The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-12-11


is she would not forbid anything tn,
1T gave Nan back her old animation
Is She had no special dislike to Pol
? ham liked him indeed, for his kim
1t ness to Nan; but her sympathies wer
r with the absent lover, partly, n
l. doubt, because of his absence. Bu
II Popham, one day, catching Ma
v alone, made An open confession c
e his love. And Nan felt pleasant
It towards Popham, even as she ha
/ done towards Cavendish, and felt n
e inclination to tell him to desist.
"If you can love me-" said Poph
! am, |" / shall stay here. of course, an
: be happy, but if you cannot, 1 mus
: leave the place. No, don't answe
r me now, Nan, l shall know to moi
8 row. II you mean me to stay, yol
must wear a red poppy in you
dress"
The next day Popham haunted tn
5 fields long before that Nan and Ey
3 walked; but at last he saw them
Nan in the background, with he
eye lashes lowered, and her cheek
. as red as the poppy in her dress -
| All, Csvendish /! smoke at your cas-
or flirt, if you will, with the black
: eyed belle, there need nothing now
bind you to England. Aud wha
possessed Nan? Remember the Il
tie of the sketch. The girl was rud
derless. Every impulse that she fell
she gave way to-
i But now, how was it that, with two
such lovers as POpham and Caven-
dish, poor Nan should presently have
been no better of than many 8 girl
who had not even had enc / am
afraid 1t was that she had the fault OF
The Dutch
Which is giving too little and asking too much,
Anyway, Cavendish on his return
at last, CHANGING to fall in with Pop
ham before he met Nan, heard, and
for the matter Of that gave, such a
dismal account of Mans conduct
throughout, that the result was, both
men gave up their pretensions to
her hand though as Cavendish said
when again he met her, he had some
thing to do not to recommence WOO
ing rs Of old. For one especial point
in Nan was the value that she set on
what was passing out OF reach. But
Cavendish was awBre Of the almost
magnetic power Nan possessed, and
he would not put himself in her way.
Popham, too, was perplexed at the
whole revelation, and no longer snx-
ious to undertake Nan. So both
men absconded. Popham scorched,
yet happily open TO consolation /;
and Cavendish, heavy at heart and
bitter in words, yet still tender over
locket that hung from his chain,
and which contained q little minis-
ture. A face set round with long
sunny curls, eyes as blue as o sum
mer's day, looking reproachfully out
at him, and lips that seemed strug-
CLING TO plead their own cause. UE-
derneath were three golden letters,
which, put together spelt Nan.
"Mamma, did you ever know any
other girl so bad 20
"Hush, Man,"
"Mamma, no one else has ever
done as Pve done; SO foolish, so
vain, so weak
"YOu are always my darling Nan. !"
This was in the twilight, Nan ly-
ing all down on the floor, her brown
head resting against her mother,
the fringes Of her eyes turned to-
ward her.
"Mamma, do you remember when
l was little girl, how you used to
give me texts7 You never gave me
mine, mamma-the one that applies
to my life"
"What is it, darling ?"
And then, in the darkness and
quiet, and even while Cavendish
held her locket close pressed to his
breast, Mans quivering lips pro-
nounced her own sentence
"'Unstable as water, thou shalt
not excel"
"Oh, Nan, NaH, you will break
my heart"
"If / were to die, mamma, you
could write nothing else up against
me-"
"They shall never write it up,
Nan, never, never.'
How dreary it all seemed to Eve.
1t was young Ashley's daughter,
this sad, little girl, who was thus
speaking of her life as sill past. So
the years rolled on, and even as they
passed, there came news to Apple
dscombe. Popham, the same Mr.
Popham, who long ago had worn o
field-fower in his coat in honor OF q
sweetheart, was now bringing home
young wife to walk In those very
lanes where he had once walked with
Nan. Nan took it very quietly; SO
quietly, that people put forth an old
idea-that "that pretty Miss Ashley
had no heart"
She WAS still "that pretty Miss
Ashley" though the aspect OF her
beauty was perhaps little changed,
there was fewer dimples around the
mouth, and it was only on rare oc
casions now that the old light fash
ed from the eyes. Yet, still, after
all, it was Nan; Nan, sweeter in hel
saddest moments than any other gir
at her brightest and best.
Mr.. Popham's bride was a very
ordinary young lady, with not hal
little Mans attractions, but theI
she had not played fast and loos,
like the blue-eyed girl, who, will
her mother, was among the first t.
= call on the bride. Nan had insisted
on paying this visit, and, as Nam
l word was law, Eve had to accomps
| ny her and thus, much against he
, will, she was again brought into con
r tract with q quondsm friend. Bot
: Pophsm and Nan behaved very well
but Eve felt constrained, and wa
= glad to get her daughter out on tn
, cliffs, that took them a short Gu
? back to their side OF AppledecOmbe
/ The moon had silvered for herself
n bright path across the waters, an
Eve's thoughts had, as usual, stray
ed across the channel to the spo
s where her husband was drowned
e when she felt Mans grasp tights
}, on her arm.
) 'See there, mamma, does not tbs
Ia remind you of me 2"
l., So Eve looked where Nan pointed
-. ,-o1,, tha cilvar uovas ItIs