The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-11-08
LOANING A LOVER.

my 6lSter IdCrlcla WAS an nelreSS.
Strange enough, for we had always
been terribly poor down at Lowbridge,
mywidowed mother bringing up her four
daughters with the greatest difficulty;
but when brought up, we were worth
looking at, believe. Healthy habits
and frugal living are apt to make good
conditions, and Bess and Amy, and Pa
tricia and l, were as bright and hand
! some girls as are often seen.
Bess and Amy were twins, with eyes
as blue as the sea near which they were
born, rosy cheeks and long, light brown
curls; Patricia was a sparkling bru-
nette, while was as perfect blonde,
with crinkled hair, like molten gold.
Great had been our excitement when
Aunt Betty wrote from Fairhaven:
"DEAR SIsTER-IN-LAwl am going
to do myself the pleasure Of visiting you
Abel left four girls, and l want to see
them. I am getting on in years, and
will make one of them my heiress,'' etc.
Aunt Betty, of Fairhaven, was worth
$100, 600 if she was worth a cent.
Well, in due time she came. She put
up at the hotel, for our cottage at Low
bridge wasn't big enough to hold her,
with her maid, goodman and carriage;
but, fortunately, that was close by, and
she spent the larger half of three days
with us.
We all thought Bess would be her
choice, for father had named her Eliza
beth for Aunt Betty, though she had al
ways been Bessn with us; but it was
not either Of the twins and it was not
1t was Patricia.
Where did that girl get her black
hairP' Aunt Betty asked, as soon as she
saw her.
81 think she looks like my Brother
Luke, don't your asked the mother,
with wistful look.
The very image of him." answered
Aunt Betty, turning pale.
OWNED then, as learned after
ward, that Uncle Luke had been lover
of Aunt Betty's, when both were young,
before her marriage, and the fact
seemed to have power over her.
She looked at Patricia until the girl
blushed rosy-red, and would have slip
ped out of the room, when she called
her to her, and, drawing her down upon
her knees on a footstool before her, she
put withered hand each side of the
young cheek, and said, warmly:
my dear, you shall be my heiress."
So it was Patricia she chose to leave
her money to; but we were not left out
in the cold, for she sent the twins, who
were only sixteen, to convent school
for two years, and invited me, with
Patricia, to the Hermitage.
II lo,. 4
sion of gray stone, gloomy-looking on
the outside, but luxuriously comfortable
and beautiful within, without being in
the least modern. We had each maid
and the free use of the horse and carri-
age. After making this provision for
our comfort, Aunt Betty excused her.
self from making company of us, and
we were free as air to enjoy ourselves
as we chose, provided we did not inter
fere with her maps. We chose to make
. great many pleasant acquaintance,
guided conscientiously by Aunt Betty's
wishes, and the result was that / re-
turned to Lowbridge in the summer,
engaged to Mr.. Clyde Sherrington. He
was wealthy, handsome, agreeable,
well-connected. Everybody said, Ger
trude has done well for herself"
That autumn Aunt Betty died. Pa
tricia was to come in possession of her
fortune in year, when she was twenty
one-full and undisputed possession of
100000.
1t was arranged that we were all to
come to the Hermitage to live. We did
SO, and had lived there quietly, as was
becoming, for nearly a year, when Pa