The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-11-20
THE OAK CLOSET.

Margaret Gray was in some sort an upper
servant in the household of Judge Wallace.
The Judge lived in handsome house, in
the suburbs of the little country village of
Thorndale.
Margaret was left an orphan at an early
age, and the Judge and his wife had taken
her into their house to save her from being
thrown on the charity of the town.
They had done their part well for her.
They had two children of their own-twins,
Alice and Algernon-and Margaret had en-
joyed every advantage of education in COM
mon with the brother and sister.
AS she grew older, and began to realize
how much she owed the Judge and his
wife, she felt desire to be able in some
way to make them recompense for kind
ness, and as she was strong, active girl,
/ she soon became very useful about the
| domestic affairs of the household. Mrs.
Wallace was feeble woman and very will
ingly resigned some of the cares and bur-
dens to Margaret, and in course of time the
young girl came to be trusted and depended
on, until, by the time she was two and
twenty, she was really the head of the es-
| tablishment, though Mrs. Wallace still did
the honors in her quiet, lady-like manner
| and poured the tea and coffee at the head
of the table.
Alice had married early and gone to the
far West with her husband. Algernon was
c.; l.
university, and only the Judge and his wife
and Margaret-besides the man and woman
servant who had been with them for years
remained at home.
Some unfortunate speculations, largely
INDUCED in, when the Judge was quite
young man, had encountered the old estate
with mortgage, and this it was the Judges
ambition to discharge. He wanted TO leave
the place totally free from the debt to his
son Algernon.
The strictest economy had been prac-
ticed for years in the household, with this
end in view, and at last the Judge held in
his hands the money with which to liqu-
date the claim.
brought it home, and said to his wife as he
swung the little black leather trunk con-
tanning it before her eyes:
well, Annie, at last we are to be free
from debt. There are eight thousand dol
lars in that trunk, and on Monday shall
pay Jones in full, we shall burn that abom-
Unable mortgage together, you and l, Annie.
1t will be the happest day in my life"'
"But if anything should happen, Will
liam ," said Mrs. Wallace, nervously. "Do
put the money in some safe place. 1t has
cost us dear enough to scrape it together"
The Judge bent down and patted the |
anxious little woman on the head.
81 am going to put it into the little closet,
Annie. 1t has a spring-lock, and if by
chance any burglar should get into the
house he would never dream of finding |
anything of value in little stifled up
closet at the head of the garnet stairs
And with a light heart the Judge went |
off to deposit his treasure.
Margaret was sitting in the room darning
the Judges stockings when this converse
ton took place, and of course she heard |
where the money was to be placed, though |
at the time she gave little heed of it.
The next day, John and Sarah, the two
servants, had a holiday to visit married |
daughter of theirs who resided fifteen or
twenty miles away, and as it was in No
vember, and the days were short, they |
would not return until Monday night.
And sometime after they set ont, there |
came an imperative message to the Judge |
from his only sister, saying that she was
very ill, and desired to see him without |
delay. Her home was in Shelby, eight or
ten miles off, and of course the Judge lost |
no time in obeying the summons. He took
his wife with him, leaving Margaret alone
in the house.
After they were seated in the carriage,
the Judge stopped to say:
+" 1t is barely possible, Margaret, that we
remain all night. 1t looks very much like |
a storm and in that case we shall certainly |
stay. And if so, you had better get Salie |
Turner to come over and stay with you for |
company"
But, though Margaret would have liked |
decided not to ask for it, because if she did |
so, she knew that Sallie's brother Willis |
would be sure to come along, and the less |
she saw Of Willis Turner the better she
was pleased. Willis was an honest, indus
trious sort of fellow, and he was Marga- |
ret's most devoted admirer, but with the
usual Inconsistency of her sex, she utterly |
refused to see what was best for her.
The long afternoon wore slowly away,
Margaret read little, and drummed few
tunes listlessly on the old fashioned piano,
played with the black cat and white kitten,
and held the old cat curled up in her lap
like sleepy caterpillar, and at last it was
sunset.
Time to milk the cows and shut the barn
door for the night.
1t was evident that there was going to be
a storm, for the north and west were dark
with ominous black clouds, and the west
wind sighed drearily in the pine woods back
of the house. And, indeed, before Marga-
ret had done up the odd jobs at the barn,
the first great drops of frozen rain began to
fall, and by the time she had eaten her
supper and strained the milk, the storm
had set in in deadly earnest
She closed and barred the doors-the
windows were already fastened-drew the
shutters, and piled the kitchen fire place
full of hickory.
The kitten had gone to sleep on cush-
toned chair in the corner, and the old black
cat sat on the hearth blinking her eye
sleepily at the cheerful blaze.
Margaret read little, and dreamed
great deal, as girls of her age are prone to
do when left to themselves. She made
very pretty picture, if only there had been
some one to sec her.
| Her soft brown hair was unbound, and
fell ripping to her waist; her fair, round
| r I y ~