Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-03-20

long wears since he haQ DeeH tHelc, anu
his letter to his grandmother started her
into such a fever of pie baking, dough
nut frying, and cooking generally, that
it was a mercy she and her Two MAIDS
were not baked as brown as their own
pie crusts Over the hills the old spring
wagon and one horse took grandpa, 10
rest over night at the village hotel, ana
bring the welcome visitor back in the
morning.
Three days of rest passed without any
adventures, and the energetic young city |
merchant was wondering why farmers |
did not cut their own Threats from sheer !
lack of excitement, when, wandering |
one morning some two miles. from the
farmhouse, in the shady paths OF a |
grove, he met his first adventure.
1t was an interesting one, for, sitting
at the foot of great oak tree, he found
pretty child crying bitterly. AT least
he thought it was child until, touching
the golden head bent low in sorrow,
he spoke some words of comfort. linen
the face lifted to his proved to be that
of a young girl, eighteen or nineteen,
fresh and fair as a wood violet, and
pretty in spite of its tears. She was
very small, and even when she looked
I'D anu tTltu To lOOh W oIeOi
could not entirely rid himself of his first
impression of her youth.
E'Pardon me, . he said, lifting his hat.
II did not mean to intrude. heard you
sobbing, and thought / might be OF use.
mo one can help me, she answered,
the tears falling again. ''Papa is dying!
The young man stood silent, shocked
by the revelation of a grief so far be-
bo obi ho ho6
gined.
'sBut cannot | be of any use 2" he
asked Have you physician !"
eyes, he has just gone. He told me
and | came here toto try to get
quiet before goagain to-"and the sobs
choked the rest.
elias your father been i'll long?" he
asked, after the burst of sorrow had
spent itself.
ever since we came here, last fall.
He had business trouble in New York,
and came here to see me, and spend a
few weeks with Auntie. But he began
to be sick very soon, and he has been
getting worse and worse till now.
''From New York? | am from New
York. Perhaps / could be of some ser
vice to your father. Ny name IS
Holmsby ?"
The girl looked up with a startled
wonder in her great blne eyes.
''Holmsby Why, you must be faith
crs partner.
If she had fired a pistol in his face,
Walter Holmsby could not have started
more violently.
SIS your father Gordon Bates 2"
| Eyes, | am Violet Did he ever tell
you he had a daughter? You will come
now and see him How pleased he will
be-" she exclaimed innocently. ''He
thinks you are the noblest, best, truest
man in the world. And | know | have
to thank you for his life, when he was
in Vicksburg He wrote me about that.
Win you come now? / almost think it
viii make him well to see you.
Mechanically Walter followed her, as
she led the way to a pleasant cottage,
| and up stairs to a darkened chamber,
where man lay sleeping heavily.
''He has to take opiates all the time, "
whispered the young girl ''but he will
wake soon.
1t was very hard to realize that few
months had left only this wreck of Cor
don Bates All the manly energy was
gone from the attenuated frame, the
thin white hands crossed feebly over
the counterpane: the features were hol-
| low, the eyes sunken, the hair white as
| snow He had aged twenty years. and
his young partner looked at him the
bitterness left his heart, and only deep
pity filled it.
i'There is a letter for you" Violet
whispered Father wrote it before he
was so very i'll. I will get it"
She brought it and placed it in his
hands, and then sat down softly by the
bedside, while he went to the window
for light Evidently the letter was in
tended to meet his eyes after the writer
had closed his own upon the world for
ever, and as he read, Walter felt only
compassion and forgiveness.
The writer implored him TO believe
there had been no intentional fraud.
Carried away by the wild mania for
speculation, Gordon Bates had also been
influenced by the hope of lifting his
young benefactor into sudden affluenee.
He had used the name Of the firm, real
ly believing he would shower wealth
upon both, and repay his debt of graft
tude by making Walter Holmsby mil
lionaire. And when the crash came, it
was with no ill-earned wealth he had
run away, but, pcnniless and despairing,
he had fled from the face of the man he
ruined, believing he carried away thus
the need of disgrace that otherwise they
might have shared.
1T will leave you blameless, he
wrote "You have been duped and
cheated. Let me take all the blame,
only when ! am dead, and you read this,
believe tried to do right, to benefit you
and bless you, when my hands were
I f1r
me, for my heart is filled with gratitude
and remorse."
There was much more, and Walters
eyes were not dry as he folded the letter
and stepped softly to the bedside.
The long sleep was over at last, and
the heavy lids lifted themselves slowly
There was no start of surprise when
Walter Holmsby spoke gently and kind
ly Death was too near for that Only
the wan face lighted in tender smile.
''You forgive me 2" he whispered
''Tell me what | can do to make this
hour easier" said Walter, for he saw
that the end was very near.
violet - the dying man said, with
eager supplication in his eyes.
'Will you trust me to fill brothers
place to her 2"
Only smile, pressure of the dying
hand, to answer him; and he stepped
aside, that the fathers last look might
rest upon the face of his child.
Six months later, when the snow Law
on the hills, Walter Holmsby came once
more to the little village where he had
spent his summer holiday comforting
the orphan. He had cleared her fathers
name, as far as it lay in his power to do
SO, and he more than fulfilled his prom
Use to the dying, when he made Violet
his wife, giving her true, honorable
love, and knowing he had won her whole
pure heart.
And this was all the revenge he ever
had.
The PERILs OF MASKED BALLs.-The
ladies and gentlemen boarding at the
fashionable hotel in Denver, Colorado,
got up very select masked ball, the