The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1871-03-23

'She must have been beauty"
thought Mr.. Fred, settling himself on
the back seat beside her, still carefully
holding the odd looking box on his
knee. II used to wonder at Stack poles
choice, but can see now how she must
have changed"
"Are you going back to Portland,
Fred ?" asked Miss Hepsey, the care
worn look returning to her face.
"Yes; I've rusticated three days, and
that is all can spare. I'm in Stack
poles store" added he, carelessly.
"Ahem! believe he is an old acquaint>
ance of yours? I happened to mention
once that had cousins at Pooleville
and then he asked me if I knew lady
there by the name Of Hepsibah Dill.
lon.'' ssA~~ra@r"r "t .f4
.Ah!' .g .s,...s.-.t- .s.s-.zzz ,.s.
A queer little sparkle shot out Of Miss
Hepsey's eyes. 1t might have been
pleasure, it might have been pain.
"Yes. He was very particular to in
quire just how you were situated. And
the other day heard, through Martha
Jane, that you were coming to the city,
SO just mentioned it to him. Shall l
bring him around to call? Let's see,
believe you are to be at DR.. Ponds ?'
| "I-I-it is quite uncertain where l
shall be-. Some Of the time over at the
Cape, perhaps. But you-yes, you might
CALL"
AS Miss Hepsey delivered herself Of
this rather incoherent sentence, she
twisted her fingers nervously, but her
habitual staidness aud self-possession
did not desert her. In spite of her years
of hardship and loneliness, she was q
lady still, let the brown alpaca fade as it
might. -.
At last, with the usual flourish and
energetic crying out at the horses, the
stage drew up at the depot, and in five
minutes Miss Hepsey was on her way
to Portland and to her fate. The car
was crowded that morning. SO Fred
Tracy, with his box, was obliged to take
a seat beside Miss Hepsey. She was
person given to thinking rather than
talking, and his rattle Of flippant CONS
monplaces, with its flavor of youthful
egotism, was becoming decidedly tire
SOME, when he incidentally remarked:
"Stackpole is going to be married, SO
they say to Miss Cumberland, daught-
er of one of the richest men in the city.
| don't know, for my own part, as there
is a word Of truth in it, but that Is the
talk among the boys" - E8s~r 81
"Indeed!" replied Miss Hepsey, feel
ing called upon to speak, and feeling,
also, an unwelcome warmth of hidden
life among the raked up embers Of her
heart.
"Yes, he had been known to look at
i,~r ont of the left corner of his eye, l
believe, two or three times, and l am
not sure but he was seen once to pick up
her scarf when she dropped it in the
store, and return it with bow. But
really, whether there is anything in this
or not, I have always wondered why
Stackpole has never married. He is
certainly domestic in his TASTE" pursued
young Tracy, who, quite unlike every
other man, had grain of curiosity in
his organization, and, il he had spoken
out all his mind, would have gone on to
"wonder' why Mr.. Stackpole had not
married Miss Hepsey dozen years be.
fore. While Miss Hepsey herself, with
the tokens on her face of having come
off victor in a great many battles Of life,
looked, without replying, at the box on
Tracy's knee; the box that innocently
held the turning of her destiny.
Engaged" thought she. II am not
surprised. The only wonder is, as Fred
saws, that such thing has never hap
pened BEFORE"
But all the same, there was sudden
chill at her heart, as if black frost had
crept in upon some tender buds of hope
that had long been lying undeveloped
and unsuspected in the shade. "
Engaged! The girl is young, no
doubt, and beautiful.
Then, as Fred Tracy ratified on, in
time with the noisy wheels, Miss Hep
sey's thoughts flew backward to the
days when she herself had been young
and beautiful. Hiram had loved her
then, there could be no doubt of that.
His looks had said it thousand times,
and even if looks and tones, and signs
and intirnations had been ut fault, had
he not "told her all his heart" in writ.
ten language, strong and unmistakabie
She would never forget that letter fol
it was the last he ever wrote. Not fol
lack of response OH her part. No, she
had written Immediately, aud there had
, been no equivocatlon in her answer.
She could repeat the sentences now
t with every comma and semicolon it 1T
proper place. t.a
, And then the sweet expectation thai
had rested over her through days, and
| weeks, and even months, until hope de
ferred had made her heart sick He
never wrote again; he never came; and
if her letter said too much, or if he sud
, denly discovered he had mistaken biz
, own feelings, she never knew.
r Somewhat less than q year after this
> Mr.. Stackpole's Sister Lucy, who had
> come to Pooleville on visit, died sud
| denly at Fred Tracy's Uncle Johns
: and IIepsey was there with her gooo
sense, her good taste, her quiet nerves
and ready hands, when Hiram came te
' take his dead sister for her burial in the
J ancestral tomb.
: He came into the darkened parlor un
: expectedlv to Hepsey, as she stood b,