The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-02-19
MISS ERISM'S CODICIL.

MISS EkISMS tUDItlL.
Miss Rebecca Erism, valetudinarian
of sixty, lay dying at her house i'll town.
She had held so tenacious grip upon
life that it was difficult for the two young
people to realize the end was so near.
These two young people were Gerald
Erism, her nephew, and Miss Luane
Williams, her companion and nurse.
Gerald had seen the young woman
every day for the three years she had
lived with his aunt, but never until this
moment had bestowed n serious thought
upon her. He did not even know the
color of her eyes till his aunt gasped out
a sentence that caused him to look mt her
attentively. Then he found them shin
ing LUMINOSITY i'll the somber gloom of
the sick chamber, and something therein
forbade him to hate her, although the
sentence his aunt had uttered was to the
effect that she had left Miss Williams all
her money.
eff you expect to pay for that horse
for Emily Thorpe TO ride with the money
you get by my death, said the dying
woman, "you're mistaken.
"You don understand, began Gerald
cit was an infamous transaction, said
the old lady, "and what i call post
obit. / found out enough about it to
make me put codicil to my will. That
rascally horse dealer'n loose his money
after all, and Emily Thorpe shall flaunt
none of her finery Mt my expense. I've
left my money to Luane Williams !"
IL WIS then that Gerald looked at
Luane but his aunt suddenly stretched
out her hands to him pleadingly, and
finding gray pallor spreading over her
face, he knelt down by her bedside and
took her cold withered hand in his own.
off the horse had been for any one
but that Emily Thorpe." faltered the
poor old lady.
ooh, aunt" said Gerald, elf you'd
let me explain"
81 would if had time, she said
"but / must die now."
In ten minutes it was all over, and
Gerald went out of the house with a great
ache at his heart. He was very sorry for
his aunt she had been very kind TO
him-too kind, for she had reared him
for the useless life of drone, when now
il appeared he must work for his living
like al the rest of the bees. 1t had
hitherto been something of bore to him
merely to spend money, and the fact
began to dawn unpleasantly upon his
mind that to earn it must be infinitely
more wearisome.
Walking aimlessly on, his feet took
mechanically familiar direction, and he
found himself pausing before fine
house in fashionable quarter of the
city, from which shambled somewhat
bent and awkward figure that presently
disappeared in brougham before the
door.
Gerald recognized the man as Mr..
Badger, the millionaire, and involun-
tarily cOntrasted his condition with that
of the fortunate soap dealer. He was,
however, so absorbed with the direful
news he had to tell Emily that before
she came into the parlor he had forgot
ten Badgers existence.
1t was singular that her remarkable
beauty and brilliant toilet did not appall
Gerald as that moment that the fact of
his no longer being able to grace that
lovely hand with BETTING gems did not
prevent him from seizing it III both his
own, and kissing it rapturously. But
for an enchanting moment he was al
lowed to forget the gloomy chamber
where his aunt lay dead, and the woman
who waited there for the money he had
"It seems TO me that you are very
beautiful this morning, was all that he
could say.
Emily drew her hand gently away
from his caress.
"Gerald," she said, 81 have some
ching to tell You.
Her accent was cold. There was
something in her manner that caused
him to step back and look at her with a
dim premonition of what was to come.
"You know" she continued, how
bitterly opposed is your aunt to your af-
foction for me. She has told me herself
that she will never consent to our happi-
ness. Gerald, i am too fond of you to
wreck your whole life There was but
one way to end it all
She paused. He leaned forward, and
still kept his eye, now wan and haggard,
upon her face. Then she sank pale and
trembling into chair, and covered her
eyes with her hand. She was moved with
pity, perhaps, or II vague regret. AT last
she spoke.
"1 have just accepted an offer of mar
rage"
From Badger" cried Gerald, and
walked TO the door. " Your prudence,
he added, standing upon the threshold,
has served you well. You have just got
rid of me in time My aunt died this
morning, and has left everything to her
nurse and companion"
Then he got into the street, AMI walked
along with a faltering, staggering step.
His eyes were wild, his face lividly pale.
People turned to look mt him as he went
by, and two or three wondered what was
sending that man to the devil.