Nathaniel Holt's Idol

'"I am so tired !" The üuto-like voicethat uttered thispettisli exclama' ion broke through tbe fragrant stíllness of the antutnnal eveuing like ajarring chord in sonie exquisito melody, aiid N'athaniel Holt looked up from his paper with a slight frown on his bronzed, handlome face. Be was tired, very tired, after a day of hard labor on lus mounluiu lands and had throwu liiniM-H' into a great easy-chair of his mother's on the south porch, for a moincnt's rest ; and he could not understand hüW the speaker, a tal], supple girl with hands as white as milk, and who passed her time in coniparative idleness could be tired. For Elsie Marian was not one given to unusual exertion, and generally managed to secure the good thiug ot' tilia world with as uiuch ease as was possible or consistent with her position as dependant niece in the home ot' her mother's sister, Nathaoiel Holt's aged motber, who simply adored the bright young girl who liad brought sunshine iuto her old house, and whose helpless orphanage covered uiany serious faults. At this moment Elsie was seated on a garden stool, half hidden by the drooping boughs of' a willow, laboriously attempting to twist tiny bunches of dogwood berries and autumn leaves into a wreath, her Jead gold hair falling about a face as fair as atij lily that lifted its spotless brow to the opa sky, and no violet that ever blossomed in the cool tufts of meadow grass beyond the willow copse was as blue as the modes eyes she lifted to Nathaniel Holt's troublee face. 11e slood over her, his hands folded on his back, and his broad, bronzed brow flushed a lítele with some sudden inwan emotinn. " Elsie," he began, the brown eyes tha she dared not meet, searebing the face tha dropped beneath his gaze, " wbat has tirec you?" "Nothing." " You were once acontentad, happy girl Elsie; what has changed you? " "Nothing." She spoke listlessly, yet a l'aint, sea shell pink crept into the round soft cheeks, and up to the roots of golden hair. " Yes, Elsie, something has changed you you are the same, and yet not the same You have lost your blitheness ; you do no come to me with kind words, as you onc did, Elsie, and charm al) niy cares away Teil me why. " Nathaniel Holt sat down on the grass a his eousin's feet, and watched the color com andgoin the face above him. He was ter ribly in earnett, this sober, 8elf-contaioe man of 30, for this young girl had been In idol for years. "I am not changed." Elsie tried t stedy her voice. "lam the Bame to-da that I have beenevery day fur years. Yo know I am 20, and I must try and be wo manly. " " Has Lewis Walton anytbing to do wit the change, Elsie?" Elsie,s face blushed crimson, yet sh laughed merrily. "No. You surely are not jealous, Na tha niel?" It was Nathaniel's turn to blush now which he did to perfection. For answer h drew tlie dogwood berries out of the littl hands, and held the slendcr fingers in hi OWD. '■ I am not jealous, Elsie. You do nc seemcontentedof late; you are always tirec you never run up the mountain path to met me, or take long rambles in the woodlanc so as to be near me, as you once did. Yo sec, I have grown so used to your tender watchful love, Elsie, it would be hard t give it up. And I have thought that yo had grown tired of me, and had given you love to Lewis Walton, who seems a mor fitting mate - " " A diyorced ma.n, Nathaniel I" Elsi cried, lifting her cyebrows slightly, a though her cheeks were dyed with burn ing blushes, and her lips trembled nerv oiwly. l'A divorced man," repeated Nathanie looking her f'ull in the face. " Yes, Elsie thera isdanger of you forgetting me thro liim, for he is a more poli&hed, morefascin ating man ; yet Elsie, dear, he is as unsta blo as the wind, and uot calculated to mak auy woman happy." '■ You must think me vcry impressible,' broke out Elsie, whose conscience was no as easy as it tnight have been. " When gave my promise to be your wife, I mean to keep it." Nathaniel Holt drew the golden hea( down to his breast and breathed a siler prayer over it ; for Elsie was a woman, wit a beautiful woman's love of the world's fo lies and adulatjon, and he knew enough o Lewia Wahon's character to kuow the ar guinents that he would use, and that h would not be sparing of his flatterin -I melles. " Kemember this, Elsie," he said, go emnly ; " ' what God has joined together let DO man put asunder,' and, although th l.iw has M-parated Lewis Walton and hi wife, in the sight of tiod she is his wif still." " There "- Eltsie lifted her face suddenly and helil up her lips for a kiss- " that wi do. I must go in to Aunt Eunice." N:it liuiüel Holt kistted the lovely face, no once, but many times, and years after thoa passionate kisses were reinembered wit ceenest pain. Elsie slipped away froiu hitn ml ran iuto the house, and Nathaniel, sienced but notconvioced, nat perfectly still, nd tried to reason away hia fears, witli cnitted brows. After that life went on much as usual al he Holt fartu. Elsie was to baooKM tl uistress at ChristmM, and hor Autit Eunice ras very busy over tlie expected wedding. She loved Elsie with a mother's love aleady, and Nathanicl, a.s the autumnal months drifted by, grtw a trine thoughtful ; bl Lewis Walton, who had been a sumuier guest in the neighborhood, sitll lingered, ind still called on Eliie, who tried to hide ïer growing fondness for nis oonipany. He was wealthy, indolent, and gifted with a teisuasive tongue. Elsie loved ease, lacked irUMMof principie and will, and, although she imagined herself' laithful to Nathaniel, ïer heart was slowly but surely bcing 1 o riiilcil away trom the true and steadfast love of an upright man. Nathaniel watuhed her with a brooding .enderness. He was so loyal hiuiself' that ie would instinctively notice any wavering on Elsie's part, he thounht ; yet the eyea of love are often blinded by self cooödence, and when lilsie came to him and laid her golden head against arm, as she oftun lid in the autiimii gloaming, Nathauiel's lappiness was too deep to be delusivo, and ie would hold her to his breast as if nothng oould ever wrest her from his faiihful mus. Poor Elsie! little did she know of the passionate dipt h and power of (his stroüg man.' 8 love. His hoiuage was lur 3y right, and she accopted it as some Printen u i k h t tho service of her vassals. She never thought how desolate that life would be if bereft of her love - how barren of hope or happiness would be his darketied future : Por, if he erred in any sense, it was in the strength and purity of the love he laid at her tëet. The purple haze of Indian suuimer was lying on tho hills. The sun sailed throuizb the .uist like a great buil of fiaine, and billows of dead-brown leaves swept up the ravines, as Naihaniel Holttrudned down the mountain path, his brown cheek flushed with exercise, and his eyes kindling with love as the old farm-house, with its many windows stained with amber, and tall gables draped with scarlet runners, came in view. His motlier sat on the poreh batlie.il in a rift of ruby sunshine, but ho looked in vain for Elsie - Elsie who had promised to come upthe mountain path to meet him Sotuething like the luurniur of voiees attracted his attention, and, tuniiiiir into a j-ide path, he catue upon Elsie and Lowis Walton seated on a mossy log, with their faees turned trom him. Walton's huntinic jacket and gun lay on the ground, and Elsie's hat had fallen at her feet, while the fair glowing face was upturned to the hazy November sky, as if she dared nut, yet longed to meet lbofire of the black eye that seemed to read the innermost thoughts of her heart. "Elsie - Elsie," the soft persuasivo voice was saying, " be wise, and listen tome. You do not love Nathaniel Holt as women love men they marry. " "Nat haniel ig so good, and has been like a brother to me since mamma's death," tnurmured Elsie, by way of protest, while Nathaniel stood as if rooted to the spot, his breath coming in tliick hot gasps. "That'sjust it, Elsie; you have mistak en your feeïïngs. In-itead of the love you should give him, you will reward his great love - for he does love you deeply- with a warm, sisterly affection. Ah! Elsie, think in time - Í love you as I have never loved before, and, Khie, you love me," said Lewis Walton, as be put his arm around her slender waist and drew Elsie's happy face to his bosom, and covered the warm, red lips with kÜM. Nathaniel Holt fled from the spot like a hunted deer. The veins on his temples stood out like whip-coids, and dry, voice less sobs broke from him as he sank down on the mossy turf and buried bis face in tht cedar spears that lay an inch deep on the moist ground. Never again could he take Elsie Marian's false face in his hands and kiss it with a lover's kisses. For ehe had willingly given up the pure, honest love ol his guileless heart, for the love of a man who, in the sight of' God, if' not in the sight of men, was legally bound to another. Perhaps he had been mistaken in himself, but 1'" L-iniw li" liu'l niQilu un i.1.1 "i 1 ..r and given her such love as no human being should lavish on a lellow-creature, be they ever so perfect, and God had seen the fóolishness of his idolatrous love and punishec him sorely for it. After his passion of grief and spent itself he aróse and turned into the path that lec homeward, feeling very much as if he hac stood beside Elsie Marian'u grave and saw her laid in it. His face had grown white am hard and stern in that short but bitter strug Ijle, and tho brown eyes were f uil of a griel too deep for tears. He feit faint and dizzy when he saw Elsie standing at the meadow gate alone, and the light of'hernewly awa kened love in her blue eyes. ' Nathaniel " - she speaks nervously for her womanly instinct tells her somethinj, is wrong - " what has huppened ? You are late." " Just this, Elsie"- he takes her hands in his and turns his set. white face away from her - " I have lost soraething out o niy life which Ishall never, never own again - an untroubled inind ; and, Elsie, dear forgive me if I have mistaken gibtituda (bi love, and held you against your will. 'l'aki the man of your choice, Elsie, and Heaver rant you may not find your happiness Dea( ea fruit. " Oh, Nathaniel I" Elsie's tears are fall ing over the hard, brown hands; " i die not deserve your love - 1 do not deserve your kindness now. " " Go I '' he says, gently and Elsie slips past him, leavinghim to conquer the rush of feeling that threatenedtooverpower him At lengtn he feit strong enough to face his future, and went into the house with a look on his face that told his mother the hour she dreaded had come ; for, with the keen instincts of her sex, she had foreseen the re sult of Lewis Walton's attentions and was more grieved than surprised when Nathan iel told his pitiful etory. Elsie was married. The first snow ha( just whitened the earth when she left the Holt farm, the wife of Lewis Walton, a strange pallor on her beautiful faob, i strange dread in her heart; for wok thoughts had come to her in the eleventh hour that were neither pleasant nor enno bling, for they taught her that her life hac been a mistake, as far as stability of feeling and purity of purpose were concerned ; for the whito, weary face of Nathaniel Hol was dearerto her heart, than the handsomo face of the husband at her side. The winter days rolled on. News o Elsie Walton's triumphs came now ant then to the quiet farm-house and stirrt( Nathaniel Ilult's heart with a touch o his old pain ; for he could not forget that all that beauty and grace might have beet bis. Lewis Walton might valué it as i child prize a 1 eautiful toy ; he wouk have idolized it as a dexotee worships tlu beauty of his goddess - and for this refcHng alone he feit the great treasure of Kl'u' love had been denied him. But a rumor was Stifripg in the fashion able world that never Maobed the qnifl old homestead. Men looked with pity oi the loving, trusting wife ; woraen smilee and sneered behind their fans and stil Elsie never ilrcained OUght of the shanu and disgrace that wa3 gaihering aroum her. Whon the news of her fiekle husband's lopement with a dashing widow reached ier, she threw up her„ hands with a cry of' Icspair - ■" Nathaniel, Nathaniel, my sin ïas found me out!" Tliree days later the dead body of her íusband - for a railroad accident had cnded lis career- was carried home to her ; and ils-ie, broken and f'ull of' bitter rem 'ollowed it to its last resting-place ; then urned her face to the quiet old home slu: ïad left a bride but a few mout lis I Nathaninl askel no qnestioffs'. Tne sad, white lace was dearer to hiiu now than it ïad ever been before. He made no outward sign of the love that was burning within his breast, yot his care of her was wonderful, and he thankcd God that through affliction he had been shown the reaknesa of liis dol, md that Elsie was íut human, while his own lieart liad been purified in the fire of tribulation. More :han a year after Lcwis Walton's dcath, we find t hem standing where we 6rst smw iheiu - under the old willow - and Klsie is wearing a wreath of' dogwood berries and autumn leavcs. Hor cheeks are flu-licl. and a tender light filis the beautiful eycs. "Elsie " - Naihaniel iiuprisons the b! n dor fingers - "you mi?t let me sp ak Give me back the love I lost when you became the wifu of anothcr." ''Nathaniel!" - Klsie's voice is full of contrition - " I did not know my own he&rt theo." "You know it now, Elsie; .'ay it is mine." " Forcverand forever, Nathaniel." And who will qucstion his right to tuke the golden head to his bosom, where we hopo it may rest for many years to cotne.