CHAPTER II.—Continued.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 11315, 6 September 1898, Page 4

CHAPTER ll.— Continued.

fNE evening Mark had gone home ; but the stars were so bright that I stayed outside watching the night sky. The dark bine vault was a mass of twinkling, shining gold. They were so bright and clear, and the faint mystical light they threw upon the earth was so dreamily beautiful that I was entranced. 1 Nellie/ cried my mother •do come in?' ' Mother,' I answered do come out here.' Almost to my surprise she came, and we stood together watching the far-ofi wonderful orbe. 4 How bright they are, those beautiful gtars !' said toy mother. *Ah Nellie, how many thousand years have they been shining ? What have they seen ? And, my darling, how soon they will be shining on our graves 1' But I, with my deep warm love — I had no fear of death. Not even the stars in Heaven shone so brightly or were so true a 9 my love. I said to her that I might die, but the love that filled my whole soul never could. Bhe looked at me with sad sweet eyes. When the stars shine in the night- sky, her look, and her words come back to me. ' Nellie,' she said, ' you should never give to a creature the love which it is dne to the creator. I have often thought deer child,' she continued, 'that yon love Mark. too much. It is not safe to centre all your love in one person. If anything happens to that one, your whole life is shipwrecked.' ' There can be no shipwreck where Mark is/ 1 answered, strong in my faith and love. My mother sighed.* •Nothing gives me more pleasure, Nellie, than to know how happy you are with Mark. I believe he is true as a man can be.' 'True as a man can be, mamma, means infinitely,' I interrupted. 4 Ah, no, my dear Nellie. M«n are bnt mortal ; their power of loving is not infinite. Ido not wish to sadden you, to cloud your faith, to dim your love or sadden your trust ; but I should like to warn you. Love with caution.' 1 There be nojean caution where Mark ia concerned/ I rejoined. ' I am old/ she continued, ' I have ' seen a great deal of life. Ido not say — Heaven t fprbid — that all men are false, or all women ; I do not say that one sex is more false than the other ; but I have seen love betrayed, trust misplaced. I have known the honest heart of a man broken because a woman lad deserted him, and i have known a loving and tender-hearted girl die because her lover left her.' I raised my face to the stars shining in their calm eternal beauty. Strong in my youth, ignorance and faith I said lightly : 'Nothing of that kind can ever happen between Mark and me/ • Some loves/ said my mother, ' last forever, some for a day, and oh, my dear Nellie, it seems to me that this last is, in these prosaic times, the commonest form of love.' * Love for a day/ 1 echoed, ' ah, thank Heaven that is not Mark's love/ My mother looked anxiously at me. I wonder how many mothers have given their children just the same sensible advice, and just as much in vain 7 'Do you quite understand Nellie/ asked my loving mother, • what I mean, what I want you to do ? Mark is to be absent four years. I do not say that his love will change or grow less ; but I beg you to leave yourself one chance. Do not give him such entire love that, if he should die or forget you, or any circumstance should part you, your whole life woild be ruined. Love with caution, Nellie.' * There is no need for caution with Mark !' cried my happy heart. To Mark my handsome lover, I might give in superabundance the lavish love that filled my heart ; and the words of my mother's warning fell on heedless ears. I can remember a warm day in June, when Mark and I sought the shade of the tall tree 3 that grew by tho river. A refreshing breeze came over the water, and the birds were silent -in the great heat. We were talking of our marriage of the bright sunshine which, like the June sunshine, had no shadow. Suddenly Mark asked me : • Have you any relatives, Nellie ? You and your mother seem to be quite alone in the world/ I told him that my mother was an only child, my mother also, and I was the same. The only relatives I had ever heard of were -some distant ones in America ; but I had none in England. 4lt must have been lonely for you, before % came, my darling/ he said, smiling. I told him how my home duties, and my love of nature, of flowers, birds, aad trees had filled my life. I had lived then in the gray of the twilight ; I lived now in the light of the glorious sun. ♦ How little I dreamed that morning — that fair May morning, that I was to meet my fate I' said Mark. ' Nellie, I shall never forget how your hair gleamed in the sunshine.' I looked up to him with happy eyes ; his praise was so sweet to me. 'We were talking 1 about relatives, Mark, I said. • Have you any/ ' Ours is a very peculiar family/ he said, laughing. We have some relatives on my mother's side, who are very poor —they live in London. On my father's side we have some distant relatives who are very rich j but we do not correspond with either. These rich people have a title too ; bnt I shall never trouble them, If ever I have a title, it shall be through winning it ; if ever I have a fortune, I shall have made it, Nellie.' My noble Mark. My whole heart bowed down before him; he was so brave, so gallant, so independent as all true men are. I never recalled that conversation, until I knew who Mark Upton's relatives were.