The Republican journal., 1870-06-16
HOW SHE PAID HER DEBT.

she stood before nef DrOtner III lne CLOSE,
cramped room which constituted her sole
home.
Charley Wayand, a handsome disspated
looking youth of two three and twenty,
with bold black eyes, and q merry mouth
that seemed made only-to smile, stood oppo-
site her, looking half repentant, half-defant,
as she spoke ''Lilly, couldn't help it. l
tell YOU was hard up. A fellow must have
money. You women dor't know anything
about the temptations and necessities of the
world"
.'But Charley" she faltered, {" do you
know how this same world, as you phrase it,
looks at the deed you have just committed ?
Oh, Charley" and her voice grew low and
tremulous, sit is forgery !"
''Nonsense, Lill! It's only borrowing a
part of the old GlencrOss' unused riches to aid
my needs. wrote and asked him for cash,
what could he expect after this, but that
should help myself?" Lilias wrung her
slender hands. 'How dared you, Charley?
That Wayland should come to this!" she
walled
'sDared ~ he echoed, recklessly. at was
but stroke Of the pen, after all and old
Glencross would be paltrier miser than
take him to be, if he makes a fuss about q
matter of hundred pounds"
lit is the right and the justice the thing" ;"
cried Llias, almost frantically. "Ifwe could
pay him in any way but / have sold every
thing that remains of our former wealth.
See,"-and she looked round the miserable
apartments how 1 live. Last night
sat up till midnight sewing, to have a little
money to pay the rent l have not jewel
left, nor ticket'
ooh, bother, Lill If old Glencross cuts
y,r, ,ohi ic pn1u yinr oy1p fha
water. l know lots of sea captains that
would stow me away in their holds, almost
any moonlight night"
Lilias looked desparingly at him. Was it
then impossible to comprehend the moral
obliquity of the deed he had just committed? !?
'But | can't stay fooling here" observed the
young man, with a toss Of his black curls.
II must be off about my business. Goodbye
Lii. Give us a kiss, my girl. Except that
you're uncommon fond of lecturing fellow,
you're not bad sister in the main"
After he had gone, Lilias sat down to try
and realize the situation in which she and her
brother were placed. All now depended
upon the spirit in which Paul Glencross
should receive this new encroachment upon
his purse and patience.
Lilly had never seen this distant relation,
yet She had formed all opinion of him In her
mind, as we all are apt to do of unseen per-
sons whom we hear great deal about; and
whenever she thought of Mr. Glencross, the
image Of a hook-nosed old man, yellow skin
ned and cadaverous, engaged in sorting piles
of mortgages or counting bags of gold, sug-
gested itself to her mental eye.
''But he must be human, at least" thought
Lilly, in the agony Of her distress. 'It | go
to him myself, and tell him just what poor
Charley's necessities are, and how good
I'D la llx- IN of oil ktc faulta
and thoughtlessness-if say frankly to him
that have no money or jewels to reimburse
him, but that will stay and work for him.
until I have discharged the horrible debt.
surely, oh, surely he cannot have the heart to
refuse. | can do a great many things. can
sew and embroider, and l could make good
bread and cake, and poor mamma always
said was good housekeeper; and if Mr..
Glencross is really so miserly as Charley
thinks, he would look at the economy of the
thing At least it is worth trying"
So fayorably did Lilias Wayland regard
this idea, broached in her sore extremity,
that in two days from the evening on which
she had hidden good bye to her handsome,
reckless brother, she stepped from the train
at the Victoria station. dressed in a sober
brown suit, that made her look like shrink
ing little mouse, with her carpet bag in her
hand
little inquiry sufficed to bring her to the
West End street where Mr.. Glencross resid-
ed-a street lined on either side with palaces,
the like of which Lilly had never seen in the
palmer country town where she had been
born and bred. Her heart sank within her,
as she stood on the broad steps leading up to
the front door.
Then coloring at her own cowardly tremu-
lousness and utter lack of resolution and en-
terprise, she rang the bell, to settle the mat
ter at once and definitely. sis Mr.. Glencross
at home?" she asked of the maid-servant
who answered the summons.
Yes, Mr. Glencross was at home would
the young lady enter? And Lilias was
shown into an apartment curtained With
heavy folds of purple satin, and carpeted
with velvet of the same color-an apartment
whose dusky splendor made her think of the
stories she had read of enchanted palaces in
the realms of fairy-land.
AS Lilias sat on the silken sofa, waiting
with throbbing heart for the appearance Of
her unknown cousin, the thought stole into
her mind that he was not so much of ''mi-
SER" after all I; and then came a sick sort of
misgiving that her mission was all in vain.
"For surely" she thought, glancing trem-
ulously round the elegant apartment, che will
not want any one to make bread, or look
after the kltcnen expenditures. WlSn-Oh,
| wish that was safe at home again!''
The thought had scarcely framed itself in
her mind, when a door at the farther end of
the room was opened, and a tall, handsome
man, scarcely thirty years of age, entered.
'I-I beg your pardon, sir" faltered Lilias,
all of fiutter, 'but / wished to see Mr..
Glencross."
II am Mr.. Glencross"
Your Lilly rose up and sat down again,
coloring vivid scarlet. This, then, was their
''far-off'' cousin, and how widely different
from her dreams and fancies!
Apparently the gentleman saw and pitied
her painful confusion, for he said, politely,
''may l ask in what manner / can be useful
to you?" II am Lilias Wayland," she
answered, in tone that was scarcely audible.
"Wayland!"
A shadow, faint, yet distinctly perceptible
overspread his face at that word, and Lilias
saw it, with failing heart. She forgot the
labored speech of palliation and excuse that
she had prepared She forgot that he was
no silver-haired patriarch, but handsome
young man, surrounded with all the adjuncts
of wealth and luxury. She remembered
only poor Charley and her own sickening
idea Of debt, disgrace, and ruin and sinking
on her knees at his feet, she sobbed out hel
nitiful story