The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-05-20
HOW SHE PAID HER DEBT.

HOW SHE PAID HER DEBT.
sob, Charley, Charley, how could |
you do such a thing?"
Lillian Wayland's round cheek was
blanched to an unwonted whiteness, as |
size stood before her brother in the
close, cramped room which constituted |
her sole home.
Charley Wayland, handsome, dissi-
pated-lookiLg g youth of two or three
and-twenty, with bold black eyes, and
merry mouth that seemed made only
to smile, stood opposite her, looking
half-repentant, half-defiant as shespoke.
LILLIAN, I couldn't help it. I tell
you was hard up. A fellow must have
money. You women don't know any
thing about the temptations and neces-
stiles of the world"
'sBut, Charley" she faltered, edo
you know how this same world, as you
phrase it. looks at the deed you have
Just committed? Oh, Charley" and
her voice grew low and tremulous, SIT
is forgery!'
''Nonsense, LiIli It's only Lorrow-
ing q part of old Glencross' unused
riches to aid my needs. I wrote and
asked him for cash, and he, the unmsn-
nerly lout, refused. Well, what could
he expect after this, but that should
help MYSELF"
Lillian wrung her slender hands.
''How dared you, Charley? That a
Wayland should come to this" che
walled.
"Dared!" he echoed, recklessly. cit
was but stroke of the pen, after all;
and old GIencross would be paitrier
miser than I take him to be, If he
makes a fuss about matter of hun
dred pounds"
''It is the right and the Justice of the
thing" cried Lillian, almost frantically.
eff we could pay him in any way; but
have sold everything that remains OF
our former wealth. See," and she
looked round the miserable apartment,
''see how l live. Last night sat up
till midnight sewing, to have little
money to pay the rent. l have not a
Jewel left, not trinket.
ooh, bother, Lill. If old Glencross
cuts up rough, it is only taking run
across the water. know lots of ship
captains who would stow me away IN
their holds, almost any moonlight
night"
Lillian looked despairingly at him.
! Was it, then, impossible to make him
comprehend the moral obliquity of the
| deed he had Just committed?
"But I can't stay fooling here" OBJ
! served the young man, with a toss of
! his black curls. 80 I must be off about
my business. Good bye, Lill. Give us
a kiss, my girl. Except that you're
| uncommon fond of lecturing a fellow,
you're not bad sister in the main.
After he had gone, Lillian sat down
! 4 ia -,
which she and her brother were placed.
All now depended upon the spirit in
which Paul Glencross should receive
this new encroachment upon his purse
and patience.
Lillian had never seen this distant re-
lation, yet she had formed an opinion
of him in her inmost mind, as We all
are apt to do of unseen persons whom
we hear a great deal about and when
ever she thought of Mr.. GlencrOss, the
image of hook-nosed old man, yellow
skinned and cadaverous, engaged in
sorting over piles of mortgages, or
counting bags of gold, suggested itself
to her mental eye.
"But he must be human, st least,
thought Lillian, in the agony of her dis
tress. GO If 1 60 to him myself, and tell
him Just what poor Charley's necessi-
ties were, and how gOod-hearted he
really is, in spite of all his faults and
thoughtlessness-if I say frankly to
him, that [ have no money nor jewels
to reimburse him, but thet 1 will stay
and work for him, as a servant girl
might work in the kitchen, until have
discharged the horrible debt, surely,
oh, surely, he cannot have the heart to
refuse. 1 can DO great many things
I can sew and embTOider, and could
make good bread and cake, and poor
mamma always said ] was good house
keeper and if Mr.. Glencross is really
so miserly as Charley thinks, he would
look at the economy of the thing. A
least, it is worth trying"
So favorably did Lillian Wayland re
! gard this idea, broached in her sore ex
tremity, that in two days from the even
I ing in which she had hidden gOOd-by,
: to her handsome, reckless brother, sht
{ stepped from the train at the VictOri
=. station, dressed in a sober brown suit
that made her look like a shrinking
. little mouse, with her carpet bag in he
hand.
= A little inquiry sufficed to bring he
= to the West End street where Mr.. GleI
q cross resided-a street lined on eithe
Y side with palaces, the like of whic
u Lillian had never seen in the plaine
h country town where she had been Dor
a and bred. Her heart sank within her, q
n she stood on the broad steps leadin
e up to the front door.
o Then coloring deeply at her ow
q cowardly tremulOusness and utter lac
b of all resolution and enterprise, sh
"a rang the bell, to settle the matter 1
a once and definitely.
a "Is Mr.. Gleucross at home ?" 81
= asked of the maid-servant who answere
A. the summons.
"A Yes, Mr.. GlencrOss was at home
a would the young lady enter Ar
n Lillian was shown into an apartmel
II curtained with heavy folds OF purp
If satin, and carpeted with velvet OF Il
~ came rich color-an apartment who
n dusky splendor made her think of 8
-s the stories she bad read of enehantt
m palaces in the realms of fairy-land.
az As Lillian sat on the silken sofa, wal
~ ing with a throbbing heart for the a
n pearance of her unknown cousin, Il
al thought stole into her mind that he "
not SO much of a "miser," after all, al
then came a sick sort of misgiying th
of her mission was all in vain.
ly sFor surely" she thought, glancil
Dh TREMENDOUSLY round the elegant apal
a men4. "he will not want any one
ut make bread, or look after the kitch
be expenditures I wish-Ob, I wish th
in l was safe at home again =
&C. The thought had scarcely formed it's
tn in her mind, when q door at the fa b
end Of the room was opened, and q ia