The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-03-30
Forty Years.

at won't DO" said old Tibbets,
shaking his head furiOusly. x al
ways have hated those Patridges, and
you shan't marry Fanny"
"a mans affections" began Hor-
alto.
/ 'Nonsenser % cried old Tibbets.-
| "YOu talk like boarding-school girl.
You're Of age, l know; but ] give you
warning, if you insist, I'll take that
lclever little Johnson into partner
ship instead Of you, and you may beg
or starve, as you please, for the sake
of a red-haired girl like Fanny Part
ridge"
Of trotted old Tibbets as he mutter-
ed these last words.
"Give up Fanny Partridge?-never"
Z said Horatio.
Meanwhile Mrs. Partridge aud Fam
ny were hard at fanny in tears,
Mrs. Partridge in fury.
"I'd rather see you in your grave,
Fanny" cried Mrs. Partridge. "Old
| Tibbeps son! Why didn't you choose
chimney-sweep? 1t was Tibbets that
cheated your pas brother out Of that
piece of property. A bigger rascal new
er walked. No Fanny; you walk over
my dead body before you go tOchurch
with him"
Fanny was seventeen, and very
submissive. Horatio, though five
and twenty, submissive likewise,
Parental authority prevailed. One
meeting was allowed in which the
two might bid goodbye to each 9TH
er. Fanny wept. Horatio held her
hands in both his, and kissed them
fOndly.
"They may yield in time,n said
Horatio, ''or something may happen
to alter Things. Be true to me q little
while. shall neverfove any one but
you"
''My heart is broken" said Fan
ny, believing it sincerely. "But l
shall never lOveany one but you"
Then he kissed her. He never for
got how hard il was to take his lips
from hers, and th cir arms eucircled each
other, and it was really wonder that
the two young lovers did not die then
and there.
Old Tibbets rewarded his son by
making him partner in the prosperous
firm of Tibbets & Co., forthwOrth,
while Mamma Partridge hurried Fan
nv away off to the north of France.
Horatio did not forget easily. 1t had
been a cherished plan of his to marry
Fanny. He had a mind that was
prone to dwell upon detail. All his
little fancies about the future had been
perfectly finished pictures.
Tt was hard to believe that the lit
tie round tea-table would never be set
with painted china; that Fanny, as
Mrs. Tibbets, would not sit besides him
in the third pew from the front on
Sunday mornings; that he would not
90 with her to choose the color for the
drawing room furniture; that they
would not have their portraits painted
70 hang on each side of the parlOr
mantel-piece.
Fanny was his practical or general
idea; that they might have walked
together forever in the moonlight,
was perhaps strongest with her. But
had he been the most perfect hero OF
romance, she could not have placed
him upon any higher pedestal.
The match would certainly have
been a happy one, had fate willed it
to be a match at all. They loved each
other too well to seek comfortin other
lovers. HOratiO became very steady,
Stunned ladies' society; and Fanny,
after refusing an English baronet and
a German baron, settled down with
her mother in little town upon the
continent, where the four or five Eng
lish families dwelling there exchanged
whist-parties, and where there were
no young English people whatever.
There, at thirty, she was still living;
and then it was there came TO the
m EnC1fch r-o1avs Er-ho COLL
edupon her. He was a friend of Ho-
ratio Tibbets, and had been commits
stoned tG hand her a small parce, and
he was to tell Mr.. Tibbets how she
looked and was; and that he was very
well, quite bald for his years, and un-
married. Then the traveller went
away. The gift was a dainty work
box, worth a good deal of money, and
in the little nook where the thimble
lay, was also a ring. Its motto was
"Dinna Forget
Fanny never showed this gift
to her mother, but she wore the
ring nearest her heart, under her
dress.
No hope crept into her soul; and
when, a year after, a good-loOklng
wealthy widower offered his hand,
with a genuine love into the bargain
she refused it without hesitation. For
get! never! He had not forgotten
But more years passed, ten of them
and that memory of the family feud
dwelt in the bOsOms of the two old
people. At lastat the age of so Mrs.
Partridge died; and Fanny, all alone
in what had always remained strange
land, felt miserably desolate. Youth
had departed; friends were few. 1t
had been her mothers wish TO remain
in France; now her heart turned to
England. She followed her hearts
dictates, and returned home. The first
morning paper that she opened there
told her of the death of Mr.. Tibbets.
aged ninety.
''Dinna forget" she sobbed. ''I am
sure he has not forgotten" And she
began to wonder what he looked like
now.
He must have altered. Perhaps he
was portly, like his father. Well she
was rather stout herself. One could
not be a slender youth forever; and
he had probably a streak of gray in
I his dark hair. Nothing could alter
I the eyes however. Or, if he were al
I together altered, she would love him
still, Why not? since it was the
heart that loved, not the flesh and
I blood.
And so she managed that the news
should reach him, in a few days time
Z that she was there. He heard it, as
1 she meant he should. He was all
alone, and very lonely. He had been
an obedient son, and an affectionate
one. and had loved the testy old man
dearly. But now he thought that it
could harm no one if he should try to
lreaIize his youthful dreams.
Il He sighed, and looked out Of the
window; walked to the fireplace and
stood there unrelentingi frightened
tup, and began to make one of his old
saucy pictures of Fanny, at the other
side Of the fire.
She'll BE older, of course he said
''Ihin-perhaps fragile and worn
pale, too. No matter; it's Fanny, and
she'll be beautiful to me.n
An elderly lady vas walking in
4 green lane near Hurnsey, with two
4 children and poodle dog. The poo
die was her own, the children her