Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-11-18
Calls aud Skstehss.
AUNT RHODANTHE'S MISTAKE.
lcoNTINUED FROM YEsTERDAY.(

|
vet how can | explain after all this time
How can | be sure that it will do any
good ? Help me, Aunt Rhodanthe tell
ME what to do.''
The face of the elder woman does not
soften at the girls piteous pleading.
''Wlll you do as l tell you she asks,
in cold, hard voice.
AUNT Rhodanthe, | will do ANYTHING,
anything, to set right this cruel wrong"
| Cold and hard fall Miss Rhodanthe's
words upon Bessies ear:
There is no question of setting right,
Bessie. ] know what Ralph Dormer is,
by what his father was before him. 1t is
nice story, pretty little fable, which he
has invented to clear his own skirts of the
charge OF falsehood and treachery. Blood
will tell,' and Ralph Dormer is his fathers
own son." a
"Aunt Rhodanthe p All Bessie's old
| love and faith blaze up afresh at her aunt's
words, and she cries, passionately. 1T is
not so, Aunt Rhodanthe You do not
know Ralph; and I--oh / am rightly
punished for doubling him for an instant.
l will not rest under it, | will clear my
sell at whatever cost, and then If he de-
spise and spurn me, why, he must''
Listen to me. Bessie" Aunt Rhodanthe
says. II tell you l know what Ralph
Dormer is, though have never seen him.
What tell you now, have never told to
mortal ear before. Long ago | knew
Ralph Dormer's father only too WELL He
was staying with his friend DR.. White. as
Ralph is now. The families were inti-
mate, and we met every day, and |
thought him as good and true and noble
as you think his son. We were lovers,
people said, and | suppose loved him.
One has such folies in youth. And then
at last he asked me to marry him. asked
me by letter. and I-how absurdly happy
| was remember now how bright the
world looked, and how l sang as went
about my work. OF course | answered
the letter, believing all that he said. like
fool that | was; and then"
"'And them Bessie ?' says Aunt Rho
danthe, sharply. "Why, there was no
'ana then That was all-absolutely all.
Ralph never came. never wrote. The
next thing heard he had left the country,
and two years later heard of his mar
rlage. l was young then, Bessie and
when people are young, they suffer sharp
ly, but believe me when tell you that
they get over it. Grief does not kill, but
shame may. And | tell you, Bessie, that
sooner than see my niece the laughing
stock of the country, l will turn you out
OF my house. SO long as you stay under
my roof, positively forbid your attempt
ing to communicate with Ralph Dormer
in any way, by word or mouth, or mes
| sage or letter."
And so saying, Aunt Rhodanthe turns
| away, without waiting for an answer, and
leaves Bessie alone in the twilight.
The days drag themselves into weeks,
and the weeks slip away somehow, and
still Ralph and Bessie never meet. Auns
Rhodanthe is doubly kind to Bessie in
these days; but if the girl tries to utter
tremultous little appeal for leave to see or
write to Ralph, the elder woman's face
hardenr, and Bessie dares not go on.
Neither dares she to dsobey Aunt Rho
danthe while she is under her roof, and
even if she did, would ii be of any use
That. after all. is the thought that keeps
her silent. Were she but sure that Ralph's
love for her would come back, yes, then
she could brave Aunt Rhodanthe's wrath;
but of this she is not, can not be,
sure, and the risk is too terrible.
Bessie is in the library one day, turning
over the old books. She is often at a loss
Tor occupation now, for she does not dare
to go about among her pensioners as she
used to do, for fear OF meeting Ralph
again. The books date from Aunt Rho
danthe's youth, most OF them, ami she
looks at them with languid amusement
Clarissa Harlowe, The Scottish Chiefs.
Children of the Abbey, Thaddeus of War
saw,-did people really read such, thrill
over their pages, smile and sigh over
their pages, smile and sigh at the bathos
and sickly sentimentality-smile and sigh
not In ridicule, as Bessie does now, but
in genuine sympathyp She takes up an old
volume bound in time stained leather and
turns the leaves carelessly. Elegant Ex-
tracts is the title lettered on the back, and
she laughs little over the quantity turned
rhymes and obsolete spelling of the old
ballads aud extracts. Why, what Is this
between the leaves? An old letter, fold,
ed in the square, primitive style of the
days before envelopes were known, sealed
with a pretty device OF Cupids and darts
an old letter. which bears in faded ink the
name of ''Dr. Ralph Dormer" in Aunt
Rhodanthe's old-fashioned hand. DIR.
Ralph Dormer; yes. that is the Hame,s
and the handwriting is Aunt Rhodanthe's;
there is no mistaking its character; but
what should a letter to Ralph Dormer be
doing among Aunt Rhodanthe's old books
Bessie stands with the letter in her hand
pondering Ralph Dormerp Why that was
the name of Ralph's father too, aud the
letter has never been opened. and
''Now, then, Bessie" says Aunt Rho
Ganthe. opening the door briskly, "moon-
ing again, as usual? When will you
learn, child, that moping and brooding
never did any good yet9"
''Aunt Rhodanthe," interrupts Bessie
unheeding her words, Twill you look at
this letter that | have foundPn 8s
Miss Rhodanthe takes the letter from
her hand and looks at it, turning it over
and over with vague, uncompre-
hending expression. Gradually q light
breaks upon her mind. The mists of for
ty years roll away, and she sees herself
again bright, light-hearted girl. The
old library is still before her eyes, but in
stead OF Bessie, a curly headed boy who
Is Bessie's father now. crouches over