Litchfield enquirer., 1877-08-30
PATTY RRAwToN.
CHAPTER III.

a-s .l6aa -fIfiv lf1ao CHAPTER qHl III.
 IAiAunty Faith went the next morning tt see how Patty was, and found-her danger
 ously ill. Mrs. Brawtoae and Sara were
 both beside her bed. The long fainting
 fit of the day before had been succeeded
 by others, and now she was in burning
 fever. Sara alone suspected that the lov.
 er's quarrel was final one. She surmised
 that Amos patience was spent, and though
 Patty had never told her why she had put
 the wedding if 50 many times. she felt il
 was owing to. one of those inexplicahle
 moods that sometimes came over her
 cousin. For many weeks Patty's life
 hung by thread. When she regained
 consciousness she did not care to live,
 and was 80 passive that Dr. Smith, the
 irritable, tender-hearted old village doc
 tor, who was mnnh. aAAAehe<a to5 her would
 so.:,a and ciy alternately by her bedside. But she recovered. Nothing put Dr. Smith into such pet as to be questioned by the gossips about the separation
 of the lovers. He declared he '.knew
 nolmore about the matter than they did, only if they supposed that Patty was era zB they were mistaken. He had known
 her ever since she was born, and knew she had no sensible reason for behaving 90. Some confounded German stuff had got into her head about afinities or du- els as likely as not, or worse still some tough Calvinistic knot that she could not
 untie. "' sa'si teaI s4l.tsis.se' -1a 9.ssf
 When Patty was out of danger, Aunt Faith thought that she could keep angry with her for treating her darling boy so
 badly; but she now loved her so much, she could only wonder and grieve. She was the main-stay of the sick girl, who coaxed stories from her about Amos , childhood; of bls baby-loves, and then of the love of his later days; how he had planned for her. hoped for her and longed for her. It was hard to bear. Something's in life are more in- exorable, she thought, than death itself. Sara was a tender: hearted nurse, too. wisely avoiding the narrowing topic. Early in March. Patty was we'll enough to sit at her mothers table, and take some drives with the old doctor. He nev- er tired her, for he was not only a great, but good talker. and if she dld not want to listen, while he philosophical. she could dream. He studied her closely, hut could solve the mystery in her life no better than anyone else. She always par ried the subject as adroitly as he intro. .duced it.
 Aunt Faith received few letters from Amos, during this time, e,and she read them aloud to the two girls. ''He had grown tired of the South, and was coming home in April to see after the farm; Aunty must leave Mrs. Brawton and get ready for him." When she was bidding Pat ty good bye she said, 'sWill you not make it up with my boy" Patty's lip trembled, and she shut her eyes before she could answer.
 -.f' Not as you wish Aunty; but tell him I'll be his trusst and best friend"
 Patty did not know when Amos return ed until she saw. one evening, an unwont- ed light in Sara's eyes, who soon told her that she had seen Amos; "that-that he had called to see her mother and found her in the parlor." a~-.
 Patty looked at her resolutely, though she grew very pale.
 ''Is he wsll?" she inquired.
 ul. "Quite well. Sara sad confusedly, "He sent his regards to you. and congratula. hons on your recovery"
 Very steady was the voice which an- swered. through the compressed lips, ''Thank him for me, and tell him I am glad that he has come home. and is well" 'enl 5" i4e s eJ@ ft-.f r-..s ,Iq Patty saw It all. Amos had come back to marry Sara. while she must keep on .living,a suffering witness of the happiness which might have been hers. a as ? ''Why did they not let me die. How cruel to make me live. Perhaps in Heav- en Icould have known that another was in my place, and rejoiced that was for gotten; but here. cannot bear it. Ohl take me away now" Long she prayed for Amos and Sara; prayed for them as
 man and wife. Patty saw it as it was to be. When the spring blossoms came, Amos and Sara were married.
 h They went away to have the ceremony performed ina nsighboring town. be- cause Sarah insisted on it to spare Patty all she could. She even kept her from knowing the day she thought. but an un. srring instinct told Patty. She sent over to Sara the wedding clothes they had sew cd together. Then she went up the moun- tain and spent many hours watching the clouds in all thelr changes of form and color; the trembling leaves, the rising va- DOT; following their suggestions on, and on, through shadowy gradations until she came to height that rose like an island from an illimitable sea, where the voice of birds and the echoes of an unknown shore foated around her. aao 0 The soft Spring breeze playing about her, recalled her to herself; little stream ran by which had just begun to live, bearing on it's bosom Q flower; bird had just taken wing. and long sunbeam shot downward to the splrs of the church in tue valley below, where Amos aud Sara were standing to be made man andwife. :sAll these things can go to hins R she murmured, but cannot" Her masser had gone up into a mountain to pray She. too. would pray. '.May the life just now begun with Amos and Sara, like that of this stream flow on flower Ia. den. May the sunshine play upon it, and birds sing above it. until it passes into the ocean of Eternity"