The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-07-27
WHO WAS THE THIEF.

It was not because Rhoda Chauncey was
not exceedingly pretty that Mrs. Havers
objected to her marriage with her son
Allen, nor because she was not an exceed
ingly nice and accomplished person, and
all that mother might wish her sons
wife to be, but simply because she was
what Mrs. Havers called nobody, and
that family rotentate felt the necessity
of alliance with somebody.
RhOda Cbauncey was simply the
friend and companion of Mrs. King ; an
adopted child, without any of the privi-
lcgcs of adoption, as you might say
that is, comfortable in the present, and
unplovided for in the future.
fJ shall tell her plainly what she may
expect if she accepts you," said Mrs
Havers to her son one day. q" Your
father and 1 lis card you on that day."
"Oh, psbaw What nonsense!"
"Nonsense or not, you will find to
your cost, if You try. We have reached
our position 10y bitter effort. We call
not give our consent to being pulled
down from the height we have struggled
20 hard to gain for the mere whim of
love-sick hoy. II / must have rival
with my son." cried Mrs. Havers, the
fire of her anger dryina her sparkling
tears before they fell, "let it be some
body who will bring some sort of COM
pensation with her. Rhoda Chauncey-
a beauty, maybe; I never saw any
beauty i'll her /; but begger, certainly.
No. You shall have the money to gn
abroad and forget her you cannot have
it to marry her. Your father and I are
of one mind there. You have parts
You can do better, you fool p
That was the way in which Mrs.
Havers talked to her son Allen on occa-
sion, when chance and courage served ;
aud that was the meaning of the more
stilted way in which she talked to Mrs.
King at the dinner given by the latter
to young Governor Armisted, of
whom Mrs. Havers had spoken to her
son, as the two ladies stood side by side
at the fire a few moments, after they
had left the table, while Rhoda sung and
young Havers turned the music, and a
general hum of low voices filed the air
of the lovely room at any pause. lyon
know, my dear Mrs. King" she said,
the color burning on her cheek as the
freight burned upon the purple luster
of her velvet robe, "that young man
has heights to ascend, and must not
overweight himself. 1t is not what his
father has made him, but what he makes
himself, that counts. If he has ambi-
tions, he is foolish to marry at all till he
can, as dealers say, command the mar
ket if he does n AIRY, he must marry
to help, not hinder. . To start on race
handicapped, said Mrs. Havers, assur-
ing herself with her white hand that her
splendid diamond stones were still in
their nest of lace on her breast, "that
explains the failure of so many careers
that looked so brilliant at the outset"
"We should scarcely agree with you
here" said Mrs. King, smiling We
think that a good wife is the best start
in life young man can have"
But Mrs. Havers was already listen
ing to the remark of some other joining
the group. 1t was few moments later
that she beckoned the passing Rhoda to
her side on the deep lounge, where she
had ensconced herself luxurioHsly y.
Never anybody was more aptly named
than this sweet girl, for she was always
blushing like a rose. But of course
Mrs. Havers could only think it the
guilty blush of the one who had en-
trapped her son, and could not look his
mother in the eye. She was not the per.
! son to appreciate the lovely, lofty limo,
ence of that snowy brow, that violet
eNe, that dewy lip. Rhoda came obedi
entity, and sat by Mrs. Havers, doing
her 6est, as any memLer of a family
does,I to entertain guest; and they
talked of one indifferent thing and an
other1 till, in a moment of comparative
quiet, Aliens laugh was heard ringing
from another part of the house.
"Popr boy !" said Mrs. Havers, look
ing in has direction-"poor boy Yor
can hardly tell how mother feels, Miss
Rhoda, "Rnd she paused with emotion
"when / Near my boy laugh so gayly,
she said, Rand think of the sad way
lying before every aspiring youth; ant
Allen is SO ambitious"
"Sad, Mrs, Havers9"
"Ah, yes !, sad indeed, when, as {
rule, he must surrender either his am
bition or his happiness-that is, sur
render what he calls happiness now.
suppose Allen would regard it, as al
young men do, happiness now to MARI.
a penniless girl, if he should think tina
he loved her. Twenty years from nov
he would find it the misfortune of hi
life, of his whole life, and the one thing
that had ruined his career. Do you un
derstand me, my dear Miss Chauncey 2
"Not at all, answered Rhoda, calmly
81 think if he loved girl, howeve
penniless, he would be better to MARI,
her. and have her comfort on his way.