The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-01-12

window from the snow-covered streets;
winter seemed to muffie the town OF
! Stoneport in mantle of silence, setting
each household in separate atmosphere
of individuality. Up on the hill, where
genteel Stoneport dwelt III large, old
| fashioned mansions, the music of sleigh
bells and merry voices was to be heard,
but down here, on the main street, the
afternoon fell in quiet cold, deserted by
traffic as soon as the sun quilted the
narrow thoroughfare.
MissSimmons, the milliner, peered from
her window, and Mr.. Peyton, the drug
gist opposite, polished his door-panes
mechanically with bit of chamois
leather. The harbor, now dark and
wind-fretted, Tapped up to Mrs. Bam-
ber's very back door. Pirates might
have landed and carried her off at mid
night, if they had been disposed, al
though Mrs. Bamber was not daunted
by fear of such violent abduction. In
the old days piratical crews in rakish
craft from the Spanish Main had not
been unknown in the waters Of this very
harbor, and Stoneport had been more
intimately associated with the slave
trade than was good for its reputation
at future date. Like 80 many towns
on the coast Of New England, prosperi-
ty had ebbed away, the bud of promise
been blighted by some mysterious tiuc-
tuatlon of commerce. There were those
who detected righteous Nemesis in the
decay of Stoneport, and here it was left
to crrlmble away in the sunshine, a
moss grown memory of the past. The
shop-bell rang suddenly, and a girl en-
tered.
ooh, Mrs. Bamber |" she cried and,
throwing her arms impulsively about the
little woman, burst into tears.
The girl was taller and larger than her
companion, and yet clung to her.
"Has anything more happened ?" in
quired Mrs. Bamber, alarmed. "Now
don't give way, my dear.
81 can't help it," sobbed the girl, ex-
citedly. "Mr. briggs has been to see
me again. He came to the school-room,
with all the children staring, and told
me he would not foreclose on the Plat
property if / would marry him. Oh,
what cruel, cruel bSrgain I"
"You never promised" began Mrs.
Bamber, breathlessly.
The girl drew herself up.
CT said no.
Charlotte Eaton was very attractive,
certainly, even in her anger, with flushed
cheeks and fearful eyes. A little scarlet
hood covered her golden hair and gave
her something of childish beauty. At
this moment there was a stir in the de-
serted street /; people appeared like
ata,oh n,,rx,al EEa oban
and lined with robes of feecy-w hite fur,
drawn by spirited black horses in flash
ing harness, and driven by solemn
negro coachman in livery, slowly passed.
The sole occupant was a small man
wrapped in sable, with keen, narrow
face, who gazed down on the commo-
ton mis- splendor excited with ire
pressible exultation. This man was
Hiram briggs, and to show himself
ostentatiously to his world of Stone
port was pleasure which had not yet
palled on the rich man.
"His mother learned her trade when
/ did," said Miss Simmons, the milliner.
CT am sure nobody thought her son
would come to owning everything"
The elder briggs had, indeed, worked
in secret many years, directing little
rills of wealth, CLEANED from any
humble source, to his own dingy ware
house. Misery and reticent in the ex-
treme, Stoneport had not OWNED his
riches until the son, now 45 years old,
suddenly emerged from the bondage in
which he had been held by his stern
parent while living to assume the role of
millionaire. Hence the astonishment of
the town; hence Hiram's love of dis
play.
In Mrs. Bamber's shop the two women
grew rgid as the sleigh passed, the
widow with Indignation, and the young
schoolmistress with curious admixture
of envy and repulsion. Had she not
been urged, nay, almost threatened in
all that she held dearest-her plighted
troth with Charley Platt-to share the
sleigh with its feecy robes2 Might she
not save the Platt homestead, indeed, by
paying this very price of marrying
Hiram Driggs9 Mrs. Bamber took her
hands.
Charlotte, let us go to this man and
beg him to release them," she said,
earnestly. "You must have influence
with him."
CT am afraid to CO." said Charlotte.
"Afraidl When you are to be
Charley's wife We must fight for him,
my dear"
These two champions saw the sins of
Mr.. briggs in the light of intense parti-
sanship. He was q mean man, and the
power of money would naturally make
him tyrannical moreover, he had Sc
lected Charlotte Eaton to fall in love with
as the sweetest and most blooming young
lady in Stoneport. Hiram briggs could
certainty afford to please himself at last
Unversed in the delicate phases OF ro-
nance, he could by no means win smile
from Charlotte, and discovered in wrath
and CONSERVATION that Charley Platt was
his rival. He would foreclose and take
possession of the house. Stoneport saw
in this measure only the grasping ten
dencies of the man who wished to estab-
lish home, while the victims detected
revenge. Probably both factions were
wrong.
Mrs. Bamber, with trembling Char
lotte by her side, presented herself be-
fore the tyrant. He still dwelt in the
wing of the warehouse where his father
had been contented to abide. Perhaps
he was chagrined to be found in the
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