The attorney protested that he was her friend, lover, and would be her husband, whenever she said the word. She insisted that it would be better for them to part; but, that when in a foreign land, she would if it afforded any pleasure, carry on a friendly correspondence with him. He thanked her, telling her that that would be one grain of comfort; but begged her to reconsider, and not bury herself, as it were, in nursing those despicable Cossacks and Turks.
She said her decision was unalterable. With this, he took his leave, fearing she might never return. He consoled himself with the thought that she loved him, and if she ever returned, he would still have hopes of winning her. "Hope springs eternal in the human breast." Once get a woman to love a man, and all obstacles will as a rule be overcome.
CHAPTER XII.
IN FOREIGN LANDS—STRATEGY—LOVE CONQUERS.
Octavia made known to her uncle and mother the attorney's passionate proposal and pleading—of her previous determination to go on a mission of mercy, joining the Red Cross Society. Both pleaded with her to give up her European trip, whatever she did with the attorney. But secretly they wanted Octavia to accept him. Both liked him. A firm friendship had been formed. He had successfully pleaded Elsie's case, and would be pleased to see the match. But Octavia was of age, and marrying was a personal matter, and every one must choose for herself.
She was firm in her decision to go, and they soon saw that further pleading was of no use. It was only a question of short time to make the necessary arrangements for her departure. Just before her departure Colonel R. died. Just previous to his sickness and death, he wrote Simon to come to see him, as he wanted to confer with him on some important business. Simon went, and the Colonel said to him, that he did not think he had long to live, and that in his will, he would bequeath Octavia fifty thousand dollars in gold, and for him, Simon, to act as her agent and trustee, until Octavia chose to make use of it. Simon was grateful on behalf of his niece for this liberal bequest. Colonel R. said that this would be the crowning act of atonement for his wrong in bringing Octavia into the world. He said he had sought forgiveness for this act, and that he felt that God, for Christ's sake, had pardoned him; not only for this, but other wrongs. He said to Simon that he had heard of Octavia's brilliant success in college, of the plaudits of her teachers, press and public. If Octavia, said he, went to Europe, it would be simply to get rid of her suitors; that hers was an anomalous condition. She would not wed beneath herself, and the laws of the country forbid her marrying a white man. He would now bid farewell to his ex-foreman, for the last time, wishing him unbounded success in life.
Colonel R.'s heirs contested the will, or that part bequeathing the gold to Octavia, and made strenuous efforts to have the courts set it aside. Simon again employed Elsie's ex-attorney to defend that clause in the will. There was a fierce legal battle, but the will as a whole was sustained, and Octavia was left independent.
Octavia now departed on her mission of mercy, Simon and Elsie believing that they would never see her again. She was bidding farewell to home, kindred,—to all that she held most dear. "Yes, my native land, I leave thee, far in foreign lands to dwell." After arriving in New York, she soon obtained passports for St. Petersburg, Russia, taking the first steamer, and ere long, would be
"Out on the ocean, all boundless we ride."