Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-01-29

Annie hesitated. She knew not how to
mt the thought into words, that Robert
was perpetrating fraud in thus putting
hevond the reach of his creditors what he
knew had been regarded by them as secur-
jty for his payment of his debts; but her
c0untenance was sufficiently expressive,
and Sarah exclaimed:
9Annie. you are too absurd / tell
you the house is yours, and you may be
thankful to Robert for taking such care
of YOU. / sent for yor 70 tell you that |
am going to papa's; and / think you had
better come there with me for few days,
till things settle down and people are done
talking. OF course you will either sell or
let this house"
Sarah, do you know where Mr.. Phenix
lives?"
| Sarah uttered an impatient exclama-
ton: II do not believe you have heard
| a word said to you! am sure don't
know what you want with Mr.. Phenix.
suppose you can find where he lives by
| looking in the directory. shall leave
here this evening, and advise you to
| pack your trunks at once"
| Annie went to her room, but 1t was only
| TO put on her bonnet and shawl. she
knew that directory stood on her broth.
er's table, and she soon acquainted herself
| with the place of Mr.. Phenix's residence.
| What she was to do there Annie could
scarcely have told; she only felt that she
needed such guidance as her father would
have given, and that she had often heard
him name Mr.. Phenix as man whom he
thoroughly trusted.
Annie found the house-found Mr..
| Phenix, for, as we have said, it was yet
early, and he was not 80 active at sixty
| five as he had been when John Bell had
known him. We will not dwell upon the
interview which followed between the
honest old merchant and the young girl
anxiously inquiring what was the right
way-the straight though narrow path
which few, it must be confessed, now
follow. Mr.. Phenix remembered his
visitor as a child, and to her appeal,
"Please to tell me, just as my father
would have done, what ought to dol" he
answered, gravely: "That will depend,
my dear young lady, on what your object
is-whether to keep all you can legally
for yourself"
ooh, MOI not" interrupted poor Annie,
with almost pass tomato emphasis, II only
want to be honest, and, If can, to save
other people from suffering by Robert"
"Then there is no doubt that the house,
which is not yours by 6onaJide sale, but
only by conveyance intended to put it
out of the reach of the creditors, to whom
it had been exhibited as part of their
security, ought to be given up with your
brothers. other property, and that your
claim on his assets should be put on a
par with the claims of other creditors"
"And how should l do this-I am SO
ignorant?"
"You must choose some person to act
for you, and give him q power OF
attorney"
"And would you - o Mr.. Phenix, for
my fathers sake-would you act for me ~
II will for your own sake; but now tell
me where you are going, and on what you
are to live till this business is arranged ?"
al don't know exactly. Sarah told me
I could 20 to her fathers with her, till
things settled down, but then she thought
that--that-"
"That you would sell the house and
furniture, and be rich heiress still but
now that your riches are about to take to
themselves wings, what can you dor"
Ct think / could be governess, per-
haps, or a teacher of little children in
school, or / could embroider, or color
photographs"
Poor Annie's heart grew faint, the ra-
dance all faded from her eyes and the
color from her face, as she enumerated
thus her little accomplishments. They
seemed 80 very little, and such long,
dull tract of lonely, toilsome life seemed
to stretch out before her, while lowering
above ii cleaned and glistened in mock
ing brightness the life of love and Joy
which would have been hers as Randolph
Bryan's wife-a life never now to be hers,
" for his father will never consent to HE
wedding one who brings with her neither
riches nor good name"
"Poor childl you are faint-rest your
self and / will call Mrs. Phenix."
But Annie would not be delayed; &C.
ton, she felt, was the best medicine for
her grief. The arrangements were soon
completed that were necessary to make
Mr.. Phenix her agent-her trunks were
packed-and then came the important
question, "Where shall go?" Sarah had
departed in rage with what she termed
the absurdity Of Annie's proceedings, &C
cusing her of unsisterly insensibility, and
assuring her that neither Robert nor she
would interfere with her hereafter, since
she had found another adviser. Annie
was not wholly destitute, for there still
remained in her purse nearly three hun
dred dollars of the last money which
Robert had paid her, as dividend ON her
shares of certain stock. With this sum
she might have lived with tolerable COM
fort for some months at E., but in New
York she would be more likely to obtain
such employment as she could honestly
engage to perform. But where could she
hope to find home at once cheap and re-
spectable--she who had never entered q
boarding house in her life, Her painful
thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Phe-
nix, whose kind heart had been stirred by
her husbands narration of his morning
interview with Annie. "Come to us, my
child, for the present, you want quiet;
things will shape themselves by-and-by-
we will help you to look for employ
nent;" and SO these good Samaritans
poured oil and wine into the wounds they
knew of-there was one they knew not OF,
which was draining the life-blood from
the young heart. Annie had accepted
separation from Randolph Bryan; as a
consequence less of her poverty than OF
the disgrace which had fallen on her
name, she had accepted it with mute des.
,>a;r UMv father valuea mn honorable