Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-01-13

Molly said, 20 father, Mr.. wickham cal
ed, and asked to see you;" but took n
heed quite accepted the the fact that
was the object of his visits, and although
when Molly repeated it this evening, r,
collected that she had SPOKEN of meetin
Mr. Wickhom on the bench, still it woul
never hyve occurred to me that plain mic
dle-aged man, who seemed TO me older tina
myself, could have any attractions likely {
win my beautiful child.
The shock this evening, when she cam
to me and said that she had promised Nj
Wickham to ask my permission to becom
his wife, had been overpowering Th
whole affair seemed to me so sly.
'How dare he think of girl like m
Molly?" / had said to myself; and l sal
it again as / stood still in the middle OF tn
room, trying to connect my thoughts to
gether.
mad stood still beside large easel.
have not said before that I am an artist
because it matters little to the story hav'
TO tell: but the room was full of easels, fol
los. and half finished pictures and sketch
es. On the easel beside which / now stood
was sketch-book, kept open by mahl
stick. Molly had been sketching from {
cast of pair of hands, hardly to be seer
now in the dim light on the opposite wall
but was not looking at her bold yet care
full drawing. This easel was near enough
to INV lamp for me to sea o sentence writ
ten over and over again on the other side
of the page-Richard Robert Wlckham :
AT then. as if the initials pleased her, x.
Z. ". IN varied monograms.
started as if some one had come sud
denly on me, and then instinctively look
ed up at the ceiling; chaos of places and
persons was sureing up into my brain SO
confusedly, that could not attain to any
distinctness of vision.
went back to my table, sat down in my
chair, and again covered my face with
my hands, This time was trying to face
my thoughts, lot to shrink them.
r. r. W. had seen these initials. Yes.
often and oft sn-but where! tried to
see the letters in my mind, and then, hold
ing them fixed there, to force memory to
picture where she had seen them BY de-
grees, slowly, painfully, my vision grew
clearer saw the r. r. W. distinctly; no
longer on the blank of Molly's sketch
book, but in tue corner oflarge folio sheets
Of paper; and then, as suddenly as the
furling of a sail-the unvailing of the moon
by a wiid-driven cloud came out into dis
tinction the mystery that had been labor
ing in v brain
unc lasped my hands. and looked up at
the ceiling. Yes; | understood it all, now.
Years ago, as a lad. had been pupil to an
architect. and drawing after drawing OF or
naments of various kinds had come under
my notice, always with this r. r. W. in the
corner.
But what had this to do with Mr.. Wick
nam? There might be dozens OF men with
The same initials Had / ever seen the
lrtist whose designs had SO clung to my re-
collection?
This time / was not so long in cropping
among the dark corners of the past; for it
s curious fact that when once the mind
S thus forced ont of the present life, it will
ravel along unaided.
saw cosy dining room, with blazing
ire, and the glow of crimson curtain on
he face of my host, portly Mr.. Atwood the
lrchitect, who sat opposite to me on the
,ther side of the hearthrug; and it seemed
20 me / could see n trim-looking parlor
maid ushering in a middle sized slim youth
with light hair and whiskers his name l
Gould notremember, but he was the design
II of the ceilings and in the employ OF
1essrs. Popton the builders, remember
hat he sat with his face IN shadow. only
very now and then flicker in the fire had
,iyen me clearer glimpse of him. He
stayed about a quarter of an hour, and SEEM
a glad to get away. Could this have been
Ir. Wickham,-this thin, pale, timid youth
the weli-dressed and well-to- do man who
lined with US that Sunday? And yet once
n the afternoon there had come over him
timid, ill-assured manner, which, now l
it, likened him strangely to Mr.
Wis tor. And-yes, this seemed
o make conjecture certain. The timid
nsst o. Wickham when L asked him If he
ad ever taken up art practically, as he
eemed to be so fond OF collecting it. He
ad avoided answering my question.
IF old Atwood was alive, could make
INQUIRY of him." 1 said; and then felt
'rovoked that he and and both the broth
rs Popton had died years ago. had no
lue to the r. r. w. of my younger days.
PART IL
Next morning Molly sent me message
Ter head achcd so badly that she hoped /
rould excuse her, and send her up some
"a.
/ felt very sorry not to see her, especially
s / was going to make sketch near St
'aul's, background for my new picture,
nd had determined not to come home as
sual to our early dinner.
81 wish / had told her should not be
ome, thought; ''she may fancy lam dis
leased with her about this unfortunate
usiness. Poor, dear child if had not sent
er to school, she would have learned to
now her poor old father better.
My sketch was very troublesome; and
then at last bought about dinner, / found
was past 3 o'clock.
mo wonder I'm hungry;i it is fortunate"
said, '.Moliy was not 10 wait, poor dar-
ng."
/ was close to st. Pauls churchyard, and
went into pastry cooks, place had
ften lunehed In when l was at Attwood's,
nd ordered basin of soup.
! orderod soup, thinking there could
e no delay in getting it, but l was mis-
aken.
had seated myself at one of the small
larble tables in the diney parlor behind
he shop. There was no one there but my
Elf, and Trapped my glass impatiently with
ne blade of my knife.
sYes, SIr," said the waiter, Just putting |
/ his head from a size door-he was |
hort bald-headed man, with red hair and
u ineffable smile; a man, you felt sure, /
ould only go the pace he chose-"direct- |
:, Sirl" andhe vanished.
1 felt exasperated-half inclined to go /
way at once. Just at this moment two |
zen came into the shop, gave their orders |
the counter and then seated themselves
. the table next mine; but as they had their |
acks toward me. and the light came dimly |
trough the dirty cobwebbed window,
)uld not see their faces.
They began to talk at first about China.
me of them had lately returned from |
hanghas. Something in the tone of this
ian s voice struck me as familiar. Icould |
OF identity it, but it linked itself with the !
rowd of long-buried memories that had |
cen revived last night by the sight of Mr.. |
Vickham's initials.
just then the waiter came with my soup. |
''Are those chops coming?' said the
hanghae man. tiled to get look at
i'm az ,.e SPOKE, but his face was smother
in huge brown beard.
Il say" his companion Said, "did you |
yer come across Dicky-bird in Australia?'