Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-08-16

cnlluTen. lie looked weary, ana put
Nanny into her mothers arms with an
air of relief, disregarding the drowsy
protest which she uttered
"What lovely rose. Stephen" said
some of the girls. Where did you find
it?''
"In the road" replied Stephen.
Somebody had switched it off it's
stem and left it to die, SO we picked it
up"
Yes, and Mr.. FELTON, said it was a
shame to treat flowers So" put in a
title boy.
The captain listened impassively, but
Milly gave a half-pained glance at the
flower. "That was just like YOU,
Stephen" she said, softly; and Stephen
frightened for the first time that day.
1t seemed to Stephen. looking back,
that his love for Milly had begun
when he was boy of five and she a
baby in the cradle. He could not re-
collect the time when he did not pre-
fer her to all other girls. At school
| he was her knight, his Sled his Jack
knife, his help, always at her service.
Stephen taught her to skate, to row.
1t was he who first brought her the
first maple-Sugar, the first arbutus; he
who took her on sleigh-rides, and
walked home with her from church
and village tea parties. Milly absorb
ed these services, not ungratefully, but
as matter of course. She had been
used to them from her babyhood, and
could almost as well have dispensed
with sun or air out of her life; but
sun and air being never withdrawn,
are rarely noticed or alluded to.
Dear good old Stephen" she called
him. Now it is not well for man to
lavish himself on a woman who thinks
of him only as "dear old Stephen"
And now Stephen was doomed to
stand by and see stranger appropriate
the object of this lifelong devotion.
He had sown, and another was to reap
of his labors. Day by day all that
summer long the glamour grew and
deepened. Captain Hallett's leave of
| absence seemed of the most elastic
description, permitting him to stay
the entire season at Baymouth. His
mornings, his evenings, his Moons,
were spent with Milly. Stephen
sickened at the inevitable gold-banded
| cap which met his eyes whenever he
entered the house, and proved his
rival in possession of the field. Mlly
greeted Stephen kindly always; but
there was sense of interruption; he
felt himself third party. Then he
tried staying away; but that was worst
of all, for his love did not notice his
absence beyond careless, 'What ages
it is since we saw you, Stephen
people talking, but Milly was blush
ingly indignant. 1T was hard" she
declared, ''if girl couldn't have a
pleasant friend without having such
things said" But her pretty
poutings and protestings made
little difference, and it was
generally understood that the
affair, if not an absolute en-
gagement, amounted to an under
standing" whatever that may mean.
At last the long, lovely summer
came to end, as summers will. Scar
let boughs famed in the forests, gold
en-rod burned along the brook-sides,
the birds flew, and with them Capt.
Hallett prepared for flight. His orders
had come to report in Galveston, Tex
as, and his leave-takings were hurried.
The last moment was Milly's, and
though no one knew the exact situation
of affairs, it was taken for granted that
another year would bring orange bios
SONS and wedding.
Milly's own expectations were not
so definite. No definite promise had
passed between her and her lover; but
she trusted him, and waited brightly
and hopefully. Letters came and
went the scarlet boughs burned into
ashes and fell to the ground in pale
heaps: then came snow and the win
ter, to be in its turn scourged away by
the whip of the fierce New England
spring. Still Milly waited; but not so
brightly now, for the letters came less
regularly than at first By-and-by
they ceased altogether. Weeks passed
without a word. Milly, with visions
of yellow fever and Indians chasing
each other across her terrified brain,
wrote and wrote again; but 10 presage
| OF the real danger which threat
ened glanced over her. till one day,
| opening the newspaper, this met her
| eyes:
| At Galveston, Texas, by the Rev. Pierre
| St Cloud, assisted by the Rev. Thomas Dix,
| Capt. Edward Hallett, L. s. A., and Blanche
| Emily, only daughter of the late Pierre St
| Cloud, of Pilatka, Fla. No cards.
| Mrs. Graves up stairs heard no sound,
| but when she went down Milly lay
on the sofa white and rigid, the news
| paDer still claSped in her cold fnoprs