Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-11-30

kersser's room :. hu1 she might a2vt
been content with one hand. ] think. and
him \ gentleman a. she had never ~ eyes
on before =
IfJack Aliens daughter had studied TN
der the cleverxss- and most rylsSee Of instruct
reSSes. She could have done nothing wiser
20 far - Iaer guardian was concerned. than
what stse cid when she frankly laid her
hands Oh his. and clsinea and accepted
hiEa . her friend For the one besettin-
weakness Of the strong man in whose care
she hzd been left. was. that he liked to he
loved. and valued trust more than any
thing else in the world he Was one q
those men who are What others make
them; 10 the suspicious an enemy, TO the
loving and believing hero, 8 protector.
a friend. To Grace Allen, therefore. he
was resolved To be her best and tfuesi
protector. her champion, eare-taker, en-
plsaticzlly her friend
William Magnus was given TO making
pets. Now il was dog. now a horse
sometimes child. sometimes pursuit /;
and sometimes II was a woman. His
fancies generally varied with each return
home. so that Aunt Maria was not greatly
surprised TO see him give up all his
thFu HE tBJ1stsa aAAsA ~.
bzy horse Cub. for his new plaything. poor
Jack Aliens daughter, He devoted him
self TO her. For her sake he abandoned
certain savage WAYS. which he had never
been known to abandon until now He
wore dress-coat for dinner instead Of a
loose sack. more ike cloak than COG. ::
lie smoked one cigar where he formerly
had smoked three and be came into the
drawing-roOm Of an evening and talked.
instead of keeping in his own peculiar den,
where no one but himself ever entered.
lie became, indeed. almost nuisance
from the persistency with which he hing
about the drawing-room whereas. in for
mer times, lie had been more slippery
than an eel and as difficult to catch as a
wild hawk Aunt Maria noted all these
changes, but said nothing. Will was mas
ter, as she had said. and she knew her
own interests too well to oppose his in
clinations, whatever they might have been.
And then Grace was but bit lassie yet.
she argued to herself and she had no
reason to be afraid And yet, why afraid ?
VIII was his own master and il he chose
10 fall in love with Grace, and to marry
her oh.hand, who was there to say him
nay, and why should he not Yet some
how the prospect did not please Aunt
Maria Fine fellow, and strong and hearty
"a Will was. he was forty if day, while
Grace was but sixteen yet, not even that
one wear ripper, sweet seventeen. And
though the difference might not be very
shocking now, yet it would be hereafter,
when the one would be a handsome women
of thirty, in the very prime of her life and
the full meridian Of her beauty, and the
other would be fifty.four or five, waning,
if not rapidly, yet waning decidedly.
As for Grace, no prospective difficulties
came to trouble her at present. She was
happy, and quite content that things should
90 on as they were now for SO long time
as-wcll, for as long as every one else was
happy There had been no talk of Addy,
because the boy had not written 10 her
again and Aunt Maria had not liked TO
make mischief so that possible disturb
ance was in present allegiance, and youth
having the happy knack of trust and con-
tentment, the girl was perfectly well salts.
fled with her lot as it was and if ever she
thought of the future at all, il was only as a
vague dream OF some very wonderful hap
piness in which Addy shared, and to which
she gave no name So the time passed on,
and the spring melted into the summer, and
the summer ripened into the autumn, and
then Grace began to think that Addy's next
letter was long in coming, and that She
wished he would write to her again.
And her wishes bore fruit for not long
after she had begun to cry little of nights
to herself the post brought her, one day,
at breakfast, a letter in the same broad,
bold handwriting rs before and Aunt
Maria's work was cut out for her.
"Aha, missy - cried William Magnus,
watching her vivid blush with an expires.
sion on his face not easy to read. And
then he asked, as Aunt Maria had asked
before, who's your correspondent y
"Addy," answered Grace.
"Addyg And who's Addy ?" laughing
little grimly.
"Addy Cayley," returned Grace, with
the feeling that all this had been gone
through before.
"Oh, yes, WILL" chimcd in Aun,
Maria "that is thing l wanted to tell
you of, but l have had no opportunity
until now Do you approve of this young
lads writing to Grace 7"
81 must first know all about him and
what 1t MEANS" said William, with grave
look. Come here, my little girl, and tel
ulC WIZ II tuiS fhuuy SayNy va souio
and why does he write to you and what
does he say ?"
He held out his hand, but Grace, in
stead of running up to him, as she would
have done under any other circumstances
on such an appeal, hung her head n little
lower, and remained motionless. She die
not want to show Addys letter. 1t had
been long time coming, but now that il
had come It was very sweet and very ten
der, and II said one or two things which
child as Grace was, she was not too young
to understand and then at the end it slid
In, by way of keynote to the whole, 81
think I can trus! you, Grace, to believe in
me, even If you have to wait long time
before have made my fortune. But you
know / shall make 1t some day, and
think you know, too, who it Is that
would ask TO share 1t, or rather who it IL
that would give 1t all to. If you are in
doubt, look in the glass, and it will tel
you"
So this was what Grace did not want ts
show, all in u maze and tremor of trouble
and delight as she was and this was why
she sat in her chair, and hung down heI
head, instead of running up to her guar
dian as else she would have done.
"Will you not come to me, Grace ? >
asked Will, in tone perhaps more panied
than severe, but both together.