked with eyes of love upon her. The shrill voice broke the heavenly spell, and Magdalen knelt again in prayer at the Saviour's feet.
She closed her eyes as though she would shut out the sorrow from her soul, while a look of deep pain settled on her features which her father mistook for physical suffering. There was something in her pale face then, that reminded him of her dear, dead mother. It touched the long buried love which had lain in his uncultured nature many years, and he drew his sleeve roughly across his eyes to wipe away the tears which would come, despite the searching glanceNike Dunk SB
of his wife, who looked upon any demonstration of that kind as so much loss to herself.
He thought Margaret would surely die. It must be some terrible disease that caused her to look so white, and made her breathing so low and still, and he resolved to go for a physician.
His decision met with little favor from Mrs. Thorne, who fretted continually about the extra work and expense of a sick person, interspersing her growls with the remark which seemed stereotyped for the occasion:
"A nice job I've got on my hands for the summer."
"Come, I 'll have no more grumbling to-night. How long the poor girl laid in the woods nobody knows. May-be she fainted and fell, and them ere faintin' spells is dreadful dangerous, and I'm going for the doctor, if it takes the farm to pay for 't."
When Caleb Thorne spoke like that, his wife well knew that words of her own were of little avail, and she wisely concluded to keep silent.
Margaret might have remained as she had fallen, faint and uncared for in the woods, for a long time, had not the faithful dog, who instinctively knew that something was wrong, ran furiously to the house, and by strange motions and piteous pleading moans attracted the attention of Mr. Thorne from his work. Trot would not act as he did without cause. Caleb knew that, so he left his work andNike Dunk Low
followed the dog, who ran speedily towards the woods, momentarily looking back to be sure that his master was close at hand, until he reached the spot where Margaret laid.
He thought her lifeless, and raising her from the ground, bore her home, while a heavier burden at his heart kept his eyes blinded, his steps slow, and his walk uneven.
When the physician arrived, he saw, at a glance, that some great trouble rested, like a dense cloud, on the girl's mind. Her restless manner and desire to remain silent, showed plainly that some great anguish was working its sorrow within, and silently he prayed to heaven, that the young heart might find that relief which no art or skill of his could impart. He could only allay the fever into which her blood was thrown, and as he went out, left his orders, saying, he would call again on the morrow.
"She's as well able to work as I am, this blessed minit," impetuously exclaimed Mrs. Thorne, who could ill brook the state of affairs.
"If looks tell anything, her pale face aint no match for yourn in health, Huldah," remarked Caleb, as he glanced somewhat reproachingly at the full, red features of his wife.
"A white face aint allus a sign of sickness; here I might be next to death, and my face be getting redder and redder at every pain,--but then who cares for me? No one, as I knows on."
She turned and found she might have left her last words unspoken, for Caleb had gone to milk the cows, and she was alone.
It was no sudden thought. Every hour since the day they found her in the woods insensible, she Nike Dunk Mid
had busily matured her plans. Those words,--"You can never be my wife," made life to her of no moment, save to find a spot of obscurity in which to conceal her shame, and spare her old father the grief she knew it must bring him.