The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-07-10

vi, uOH WduL nllu, he OIu. Nc
might be my grandfather"
'Saints and ministers OF grace defend usv
Sand Aunt Hidden says it's my duty to
| marry him.
"And 1 say you shan't."
HE walks with crutch, but Aunt Hidden
says l can ride in my carriage. He is deaf
| but she reminds me that 1 am not dumb. He
wears scratch, but she assures me that
| scratch is only masculine for chignon."
''Did understand that you were willing to
| die for him?''
''Pd sooner die than marry him."
''Good. But you won't do either"
but must decide to queen it at Gable
| Hall or be turned out of house and home"
"My arms are open to you, as well as m5
DOORS"
| ''How well that would sound, dear Lucy, if
| you were only nice young man whom
might love! hope you don't think I'm i'm
| p roper"
81 think you're an angel, and the pink of
propriety."
| esquire Gable brought down the family
| jewels to dazzle me. Liz tried them all on.
| couldn't touch one. felt that the dead
| woman who had shone in them would rise up
| and curse me it 1 should purchase them at
such price and so cheaper love and all wo-
mankind. Squire GableIhas granddaughter
| who will come into his property if he marries
| no one, but he takes no notice OF the young
| man because his mother married against the
| squire's wish. This is all hearsay, however;
| it may not be true. But in the meantime the
nephew is quite poor, they say. l pity
| him."
| 'And pity is akin to love-"
| "Yes-love's poor relation"
Still later.
| Pearl: ''Advise me, dear Lucy. Aunt Hid
| den warns me that if refuse Squire Gable
| she will wash her hands of me. So temper
| iZe like fOol.'
| "And the woman who hesitates is lost"
81 demand month for reflection. But
| when the month is ended, what am to do?
| My salary here as an operator wouldn't buy
| my salt. l don't know how to do anything
| else; nobody would give me board az a cook,
| and sewing-grls are drug in the market, land
to beg 1 am ashamed"
| eff you marry him, I'll forbid the banns.
| All that have is yours"
''But the trouble is, you haven't got any
| thing to speak of, you dear old goose''
| ''Not much, to be sure but enough for US
/ two.''
| II can't take even your bounty. You know
| the old story-poor and proud"
| "You would rather take my heart and
make no return?''
''To tell the truth, I'm afraid to meet you.
| Now you can believe me everything that is
| beautiful; then there'll be no more illusion,
1
should die if you turned against me-"
''Then promise not to marry the squire;
| take his poor grand nephew instead"
| ''If you'll forward the young man. They
| say he lives in Ninevah, and that he's one of
natures noblemen. Do you know him2'
81 doubt if you'd agree to the description if
you knew him as well as do. However you
might prefer him to his grandunce.''
II should prefer the King of the Cannibal
| islands,
| "Then why reflect so long?'
| NTo gain time"
s'To waste it, 1 should say"
$50 be it. I'll refuse him tomorrow, and
trust to luck"
'Never put off till tomorrow what can be
done to-day" sEF
Later.
II feel so wicked! I shall not refuse the
squire and shall not marry him. He was
found in his library chair stiff and cold last
night. Aunt Hidden says no doubt he has
left me something handsome, and if he has mt, ,
it's justice upon me. l shall never accept
in iota. 1t belongs to his poor nephew, and
would be only legalized highway robbery
"You have the nephew's prospects very
much at heart: he ought to feel fattered.'
Later still.
''Lz and Aunt Hidden went to Squire Ga
ble's funeral. had nervous headache, and
so escaped. Liz came home raving over the
squire's grandnephew, the only mourner-she
had eyes TOR little else. But how foolish
ami What do you care about Squire Cables
nephew?'
'Perhaps care more than I'd like to OVID,
aiasp'
"Ah, sits the wind in that quarter? They
sent for me to be present at the reading of the
will. I didn't go.''
'sYou might have seen the grandnephew."
81 wouldn't have gone to see the Grand
Lama. But saw him at church, and thought
it wouldn't be so difficult to fall in love with
him as with the squire, upon my word-now
don't laugh-though he isn't my beau IDEAL"
sLet those laugh who win."
Miss Liz was wondering if the squire's
nephew would settle down in the old place or
60 skylarking over the world, and if Parson
Longmetre would bring him TO call, or how
she should contrive to make his acquaintance,
and whether green or blue became her COM
plexion best, like the foolish milkmaid in the
story; while Aunt Hidden's mouth was wat
ering on account of the old china and silver
ware at Gable Hall, "that might as well have
been in the family as not" she grumbled.
"And there wasn't track in the carpets nor
scratch on the furniture, and Pve no doubt
there's silks that would stand alone folded
away in the attic, and nobody the better"
And while she bewailed Pearls folly, Law
yer Verdict dropped in to say that the squire
had left his money to Pearl, and cut off the
poor nephew with paltry five hundred dol
lars
Pearl fastened to telegraph the news to
Lucy Loriard.
snow, fear you will not wish to share my
cottage, gentle maid?"
.You don't suppose Pm going to keep the
filthy lucre?' answered Pearl.
81 certainly do.''
II wouldn't touch copper of it for the
world"
.Ifyou don't keep every cent, I'll have
nothing more to say to you."
you're joking ofcourse."
81 was never more serious in my life."
81 can't believe it of you,''
'lf you give up the money, you will give
me up too"
"Then dearest friends must part; you are
not the one l took you for.''
Sim your best friend, however,
=. IL couldn't follow your advice and satisfy
my conscience"
"Then you love your conscience better than
me-"
| "T could not love you, dear so well,
| Loved not honor more"
s'Let me persuade you to keep it,"
You cannot; the woman doesn. # live who
could"
"Let me come and talk to you''
"You may come and talk till the heavens
fall"
"Shall our interview take place at your
aunt's?'
"With Liz at the key-hole and Belle at the
closet-slide2 No; here at the office. The
messages are too infrequent to signify; only
you and / have kept the wires from rusting."
"But all that is at an end. Tomorrow.
then, at the office. Amt 1 a disnterested
m ortal to travel to Jones' Station Just TO per-
suade you to keep afortune?"
excuse me if l call it a FOOLS Grand"
"Philanthropists are always called names.
Au reuoir."
Pearl waited at the Office next day in a fever
of expectation. What would this friend be
like, whom she was about to deny herself,
this friend whom she had once longed and now
dreaded to see-persuasive, and difficult to re-
sist, with soft dove eyes? Every step upon
the stairs sent quickened pulsation through