The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-10-02

- SOiiJ JOu NiOi U pay, Illus eli
ed to continue, covering my jocular fail
ure with some other remark 'I should
like to have game with you. That
chess-board, I assure you, is worth thir-
ty dollars if it is worth penny. Think
of the associations .s7
Heaven forgive me, but the Raiah was
a creation of the moment. I had been
made a present of the chess board by a
sailor who had voyaged to Calcutta; but
one must be little deceitful now and
then in this wicked world.
'Well, I'll let you have the money!"
said Mr.. Levi, "though we're rather
short to-day. A great deal of business
doing just now, Mr.. Papilotte;" and,
laying the Rajah's property on the table,
he disappeared into the Office to make
out the ticket.
ga great deal of business doing"
That meant, when translated, great
deal of misery wandering about the
streets; great many homes gloomy for
want OF petty sums of money; great
many without Sunday clothes;
a great many poor students moaning
over their valuable books, sacrificed to
Keeping life enough in them to read
those that were left; great many drunk
ards, craving for their accustomed poi
son, andsgetting it at the cost of neces-
sites; a great many mothers shivering
In blanketless beds that the little ones
might not starve. This was the terri
BILE kind of business that was doing
was rejecting on all this when L
heard the parlor door open, and light
step fall softly on the carpet Thinking
it was Levi returning with the money.
did not raise my head. Presently a
voice-ah, how unlike Lewis buttery
startled me from my reverie.
81 can play at chess" it said, very
softly. 81
L looked up, suddenly. A little fairy
creature, about sixteen years old, with
long, fair hair, and large beautiful blue
eyes, stood just within the doors star
ing at me, like some timid bird at him
who wanders in lonely woods, half fear
ing to approach, yet longing to come
| nearer.
4" And who on earth are you ?" I
asked, abruptly and as I spoke I saw
at glance that the blood of the chill
dren of Israel did not run in her clear,
blue veins.
"Pm Nellie Lee, SIR" replied the
apparition, and I'm in pawn"
" In what ?" exclaimed, under the
impression that L must have been de-
ceived in the absurd statement L had
just heard.
Z" In pawn, sir" She repeated, as
simply as if she was saying that she
was in bed. ..
" And who put you into pawn, in the
name of all the Medicis, may I ask %
[ said, scarcely able to keep my coun-
| tenance.
Father pawned me for money to
! buy paints" answered this extraordi-
ary deposit "and Tn so lonesome
oh /! you can't think ~
What is your respectable parent,
may l inquire %
" He's an artist, sir, and he has Just
got an order, sir, and he wanted money
for the canvas and the paints to. finish
the picture. He paints beautiful pic
lures indeed he does p
She seemed so very anxious about my
not doubling her fathers ability that 1
smiled a sort of assent, as if 1 was per-
fectly convinced of his rare talent, and
was intimately acquainted with the
merit of every one of his productions.
Where do they keep you ?" asked,
half-jestingly, for the whole affair seem
ed so like vaudeville that [ expected
every moment to hear some unseen
audience applauding the performance.
DO they put you in the safe with the
jewelry, or lay you on the shelves with
gowns and coats ?"
"No, sir, live upstairs with Mr..
Levi. Father will come, though, in
fewdays, with themoney and redeemm
All this as seriously as if it was the
commonest thing in the world for dis
tressed fathers to pawn their children,
and to keep the duplicates in their waist
coat pockets. e......
"Have you ever been in pawn before,
Miss Nellie Lee ?"
Oh, yes, sir. Father painted the
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus with what
he got on me, last FALL"
This was really more than I could
stand. L lay back on the old hair-bot-
toned sofa and roared with laughter.
The deposit stood before me with n
grave and patient demeanor, neither
surprised at my merriment nor appar-
emily thinking that there was any thing
at all singular in her position.
You say that you play chess" I
said, at last checking my merriment by
a great effort, out of respect for the fair
face and beautiful eyes that saw before
me. " Would you like to play game?"
ooh, yes /" answered the deposit,
" | should like it very much. You can't
think" .-.-
We sat down to play chess. I don't
know how long we were at it 4; but this
[ know, that if the entrance of Mr.. Levi
had not disturbed us, it would have
continued probably to the present day.
There was first move. Then a long
conversation. Then pause, during
which the blue eyes seemed to be in
tently studying the board, and mine
were intently studying the blue eyes.
Then another move. Then more con-
versation, until at last the rival forces
on the Rajah's ivory battlefield got
into such a state of confusion that be-
lieve Morphy would have become lu-
natic at the first glance he cast upon
them. t e aa
AS for me, thought of nothing but
the SIMPLE, beautiful young creature
who sat opposite to me, and, in spite of
myself, visions of such being moving
about my lonely chambers, making the
gloom gay, and causing the bachelors
barren life to burgeon and bloom like
the dry rod of the high priest.
In the midst of all this in came Mr..
Levi with my five dollars and the du-
plicate for the chess-board. He seemed
rather astonished at the quiet intimacy
which had been so suddenly established
betWeen myself and his deposit