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€ SOUTHERN BANNER: FEBRUARY 26, 1878. AROMANCE. Mr. Steele had never married ; he enjoyed his riches withont compan ionship ; he had not a relative in the world; A liftrd, selfish, grasping man, beloved by none, and respected only because ef .his great wealth. Spite of bis power to do good, the world was mono the better for Richard Steele’s existence. No one in Milford remembered M* Steele as other than the miser he was to day J for fifteen years he had been a citizen of the town, and no change, either for better or worse, had come over him, in a moral poiut of view. His gardens of Ireton Hall were the finest for scores of miles; the yellow pears and luscious nectarines mellowed on its walls, the ungathered grapes purpled on the trellises, and no school boy’s daring bands disturbed the ripe treasures. Mr. Steele’s great dog, Pluto, was as selfish as his master, and his cruel teeth were always ready to inflict summary punishment on all depredators. One quiet afternoon, as Mr. Steele sat on the piazza gazing out on the broad acres of Ireton, his eye fell on two little children who were coming down the road hand in hand. They arrived in front of the gardens, and cast a wishful look at the damask roses which bung over the quaintly carved gate, for a moment they conversed together in subdued voices, and then they turned in at the iron- guarded gateway, and went slowly up the avenue. An angry scowl contracted the brow of Mr. Steele at this unwonted intrusion, and he half arose from his seat as if to drive away the unwel come guests. They were the first children who had ever dared to tres pass on the estate of Ireton Hall. They came fearlessly up to the piazza, still holding each other’s hands. The eldest was a boy of perhaps twelve years, a noble, brave little fellow with brown eyes, and dark, glossy hair. The other was a girl; she could not • have been more than nine eiunnjers old, and beauty like hers is seldom seen, save in some old, rare picture. The sight ol her face struck a strange thrill to the heart of Richard Steele, and involuntary lie bent down to look at her. She was fair as a water lily, and the red leaped at intervals to her white cheeks. Her eyes were deep blue, and her hair like ripples of molten gold touched by sunbeams Both the children wore mourning garments, cheap and coarse, but neat as human hands could make them. The little girl spoke first. “ Please, sir, will you give my brother and me some roses ?” The tone was musical and sweet as harp notes, but the rich man’s countenance hard and cold. He pointed to the highway. “ Be off!” ho exclaimed; “ I do not raise flowers for beggars.’’ IIow the dark eyes ol the boy flashed ; and he was about to make some sharp answer, but the pressure of the girl’s fingers on bis arm checked him. “We are not beggars,” slic said calmly; “but our mother is dead, ami we are orphans. She loved the roses, and we love them too. Please give us one apiece. It will 6eem so good to smell flowers once more.” The hard face did not relax—the long thin finger still pointed to the gate; but"The blue-eyed petitioner did not move. She was regarding him with an expression strangely tender and pitying, and it annoyed him more than anthing else to be pitied. “ Why do you look at me in that way ?’’ he demanded, harshly. “ Because I am sorry lot yon,” she said, sweetly. “ You are,old, and sad, and all alone. Where are your chil dren. “ I have none,’’ he answered, and wondered at the same time why he (lid so. “ None ! Have you no little girl to sit upon your knee, and call you papa? I’m sure I pity you very much!’’ “ Humph!’’ “ But I do! Iudeed I do! It must be dreadful not to love' anybody. Did you never have anybody to love you ?” A spasm of pain shot athwart the rigid face of* Richard Steele, and, life tali flame 'quivered; it might be with agony or anger, one could not decide from his words. He pushed the child away. “ Not another word! I \Hll not listen! Good heavens ! that lips like those should ask me that question l’’ “ Pardon nie—T'didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. You loved some body and heaven took her away. Was it your sister ?” Ah, yes! and memory flew back to that gentle, fair-haired child who had epised all women because of me, and I have stiffe^d you to go on in igno rance, while all the time my heart has been slowly breaking for the want of your love. When you left me to go out into the world in search of fortune, my love for you wronged Heaven 1 I was an idolater, and you, Richard, were my idok But if ,my love was strongs my pride was stronger,-and when your letters, after growing less frequent, ceased alto gether, I sought no explanation of your silence. Georgia Dale, my stepsister, was my counsellor, and because I listened to her, my whole life has been ship wrecked. She it was wIiq-first wfiis- Cotton Fertilizer d AND—- DOBBS’ 15 wvi ; a l'l •ir- • i- -FOR- »>$•. mzz rjfr jc m ® » clung with soft arms to his neck, and pered in my ear the story of your kissed with warm lips his cheek, devotedness to a fair h4hw$i*; she it His little sister May ! How well he remembered her, ns she looked the last time he saw her lace, lying cold and calm, like marble, In the shadow of a coffin. Yes, he remembered May, and his eye grew moist with something like a tear, but it was a strange visitant, and be dashed it away. Yet that tear was not given to May ; she had been for years safe in Heaven ; it was given to another, whose blue eyes seemed to be look ing at him out of the orbs of the lit tle girl before him. He bent down over her, and scanned her features closely. Then he asked, “ My child, \yhat is your name ?*’ “Violet Gray.” The man smothered a cry of suprise, and his lace grew' strangely pale even in the ruddy light of snn- set. It must have been a strange emotion, indeed, wbich could thus sti^ the hard heart of Richard Steele. Presently be said: “■ And w’liat was your mother’s ivaiuo before she mar ried?” - . • .*■ ■... * V “ Violet Dale.” , qo t, “ And she is dead He spoke the words ill a deep whisper, as though fearing to utter them. / “ She is with the angels.” < '■ I A silence fell upon the group, broken only by the suppressed sobs of the girl and the heavy breathing of the man. ' ’<■ / : •- When he again addressed her, bis voice had taken a softness which none in Milford had ever heard in its measured cadence. “And the boy is your Brother ?” “ Yes, my brother Richard.” “ Richard! For whom was he named thus?” Mr. Steele asked the qnestion breathlessly, with an earnestness very strange and foreign nature. “ For a schoolmate of my mother’s.” “ And this schoolmate’s surname— do you remember it ?” “ If was Richard Steele, sir.” How the eold face lighted up, and the stern mouth grew almost tender as this proof of the power of the old love was given him. “ Did Violet—did your mother ever mention this Richard Steele to you?” The undersigned lias just had manufactured to Tiis own order a large and fresh supply of the well known * ' tut ' ' 4^? " . ... ■ Excellenza Guano and Dobbs Chemicals for Composting which he offers to planters of Northeast Georgia and sunounding country, at the same price as last year cis, per ti» The boy came forward and replied: “ His name was the last on her lips when she died ; and, two days before she left us, she gave me a letter which I was to put into liis own hand ; and wc are searching for him, my sister and I, and, when we have found him, we are going to live with a cousin of my father’s in Portsmouth.” “Yon need look no farther for Riehard Steele, my boy; lie is before you! Come into the house, and give me the letter.’’ The children followed him into the great parlor, and calling his aston ished housekeeper, he bade her pre pare them some refreshments; then, receiving the packet from the boy, he went upstairs to bis chamber, closed and locked the door, abd sat down in the arm-chair by the window. He held the letter some time in his band, gazing intently on the superscription, which he could scarcely discern for the mist that dimmed his eyes. At length he kissed the writing and gently broke the seal, wbich the fingers of the dead had fixed. The contents of the sheet were as fellows; Richard Steele:—Now that I am dying, it will wrong no one to confess what has hitherto been kept is a secret in my own bosom. You be lieved me false and fickle; you de- was who brought me the jetted Con taining the tidings of your marring Oh, Richard, Richard! who shall picture to yon the days of agony which succeeded ? But for my pride, I should have lost my reason! Well, after that, Chari* s Gray sought my favor; my stepmother ap proved of him, and I perjured myself- at God’s altar. Too IhtipjSj learned' the truth ! It was all a yjlc plot of Georgia Dale’s-; I stood between her and you ; but for me, she hoped to win your love. You know her result; her plot was a failure. You fled from the country, hating me in your heart, and never guessing that the smiling bride of Cliarlefe Gray cast out a thought after you. •—. Seven years ago my husband dud, and dnring these intervening years, 1 I have earned my own and my chil dren’s bread by the labSr of nty hands. Only once in that time have I looked on your face; and then.yo\» thought me hundreds of mires away ; but mv love was potent, and I jour neyed, on foot mul alone, to see you once more. You were walking in the garden, and the woman whom you turned away when she asked lor a draught of water, was Violet Dale. I would not reveal myself to-you ; it is better as it is. And now,’ Heaven bless you, Richard Steele! I have loved you long, and you only; Heaven where I am goinjj£ tj|eri is neither marrying nor giving in"innr- riage. Meet me there. Violet Gray. He finished the manuscript, and bowing his (ace on the open shvot, the long pent sorrow of liis heart burst forth in tears—tears sneh Us only one like him can shed. The closed chamber was opened at last, the double granite doors were rolled back, and the angels of tender memory flew in and took un their . • it * ■ . r.. * : ' abode there. Violet Dale! the soft-eyed' girl whom he had loved with all the fervor of liis manhood ; Violet, who had made liis whole life a failure! And yet, she had been innocent; before the tribunal of liis judgment, she was blameless. Yet, she was dead—what mattered this long de ferred discovery? It was too late, now ! Too late for her, but not too late for her children. They should be liis, and lie would be their father. And it was even. so. Richard and Violet Gray went forth no more from Ireton Hall; henceforth, their home was with the early friend of their mother. 1 f Unbounded was the surprise in Milford when it was known that Mr. Steele had adopted two strange chib dren; but still greater was the aston ishment when, on the following Sun day, the rich man walked into church, leading the orphans, one <fii either side. The good work was begun, and it went on until Richard Steele’s nature was revolutionized. These.Fertilizers have been inspected by authority of the State and found to be up to former stand- anl aurt above. All persons desiring to purchase in Athens, wi 1 call on the undersigned at his store Tltuy C»u also lie obtained from the following agents. S. M. SHANKLE, / Harmony Grove, Ga. BOON & ALEXANDER, Maysvillc. Ga. MeWHORTER & YOUNG Antioch, Ga. P. II- BOWERS, ..Franklin Springs, Ga. W.A.RQYSTQN “ “ Ga. M. tM. JOHNSON, Bowersvillc, Hart county, Ga. A. R. ELLIOTT,. . 1 / Grove, Elbert county, Ga. R. II. KENNEBREW, Lexington, Ga. S. C. DOBBS, Athens, jan2t?iu. GUANO! GUANO! HOUSE, BETTS & CO., , . • . \ l V ' t . NO 6, BROAD STREET, ATHENS, GEORGIA- • GENERAL AGENTS FOR v Y -.fnf. Carolina Fertilizer . •- r • Eagle Ammoniated Bone Phosphate. AND Eagle Compound Acid Phosphate. •' The above Fertilizers are offered to the planters of Northeast Georgia with the assurance that their commercial value is equal to any in the market. Thousands of Farmers in Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama are ready to attest their value, and we have no hesitancy in recommending them to our friends and customers. v Prices as Low as other Standard Fertilizers. junS3m. HOUSE, BETTS & CO. PLANTERS’ HOTEL, AUGUSTA, GEORGIA. rSTEJ-W Bates Reduced to. $3 per Day. HAVING LEASED THIS WELL KNOWN HOTEL, I enter upon its management by Reducing Rates, and asking ot the Travel ing Public, especially my friends of Carolina and Georgia, a contis: a ance ot that liberal support they have always given it. B. DF 1 . BROW1M, juu2S-5i:i FOKMEK..Y OF CHARLESTON, I'ROI'RIETOK. Wando Fertilizer AND Wando Acid Ph.ospto.ate, MADE BY Years afterwards, while be lay on his death-bed, loving and grieving friends were around him, and at the last, he fancied he saw’ his lost Violet hovering above the conch. At liis funeral, there were few dry eyes, for the poor had learned te bless his bounty, and the sick and distressed offered up his name in their prayers. And, therefore, say not that be cause men are harsh and cold, there is no oasis in the desert, for in every human heart, however strong, there is a fountain of sweet water, and happy is he w’ho breaks the flintv barriers and allows the stream to gush forth. GEORGIA STOVE and Tinware Wando Phosphate Company OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA Our Fertilizer and Acid Phosphate rank among the highest grades in the market. Sold for li V* * ! ; : • ■ I ■ i ! Middling Cotton at 15 cents per pound, STANDARD GUARANTEED. Send for Circulars with Analyses and Terms. For sale by J. H. HUGGINS, Athens, Ga. feb.12.2m. Atlanta, Georgia. The proprietor of the MARKAM HOUSE takes this method ol informing the traveling public, that notwithstanding the great Euro pean war, his hotel will continue to entertain with its usual hospitali ties and first-class accommodations, such as he flatters himself has given great popularity and success to his house, and general satisfac tion to those who have honored him by becoming his guests. Board reasonable and accommodations first-class. DEPOT. ATHENS, GEORGIA. We SUPERINTENDENT. jar.S Cm