American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-09-04
Lockwood if only she had behaved her

HoSN""Vu Ii ohly snc Hau ucHaNcu ioi
self" ..
And it was not until some time after
ward that I ventured TO tell my mother
what had done.
You are fool" said she with acerbi-
ty. Your dollar is as clean thrown
away as if you had pitched it down the
well and I am sure I don't know what
Mr.. Leslie will think of your interfer-
ence"
hung my head and made no answer
But when the summer hung her coronal
of big, cream-colored roses over our farm
house door and Hubert Leslie came back
with his easel and sketching umbrella
ventured to ask him of Stella.
"Oh,- said he, "that black-eyed girl
with the Spanish face? Yes, remember
now. l got her place as chili's nurse
with my cousin, Mrs. Evelyn, but she ran
away within month";
Never mind, Effie," said Mr.. Leslie,
kindly, ga good action is never entirely
thrown away. Stella Severn's gypsy
blood could i'll bear constraint; but don't
think she'll forget you, for all that"
That was just before Hubert Leslie
asked me to be his wife. We were mar
ried the next spring and 1 went to New
York to live.
We had little bit of room opening
out of Hubert's studio, where we kept
house like pair of turtle-doves in nest.
Although Hubert was such a genius, and
had painted so many beautiful pictures,
he was young and comparatively un-
known, and we found it hard to live, par
ticularly after the twins had opened their
blue eyes on the wintry sunshine of a
glorious February day. l had done a lit
tie fancy needle-work for the store hereto
fore, but now my hands were tied and it
was hard to see the shadows creep over
Hubert's brow and know that / had no
power to lift them.
So the years went by. More little ones
clustered around our scanty board, and al
though he worked hard and conscientious
ly there were other artists who pandered
to the public taste and received more or
ders. We were very poor
Hubert" said l, one day, when the
load of poverty had been almost more
than he could bear, don't you wish that
you never had married ?"
"Do wish the sunshine had never
come into my life:' he asked. "Never
put THAT question again, little wife. What
would existence be worth without you and
the bairnies ~
eff you could only sell that thousand
dollar picture" I sighed, thinking of
something that had been on the easel for
months. He shrugged his shoulders.
Harper says it isn't worth "copper""
said he. Harper thinks it is far beyond
the standard of appreciation"
/ sighed, but in spite of all our priva-
ton 1 would not have asked Hubert to
lower his grand ideal of art. l was proud
of it, was proud of him.
Hubert came in from the studio next day
with a radiant face.
Wifey, the golden age has dawned
and pure art is appreciated at last. 1 have
sold my picture"
"Not the Sunrise Hubert"
Yes, the Sunrise Look! Here's
check for 81 900, signed by Signora Estella
Severini, the great prima donna who is
singing at the Academy. She is in the
studio now and says she wants to be intro
duced to the artists wife"
but, Hubert, my dress My gingham
dressp'
"Oh, your dress is well enough, Mrs.
he cried, laughing as he drew
me toward the door.
nodded lady, dressed in black
velvet and an Indian shawl, with hair of
rippled purplish-black, and large dusky
eyes. The instant she looked up knew
her again.
"Stella, Stella Severn.' I cried with
a sort of gasp.
She rose, laughing and crying, and ran
into my arms.
"Eeie, darling, to think that we should
meet again.
She told me then her story. How, after
long battling with the worlds vicissi-
tudes, she had come across an opera man.
ager who perceived the hidden treasure
that existed in her voice and voluntarily
the expense of training it.
And am rich and famous now" said
she. can pay back the debt I owe to
you, Effie, for think if it had not been
for you and your dollar bill that winter
night I should have been driven to swal-
low the little bottle of laudanum had al
ready in my pocketn'
"Oh, Stella!"
"Ah, but l should. You do not under
stand how prosecuted and haunted / was,
Effie-but, thank God, that is over!'
Signora Severina's thousand-dollar
check was the beginning of our new for
tunes; it was the fashion to copy her
whims and caprices. Other people
bought because she did-and pretty soon
we were able to move into pretty cottage
of our own in the suburbs.
And when my mother and Deacon Cor
nell, down in the country, heard what
Stella Severn had become they declared
sagely:
"WeIl, there's never any telling how
things may turn out in this worldv'