Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-05-24

love, she could never have returned it-for who
so quick as children, in detecting where their
affections may securely be placed To an open
rupture with the children she never came, as
she might have done had family of her own
been born to her. She encouraged herself i'm
her antipathy to the children, and towards
Philip it grew into positive hatred He was
a generous, high-spirited, but tiresome boy, as
boys, who gre worth anything, are apt to be-
tie kept the house in commOtion. and the
drawlng-room in litter, spinning tops on its
carpet, and breaking its windows with his in
diarubber ball. Mrs. Crane was perpetuay
slipping upon marbles, aud treacLereus hooks
and fishing tackle were wont to entaugle them
selves in her stockings and feet. She invoked
no end of storms on his head, and the boy
would gather his playthings together and de-
camp with them but, the next day they, or
others more troublesome would be laying about
| again. What provoked Mrs. Crane worse
than all was, that she could not put Philip out
! of temper. When she attacked him with pas
sionate anger, he replied by q laugh and mer-
ry word, sometimes an impertinent one, for, if
the truth must be avowed, Philip was not al
ways deterrent towards his stepmother She
had the ear of their father, not they ; and she
got the children put to school. Millicent was
eighteen and Philip sixteen before they return
ed home, and then Mr. Crane was dead, and
the money, which ought to have been theirs,
! was left to the widow for her life, and to them
afterwards she but twelve or fourteen
years older they were Mrs Crane was charg-
ed to pay them ESQ a year each, during her
life an additional fifty to Philip till he at
tanned the age of twenty-One, then to cease
and Millicent was to have her home with her
stepmother, until removed from it by mar
riage-
q It's wicked WILL" burst forth Philip in
the height of his indignation my father
must have lost his senses before he made such
a will"
We must make the best of it, Philip"
whispered his gentle sister, soothngly " it is
done, and there is no remedy, You shall have
my ESQ as well as your own. | shall not want
it."
"Don't talk nonsense, Mcent, returned
the boy. You'll want your ESQ for clothes
and pocket-money do not fatter yourself that
deceitful old crocodile will furnish them And
if she did, do you think would take the pal
try pittance from you?"
Philip said he would go to sea, but Mill
cent cried and sobbed, and entreated that he
would not for she possessed the dread of a
sea life, indigenous in many women and Phil
ip, who loved her dearly, yielded to her Then
he said he would GO into the army but where
was his commission to come from? Mrs.
Crane declined to furnish funds for it. At
length an old friend of his fathers obtained
for him an admission into enc of the London
banking houses He was then seventeen but
he was BOT to expect salary for ever so long
| n iol oft 1tniSc Nd
was all he had to keep him, in every way
Enough, too as Mrs. Crane said, and as
many Others may say. Yes, amply enough,
when young man has the moral strength to
resist expensive temptations, but very little to
encounter these which bubble up in the vortex
| of London life, From FIVE o'clock in the even
ing, about which hour he left business, was
Philip Crane his own master, without home,
save his solitary lodgings, and without relatives
Friends Gas they are so called he made for
himself but they were friends that he had bet
ter have been without for they were mostly
young men of expensive habits, and of means
| superior to his. As the years went on, debt
came embarrassments came despair came
and, in an evil hour it was on his twenty-sec-
ond birthday, Philip Crane took what did not
belong to him, and detection followed. Hence
the letter which the reader has seen address
ed to Mrs. Crane by the firm, ia which they
gave free vent to the fullness of their indigna-
ton,
Mlicent sat with her eyes and thoughts
concentrated on the letter and a slow con-
yiction of its truth came to her. "Oh Philip!
Philip" she walled forth, "anything but this!
| would have worked to save You from dishon-
or would have died to save you from crime
Z 4 l.
must be instantly replaced"
"Not by me-" was the harsh reply "You
will never find me offering premium for theft.
He deserves punishment, and / trust he will
meet it. If he attempts to come here, shall
assuredly give him up to justice"
Mllicent did not answer, did not remon-
strate, but sat with her head bowed in her
claSped hands She knew how resolute was
Mrs. Crane, where her dislike was concerned,
and she knew, now, that she hated Philip; she
had long suspected it. A knock at the house
door aroused Milcent.
Mamma" she exclaimed, starting up " that
is Mr.. Crauford. He must be tod this. Per-
haps-when he knows-he will not am 60
ing up stairs" she added, more hurriedy, as
she heard servant advancing to admit the
visitor. a." Do You tell him."
How many phases of thought pass through
the mind in an instant of time In the inter-
val of Mllicents escaping from the room, and
Mr.. Crauford's entrance to it, Mrs. Crane had
run over the matter with herself and taken her
resolution She would NOT tell Mr. Crawford.
He was on the point (within a few months, for
it was to be in spring. of marriage with Mill
cent /; she desired the latter married with all
heart and wish, and certainly she would not
give information of any kind. which might tend
to stop that marriage. Mrs. Crane was o
vain woman, fond of admiration /; her head had
latteriy been running on the possibility of q
second marriage she wanted Milicent gone,