The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-03-30
6oiIient, three months ago, when

LuOL1Cuty tukCO lhVhtho akot
DIR. Holford had done her the immense
honor of contiding to her care his moth
erless children, Lizzie Stuart's tender
little heart had been in the doctors
keeping. Indeed, she had loved him all
her life, as her fathers friend and her
own-but of late what was it that made
Lizzie blush, all to herself, in the soil
tudc of her own room, when she thought
of the gratitude and affection she owed
to the doctors All! what q wealth of
pity and devotion she poured out upon
him in secret, and what romantic cas-
ties were built up in that graceful little
head of hers, as she sat of an evening
looking out upon the hawthorns, of the
wonderful ways in which she was to be
help and comfort to him, without
his knowing who had done the work!
But though her love was an "Open Sc
cYct," there WAS no one to find il out
except, indeed, the doctor himself, the
last man on whom the idea was likely
to dawn, and it is doubtful if even Liz
zie had more than an inkling of the
truth. If she had, she guarded her Sc
cret ,iealously, and only let it appear in
II most tender and Jealous performance
of ner duty towards his children, as to
which the doctor said no words, hut
thanked and blessed her in his heart.
But within the last fortnight it had
occurred to this young woman to set
herself up in Judgment upon the doc
tors conduct; and after mature deliher-
alton, she had come tn tho conclusion
that ho I.-,l ciuner made great mistake
or was doing very wrong. The idea
troubled her sorely. Miss Lizzie was q
young lady who rather piqued herself
upon the possession of an independent
Judgment, and paid the youthful penal
ty. of course, by sometimes too much
undertaking the experience of her Sc
niors. Her early training had perhaps
encouraged this state of mind; for her
father, dear as she had been to him, had
not, been able to steer altogether clear
of that wretched system of"spoiling till
five, trying experiments till fifteen, and
contradicting up to twenty" Besides
all this, Miss Lizzie had lately been
studying DR.. WinslOw's "Obscure Dis
cases." that most popular of scientific
works, and had rebelled against the
theories therein propounded with all
her heart. Every Hard Cash" had fallen
in her way Immediately afterwards, and
she had glowed with sympathy for AL
fred's wrongs and Julia's love, and for
all the supposed victims detained in a
thousand lunatic asylums by commits
sioners in lunacy like tLose described
by Mr.. Read.
And now Walter. Stone had crossed
her path, and ls. her dreams were re-
allied. He was pleasant, handsome,
and as gentle as Alfred; and more than
all, he had appealed to her compassion,
and poured into her ear q piteous story
of the unnatural brother, who, for the
sake of obtaining the management of
his, Walters property, had condemned
him to lifelong captivity. Lizzie knew
rs fact that his brother had consigned
him to DR.. Holford's charge, and that
in spite of all his apparent liberty, he
was narrowly watched-in itself sus-
picious circumstance, considering that
nervous ailments only were rhe plea for
his incarceration. She had even heard
DIR. Holford chpckle over the story of
the way in which he and Edward Stone
had managed to entrap Walter into
voluntarily giving his purse into their
care, so rs to render his escape, by train
or other conveyance, impossible.
lConctusioa in our Rert.