Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-12-30

out down mere on the main street thu
afternoon fell in quiet cold, deserted b,
traffic as soon as the sun quilted the narrow
thoroughfare.
| Miss Simmins, the milliner, peered from
her window, and Mr.. Peyton, the druggis
opposite. polished his door panes mechan
ically with bit of chamois leather. The
harbor, now dark and wind -freted, iapscG
up to Mrs. Banber's very back door
Pirates might have landed and carried hel
off at midnight if they had been disposed
although Mrs. Bamber was not daunted
by fear Of such violent abduction In the
old days piratical crews in rakish craft
from the Spanish Main had not been un.
| known in the waters of this very harbor
and Stoneport had been more intimately
associated with the slave-trade than was
good for its reputation at future date
Like so many towns on the coast of New
England, prosperity had ebbed away, the
bud of promise been blighted by some
| mysterious fiuctuation of commerce.
There were those who detected righteous
Nemesis in the decay of Stoneport, and
here 1t was lett to crumble away in the
sunshine, a moss-grown memory Of the
past. The shop bell rang suddenly, and
girl entered.
"Oh, Mrs. Bamber" she cried; and
throwing her arms impulsively about the
little woman burst into tears.
The girl was taller and larger than her
companion, and yet chung to her.
Has anything more happened ~ in
quired Mrs. Bamber, alarmed. Now
don't give way, my dear"
can't help it," sobbed the girl, ex-
citedly. Mr. briggs has been to see
me again. He came to the school room,
with all the children staring, and told me
he would not foreclose on the Plat prop
erty if would marry him. Oh, what a
cruel, cruel bargain!'
"You never promised" began Mrs
Bamber, breathlessly.
The girltdrew herself up.
81 said no."
charlotte Eaton was very attractive, GER
tainly, even in her anger, with flushed
cheeks and fearful eyes. A little scarlet
hood covered her golden hair and gave
her something of childish beauty At
this moment there was a stir in the de
serted street; people appeared like magic.
A sleigh, curved like a shell, and lined
with robes of fleecy white fur, drawn by
spirited black horses in flashing harness,
and driven by solemn negro coachman
in livery, slowly passed. The sole occu-
pant was small man wrapped in sable
with keen, narrow face, who gazed down
on the commotion his splendor excited
with irrepressible EMULATION. This man
was Hiram briggs, and to show himself
ostentatiously to his world of Stoneport
was pleasure which had not yet palled
on the rich man.
6 His mother learned her trade when |
did," said Miss Simmons, the milliner.
" am sure nobody thought her son would
come to owning everything"
The elder briggs had, indeed, worked
in secret many years, directing little rils
OF wealth, CLEANED from any hum bic
source, to his own dingy warehouse.
Misery and reticent in the extreme, Stone
port had not OWNED his riches until the
son, now forty-tive years old, suddenly
emerged from the bondage in which he
had been held by his stern parent while
living to assume the role of millionaire.
Hence the establishment of the town;
hence Hirams love of display
In Mrs. Bamber's shop the two women
grew rigid as the sleigh passed. the widow
with indignation and the young school.
mistress with a curious admixture OF envy
and repulsion. Had she not been urged,
nay, almost threatened in all that she held
dearest--her plighted troth with Charley
Platt-to share the sleigh with its heecy
robes? Might she not save the Plat
homestead, indeed, by paying this very
price of marrying Hiram briggs? Mrs.
Bamber took her hands
Charlotte, let us go to. this man and
beg him to release them" she said,
al rnn lxy OF s..A
with him"
q" am afraid to CO., said Charlotte
Afraid! When you are to be Char
ley's wife? We must fight for him, my
dear"
These two champions saw the sins of
MIR. briggs in the light of intense parti-
sanship. He was mean man, and the
power OF money would naturally make
him tyrannical; moreover he had Sc
lected Charlotte Eaton TO fall IN love with
as the sweetest and most blooming young
lady in Stoneport. Hiram briggs could
certainly afford to please himself at last!
lnversed in the delicate phases of ro-
nance, he could by no means win smile
from Charlotte, and discovered in wrath
and CONSERVATION that Charley Plat was
his rival. He would foreclose, and take
possession Of the house. Stoneport saw
in this measure only the grasping ten.
denotes of the man who wished to estab-
lish home, while the victims detected
revenge. Probably both factions were
wrong. s.
Mrs. Bamber, with trembling Charlotte
by her side, presented herself before the
yrant. He still dwelt in the wing of the
warehouse where his father had been con
tented to abide. Perhaps he was cha
grined 10 be found in the small parlor,
which he had furnished with yellow satin
curtains and sofas, when he would so
soon take possession Of the house on the
hill. The mission was scarcely success.
| tnl one alihnnph Mr. Ramher naadn hnr