370 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
(Bur Jstorjr-Sl^ller. 
DENIS ALLEYN’S TEMPTATION. 
BY DE FORREST P. Of MM Eft SON. 
“J wonder what keeps Denis bo late to¬ 
night? Ho Bald this morning when he wont 
away that ho should be home earlier than usual. 
It's already gone seven o’clock, and as yet be 
has not shown himself. I do ho wlflh that bo 
oould find some other employment. 1 have al¬ 
ways bud a wholesome dread of those Iron i'nr- 
tiuoos. I never sec one In full blast but It sols 
me thinking of wlmt bell must bo." 
And just here Rood Mrs. Adl.kyn stopped 
short her thinking aloud, and went (o the open 
doorway to meet Denis, who was coming np 
the walk. 
“ Why, what In the world alls yon, man V You 
look os If you were ready to faint." 
Ag If to vindicate her words, Denis Addeyn 
did actually totter ut that moment and fall to 
the ground. 
Barbara Addeyn was quickly at his side. 
She was a woman who could think and uot 
quickly; and when emergencies like this culled 
tor calmness and eool, decided Action, she was 
strong enough and could control her norvos suf¬ 
ficiently to net. 
Bhe hastily unfastened his shirt at the lliroiit, 
and then, taking both bis hands In hers began 
to rub them as If her very life depended on the 
strength she bestowed on this task. Soon Denis 
began to show signs of returning conscious¬ 
ness, and opened his eyes full upon her. in a 
few moments he spoke: 
“I don't know what to make of this, BAR- 
ijara," ho said. “This is the second lime to- 
day that I have fainted away. I have not felt 
very well for several days, but bad attributed 
it to the extraordinary warm weather. Why! 
the thermometer actually stood at one hundred 
and four degrees to-day In the foundry where 
wo were working!" 
By this time Denis had so far recovered as lo 
bo able to walk, and together they colored the 
house. 
IIarbara soon had his supper upon the table, 
and, faint and weak as lie was, ho could not re¬ 
sist the tempting array of good things she had 
prepared for him. 
There were nice light biscuit and a golden 
roll of butter be-ildo them. In the center of 
tho table stood a dish heaped with strawberries 
•that delightful fruit of which poor old Izaak 
Walton said“ Doubtless (ion might have 
made a, better berry; but doubtless Goi> never 
dbl;" then there was a full pitcher of cream, 
they lived Just far enough out of the city to 
keep a oow, a luxury which only those who 
keep one can fully appreciate. 
One would have thought that these two peo¬ 
ple might at least have possessed contented 
minds. 
If their lives had always run in the same 
groove as now, perhaps they might. Hut both 
Denis and Barbara Addeyn had lived in a 
much higher position than now. Denis Addeyn 
was the son of an Knglfah Lord, Until be whs 
twenty-two ho had lived beneath his father's 
roof. Then one day ho made the acquaintance 
of pretty Barbara Widton, and lost bis heart 
tit tho very moment ho mot her. 
His lather had promised him in marriage to 
Lady ISABEL Clark, the only child and heiress 
of an old school-day chum, now Lord Clark. 
There were many reasons why It seemed best 
to the old man that his son should marry as he 
had planned. 
First, the broad acres of Lord (’dare adjoined 
those of Lord Addeyn ; and It was the dream 
of his life that at the marriage of his son the 
two estate* should become one. 
Had not H.vbbAR a WedtOn'b pretty face come 
between these plans this dream might have 
come true; for young Addeyn was certainly 
not averse to tho charms of the Lady Isabel, 
As to that lady, she privately told her maid one 
day “ that there was not so comely a man, or 
oue whom she so much admired among the 
whole English Poem go as Denis Addeyn." 
It was early In M i.v when Denis Addeyn met 
flARiuuA Wydton, and when the first roses had 
blossomed in .1 uno ho plucked the fairest among 
them and placed it in her hair to wear ut her 
bridal. 
Of course when Lord Addeyn found out what 
had taken place on this Juno day, like most 
Lords whose eons marry different from their 
wishes, swore u little, then raved, then swore a 
little more, and Unally vowed that ho would no 
longer receive lilm beneath his roof, or own 
him as a son. 
So Penis Addeyn snapped hts lingers and said: 
"lie didn't care h tig about tho Peerage; ho 
didn't want to be ti Lord, and he was sure ho 
wasglud to escapo so easily. Ho had his Bar¬ 
bara, and she was better than all the high- 
sounding names In t he world. 
“They would go to A merlon, and there a man 
could earn for himself a name and not have to 
wait for another to die before he could become 
anything but Lord So-and-So's son." 
And goto America they did. From his ear¬ 
liest boyhood Denis Addeyn had a natural 
aptitude for making models. Not that he hud an 
inventive genius; but an innate love of copy¬ 
ing that which pleased him, and constructing 
for his own amusement its oxaet counterpart in 
miniature. 
Ills father had often chided him for the Idle 
waste of time, as he called that which was spent 
in making t hese models. “ Get a thorough edu¬ 
cation. Cultivate your mind, and leave these 
things to those who are forced to earn the bread 
they would eat. Things that are higher belong 
to you ; there Hows no plebeian blood within 
your veins. 
With Lord Addeyn the idea of a man having 
to work for his living was considered as some¬ 
thing toofar beneath the planeon which be was 
born, to allow of a recognition, as other than of 
a plebeian nature. He had not learned that 
only hero Is true nobility found. 
For nearly a month after they arrived in New 
York, Denib Addeyn sought in vain for em¬ 
ployment. Hut when lie had almost given up 
Hie idea of being sueeestful in a large city, and 
resolved to try elsewhere, there came to him 
one day a message from one of the men on 
whom he had called iu the early part of his 
seeking employment. 
"If he would call the next morning," the 
message read, “arrangementscould probably 
be made for a permanent engagement.” 
He went. The week previous the mun who 
had attended to the makingol’ models had died. 
If he felt thoroughly competent to fill the place 
it was al his disposal. 
Denis Addeyn dbl feel thoroughly compe¬ 
tent and acted accordingly, no accepted the 
situation. To a man with nothing else to de¬ 
pend on, and whoso purse did not contain the 
“Sands of Puetolug," w bat other was thereto 
110 but accept, and t hat at once. 
The llrst year all went swimmingly. Denis 
Addeyn felt that ho had found a groove in 
which he could run on to success, if nothing 
out of the ordinary should come in between 
him and that event. He bought him a home 
just out of the city limits, and furnished it 
neatly; and Barbara's care, and the smiles 
with which she met him at the close of his day’s 
work, made bint feel that his was a happy one. 
At tho end of tho year he was prostrated with 
a dangerous lever, and for months his life hung 
seemingly by a single thread, the severing of 
which might occur at any moment. 
BARBARA watched by Ills bedside with unceas¬ 
ing perseverance. To her the idea of Ills dying 
was something so terrible that she dared hardly 
give it a thought. She was not. strong, and at 
times It did seem as If she, too, might be pros¬ 
trated; and yet tho strength that is born of 
love that is tender and true was given her, so 
that she endured until her husband was able to 
sit up. 
Then the overtaxed nerves gave out, and for 
days her life hung In the balance. Tho neigh¬ 
bors came in and administered to their wants 
so that they were amply cared for. 
At. tho close of a day. Just when evening had 
begun to throw her veil oyer tl»eenrth,shuHlng 
it out from sight with Its beauty, Barbara 
opened her eyes once more to the knowledge 
of what was going on about her. She had been 
too 111 to even speak, and had not recognized 
any one for days. “Oh!" she said, “1 have 
had such u beautiful dream. I thought I was 
walking along the banks of a beautiful river 
with my husband. The side on which wo wore 
was overgrown with brambles and woods, but 
through the green foliage that lined the other 
side we were continually beholding scenes of 
greater beauty than we had over before soon." 
Myriads of flowers of gorgeous hues; birds 
of rarest plumage, and whose songs were 
sweeter than that of our own nightingale, met 
ourga/.eand greeted our ear on every hand. 
In vain we sought t o Hud some place to cross 
over, and just as we wore about lo turn away, 
an angel appeared to us and said:—‘The time 
of thy coming is not yet. When ihy mission is 
ended on earth; this is the reward thy Father 
hath in stem for thee,' and then ho was gone.” 
Whether this was the “baseless farlc of a 
dream," who knows? I sometimes think that 
our Father does give to Ills poor, suffering chil¬ 
dren on earth visions like these, which are not 
nil dreams, to strengthen them to new’ effort In 
well-doing, that In the end they may have this 
beautiful world which they have seen as their 
reward. 
When Denis Addeyn had fully recovered he 
went back to the old work again. 
Barbara regained her health much more 
rapidly than he, and while he remained too 
111 to earn anything, Bho ha d toiled with her 
needle to supply the needs of their homo. 
I said Denis Addeyn went buck to the old 
work again ; but he did not go willingly. Dur¬ 
ing his sickness there hud come to him, at times, 
thoughts of the home ho hud left for the love 
of Barbara Widton, and during some of 
these times there had come, too, a taint longing 
to return to that homo, its ease and ita luxury. 
Hut then there was Barbara ! His father 
would not receive him should lie return with 
her. What if he should go alone ? Barbara 
had shown that she could take euro of herself. 
Perhaps if he were to plead with the old man, 
his father, and bog Ills forgiveness lie would 
listen to him. and at last yield. 
But It not? Ho could then remain a few 
yours, and during that iime renounce his wlfo. 
Perhaps in n lew years his father would die. 
Tho last ho had heard from him he was consld 
erod In a decline; and then, when his father 
was dead, and he was righted in the will, he 
could return to Barbara, or she to him, and 
t hese days of unceasing toil would come to an 
end. 
This temptation came to him often during 
the days and nights that he lay upon his bed of 
pain. Iiut when he was able to be about once 
more, and (he patient, pule face of Barbara 
was before him he dared no longer lot this 
thought take possession of his soul. 
The day after the fainting it came full upon 
him again. Indeed, that night while at the tea- 
tnbl e he yielded so fur as to aayt— “If within 
one month I am not. stronger will go." And 
Barbara, unconscious of what was passing In 
her husband’s brain, chatted on as though the 
only care of her life was to please him. 
After all, I do bollcvo men are weaker than 
women. They arc the oftenest. to fall. When 
groat, temptations come, believe me, nine times 
out of ten a man will yield a woman, one. 
When a month had gone by and Denis A r,- 
deyn found that lie was really no better, lie 
thought once moro of the resolve ho had made. 
Somehow the StrugglQ was more severe now 
than when he had llrst thought of going away. 
The days of unceasing care on Bar BARA'S 
part, had endeared her to him more than ever. 
And yet when tho tempter whispered In his 
ear that only by sacrificing her love for u t ime 
could he in the future, when Ids health should 
fail entirely, provide for her wants, ho heeded 
that whisper and commenced making prepara¬ 
tion for his journey. 
Of course, all that ho did must be done in 
secret. No shadow of suspicion must Barbara 
have of his plans. When he had gone and she 
had found the written explanation as to tho 
■why of his going, would be time enough for her 
to know. 
I wonder if all men carry nn index of what Is 
going on In their heart on their faces? Denis 
Addeyn certainly did on Ids. He fancied that 
Ids Barbara remained in utter ignorance of 
the plan he had formed. Not so! From the 
first houror his planning she had known Hint 
all was not right with her husband; that some 
wrong thought or act hud entered Hie well- 
spring of peace In his heart and troubled tho 
waters. 
Barbara Addeyn was not a woman to ques¬ 
tion on a more suspicion. Kho would wa tch and 
wait. If, as she feared, something preyed upon 
tier husband’s mind, robbing him of peace and 
happiness, she might, by remaining silent, in 
the end be able to avert tho impending danger. 
Danger she knew there was to such us ho who 
would yield ull too easily to surrounding cir¬ 
cumstances. 
In his sleep he would often mutter half 
audible words, and once betrayed his secret by 
an appeal to Barbara for a full forgiveness of 
the step he was about to take. 
From that hour BARBARA watched him un¬ 
ceasingly. “Poor fellow," she would say, “this 
terrible illness through which he has passed 
has affected his brain. I must watch him more 
carefully now. If he should commit a great 
wrong I would be as much to blame as he for 
neglecting my duty In not seeing to hirn." And 
so she spent most of the time at Ills side. He 
noticed It one day, and said : “ Barbara, why 
do you always hang Upon my footsteps? Do 
you think I uni a child and In need of con¬ 
tinued watching? ” 
Then this woman told him calmly and collect¬ 
edly all that she had heard him say in IiIh sleep, 
and of her discovery of the two trunks, lull- 
packed, as If for a Journey, and how from the 
llrst hour of the discovery she had determined 
to save him years of Borrow by f rust rating Ills 
plan of deserting her. 
" Have 1 over complained," she Raid, “of my 
lot? Have 1 not at all times willingly shared 
with you the rough places in our lives? To mo 
Hie love of my husband has been sullioieiit to 
make ujo strong and willing to suffer much. 11 
is true that you have sacrificed much for mo. I 
know how bright the lire that might have been 
yours must stem to you to some of these hours 
Of toll, and sometimes 1 wish that you hml 
never met me, that it might skill belong to you. 
But, now that you are mine, I cannot give you 
up even for so short a time as you have planned.” 
In that one moment Denis Addeyn had de- 
oided all. Ho would not give up this woman’s 
love for all the wealt h that Lord Addeyn pcx- 
sessed! With her, uh before, bo would struggle 
on. To share life with her, even in a cot, wore 
better far than life without her iu the regal 
home of his childhood. 
So Denis Alleyn went back to the old ways 
once more, stronger than ever before, now that 
the greatest temptation of his life was over¬ 
come. 
* * * * ♦ * * 
Ten years have passed since the night that 
Barbara Allen discovered her husband’s In¬ 
tended desertion. The home which they then 
occupied has grown more beautiful than then. 
There are three childrcu that make glad their 
hearts with their merry laugh and childish 
prattle. One, the eldest, has been named after 
the grandfather who lives over tho sea and who 
has relented now towards the son whom once 
ho disowned. 
Death, which smooths down many of the hard 
places in life, has crept into his household and 
taken from him hie daughter on whom ho doled. 
Out of his lonelings grew a longing for the 
sight of hts boy anoe more. So one day he sent 
a whlto-wingod messenger of peace over tho 
sea, bidding IiIr son to bring his wife and little 
ones back to his father’s house and abide there¬ 
in. "Tills life is not of long enough duration 
tor us to afford I liese leuds to exist. Let. us for¬ 
give as we hopo to bo forgiven," it said. And 
this white-winged messenger fuiled not in its 
mission, for Denis Addeyn gathered his flock 
about lilm and sailed over Hie sen to his father’s 
home. 
lie did not sell the homo in which he had 
passed so many happy hours, and in which he 
had overcome the one groat temptation of his 
life. To his wife he said, “ Wo will keep it; 
who knows but lc the future wo may wish to 
return to it. It will he easy to find a tenant for 
it, and I prefer renting to selling. We may yet 
end our days here." 
When they onoe moro reached Fngland they 
saw at the first glance that Lord Addeyn had 
not long to remain in this world. The loss of 
his much-loved child Imd fold fearfully upon 
him, and a settled cough had already reduced 
him to h mere skeleton. Ills Joy at meeting his 
son oneo’m (>r e was vorv great: and evcn'BAtt- 
bara and the children wore welcomed"with un¬ 
feigned gladness. Barbara took especial delight 
in administer lug to hiy wants, and, ns il was no 
welcome task to Lady Adi.evn, she soon be¬ 
came Ids established nurse. 
One day, when BARUARAwas atone with the 
old man, he spoke to her of dying. “Before 
that time comes T want to right n great wrong,” 
he said. “In the days rif his boyhood Denis 
Addeyn whs a good son to me. Had it not been 
for my folly In regard to his marriage with you, 
there would never have been an estrangement, 
between us. I intend to leave all l possess to 
him, with the exception of enough to enable 
his mother to live independently if she chooses 
so to do. But. it is my Wish that her home shall 
always bo with you, and this is thconly request 
i have to make." 
After Lord ALLEYN'S death, which occurred 
in levs than one year after Denis A ddeyn’s re¬ 
turn, he and Barbara decided to return lo 
their American home. “I do not lilto this ex¬ 
alted stylo of living, Denis," Barra ka saldono 
day to him, “I am sure the happiest, days we 
have ever known were spent in our cottage 
home far over the sea." 
And Denis, when ho had listened to what she 
was saying, answered her thus:- “It. shall be as 
you say, darling. I, too, am tired of till this 
Btatcly inagnitleoneo; it makes mo feel as 
though we wore living in a region of perpetual 
icebergs; we. will return to America, where 
Lord Ai.dkvn will drop his title and lie known 
only for the good ho may do to those who are 
suffering around him. I will not dispose of the 
estate which has been left mo by my father. 
Some time in the future it may seem best for us 
to return to it.” 
At the close of an October day, upon tho deck 
of nn out-going steamer, Denis Addeyn, his 
wife, and mother who held two of her grand¬ 
children by tho band, stood ami watched the 
fast receding shores of their native land. 
In their faces could he found no traces of re¬ 
gret, but a soft, refined ex press loo of hopo that 
the land which lay before them would give 
them greater Joys, reigned there instead. 
We will skip over a few chapters in the lives 
of Denis and Barbara Addeyn ; pass even be¬ 
yond the llrst year after their return to tho 
homo where first we met them. The house is 
somewhat larger than then. There has been a 
wing added to It of such considerable beauty as 
to greatly Improve its appearance. Jn this 
wing Lttdy Ai.dkvn makes her home, and styles 
it her castle. The grounds, too, have been en¬ 
larged and cared for with a nicety Hint calls 
forth the admiration of every passer by. Tho 
choicest of flowers bloom hero each in their 
turn; and Baruara gathers them from time to 
time, and arranges them iu bouquets for the sick 
room oi Rome neighbor or friend. 
With their wealth they bestow many chari¬ 
ties. In all the villages around Denis and 
Barbara Alleyn are known us "Tho Good 
Samaritans." He does not. cling to the title of 
Lord Alleyn. Not ono of ail his neighbors has 
he ever allowed to address him by it. 
“This is a laud where the only title that a 
man deserves can easily be earned by living 
and doing right -thatof a man, and it is all that 
I desire.” 
By all who know him he is truly respected and 
beloved. Many are the kind deeds done by him 
each year of his life. To his mother has he 
proved iho kindest of sons, and he often soys to 
her when she complains of being a burden to 
him and his wife, now that she has become old 
mid feeble, “ Mother, I should be unworthy to 
be your child if for one moment. I forgot my 
duty to you. It ought always to bo the one 
great pleasure of a child that bo Is ablo to min¬ 
ister to t ho wants and comforts of her who gave 
him life. No, mother, the burden is not too 
heavy for either Barbara or me to bear.” 
And so Lady Alleyn, secure us she felt her¬ 
self lobe in the love of Lev children, lived on 
oontented and happy, until one duy nn angel 
stepped over tho threshold and sealed her eye- 
1 Ids with the peaceful balm of that sleep named 
death from which lhere is no earthly waking. 
The day after Lady Alleyn was buried, 
Denis sat with BARBARA ou the piazza. For 
the first time since Barbara discovered her 
husband’s plan of leaving her, ho spoke of it. 
“ How weak of ine,” ho said, “ to think that I 
would have deserted you then! ” 
And Barbara answered him thus:—“It was 
not because you loved mo loss, my husband; 
but that you loved mo too well. Let us never 
allude to that again. If you were weak then, 
the years Hint have passed since have made you 
stronger, until now you are tho perfect man. It 
is only tl)ey who are delivered from temptation 
that ever know how to pity those who like 
themselves have been tried as by Are. If it 
wore not for this, my husband, you would never 
have learned how to extend sympathy to those 
whoso need is us great us was yours in t he past." 
Stooping, Denis Addeyn kissed his wife, say¬ 
ing as he did so:—“A virtuous woman is a 
crown to her husband all the days of his life.” 
And the soft rays of the silvery moon in tho 
heavens above them fell on them both in silent 
benediction as he uttered these words. 
