Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-09-21
Misrfllaneous.
INC0RRIUIBLE.
Continued from Yesterday. }

81 told my father on his death-bed the,
should never want tor anything while
could work" said Edgar, holding her littl,
soft hand closely in his own.
She was looking with brave, undauntet
eyes up into his face.
What sort OF faceP
Oh, not at all like what a herUs ouch
10 be; quite commonplace in TACT, fear
hrm, well cut mouth and clear, dark
candid eyes, are about all it has to boast O
In the way oi beauty. But to Kate there il
no such face in ali the world She doe,
not heed the lines that care and sorrow
and hard work have craven round tn,
mouth and on the brow, taking away al
the youthful brightness that ought to b,
the heritage OF three-andtwenty years.
The more worn, the more sorrowfu
that face becomes, the dearer it grows il
Hates eyes; Tor all the passion OF whicl
her intense nature is capable is poure,
out in her love Tor this man, and with /
mlngles that tender, woud-be protecting
pity, which savors OF a mothers love fo
her child. Revolled by the hollowness O
the fashionable lite in which the two
women who are her household companion:
find all their happiness, she turns to the
thought OF her lovers reality, his thorough
ness. and the stern fight he wages with
fortune. as the weary turns to thoughts oil
rest. If Maud came rustling and sailing
into the room when Edgar was there, and
thought to awe and annihilate him by the
condescension and magnifcence of her
manner, not one whit did Kate care.
Her love, she thought, was set too high
on the throne OF her own loyal heart tor
such petty arrows to touch him. So she
would laugh when Maud bad retired, and
kneeling at his side, look up at him with
such saucy eyes and smiling lips, that he
was constrained To laugh too. But these
quiet, happy days were before responsible
tes and anxietes pressed so sorely upon
Edgar's young shoulders. that they
threatened TO make an old man of him
forget that time, il she live to be hun
dred years-he laid his head down weari.
ly on her shoulder, and she felt a great
deep. quivcring sob rise from his very
heart.
MY darling ! oh my darling !" she
said, bending over him, and pressing the
dark head against her breast with two lit
tie trembling hands.
My comfort, my own little, sweet, true
eirl!' he murmured, holding her close
And then her bright. hopeful nature as
serted itself, and though tears glittered in
her eyes, she smiled as she answered him
"Iour comfort? Why OF course Im
your comfort; haven't | pledged myself
To be Your heIpmate ?'
Thus she won him 10 forget his sorrows
and anXltles tor u time but as he lett her
that night Kate called him back, and look
ing very grave, bade him not work "too
hard"
"You do not look like YOU used to do,
dear" she said wistfully; promise ME to
take more care OF yourself"
SO he kissed her and promised
Yet Kate sighed as she heard the hall
door close; for she knew that there are
some promises hard to keep.
CHAPTER II.
When John Draper Stewart had "slept
with his fathers some year and halt,
and Katie had begun to appear in the
social world again, an event of magnitude
happened to The wealthy and ambitious
widow.
She made the acquaintance of olive
lord" Rather nice lord, too not partic-
ularly oyerdone with brains, perhaps, but
a thorough gentleman kind-hearted, pure
lived, and reireshngly unconscious of his
own social value by reason of that guinea
siamp-his title.
SHch was Lord Paul Nethercliffe, upon
whose arm the happy, radiant relict of
John Draper Stewart, merchant, did on a
certain occasion mount the staircase of a
house in Lowndes street; the hostess of
which mansion had kindly asked about
four times the number OF people il could
possibly hold, to crush themselves with
each other in the drawing-ruoms and on
the staircase for three mortal hours.
And among this crowd Lord Paul Neither
cliie iii st saw our Kate.
Also he displayed unmistakable signs of
being what Mrs. Stewart called taken
with her. Not that that was anything very
remarkable though, Tor people had way
OF being taken with Kate. Nothing
makes woman so thoroughly charming
as an utter lack OF affectation and self
and Kate possessed this
perfect case OF manner to perfection; for
was not her heart garnered up and safely
gwen into Edgar's keeping? What need
she care tor the opinion OF any other man
living
my DEAR" said Mrs. Stewart plain
lively to Maud in the seclusion OF her
"it is enough to aggravate
a saint-Lord Paul is thoroughly epis with
the glrl, and To see her chatting TO him in
that mater-of-iact sort OF way, just as if
he was her cousin or her brother-n-law,
or some such useless parsonage. | must
say your dear father was greatly to blame
in permitting that foolish affair with young
Birley but then poor man he never had a
grain Of savoir vivre."
But you know we knew the Birleys
long ago, when Kate and were quite lit
tie mites, and Edgar was always fond"
A prolonged fit of coughing on the part
of her auditor warned Maud that she was
touching upon unwelcome topics, so she
shifted her ground, and suggested eagerly :;
do you think Kate will tell Lord Paul
Netherclltfe She engaged P'
WHAT almost screamed Mrs. Stew
art, dessling from the task OF brushing
her still abundant hair. and looking al
Maud with Mortified eyes, and brush
poised IN mid air.
"Well, you know she's capable of it,"
persisted the girl lyon know when young