Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-02-23
TIE OAK CLOSET.

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handsome house in the suburbs of
the little country village of Thorn
dale.
Margaret was left an orphan at an
early age, and the Judge and his
wife had taken her into their service
to save her being thrown upon the
charities of the town.
They had done their part well for
her. They had two children of their
own-Alice and Algernon, twins
and Margaret had enjoyed every ad-
vantage of education in common
with the brother and sister.
As she grew older, and began to
realize how much she owed the Judge
and his wife, she felt a desire to be
able IN some way to make them re-
compense for their kindness, and as
she was a strong, active girl, she soon
became very useful about the domes-
Tic affairs of the household. Mrs.
Wallace was a feeble woman, and
very willingly resigned. some of the
cares and burdens to Margaret, and
in due course of time the young girl
came TO be trusted and depended up
on, until, by the time she was two
and twenty, she was really the head
of the establishment, though Mrs.
Wallace still did the honOrs in her
quiet and lady-like way, and poured
the tea and coffee at the head of the
table.
Alice had married early and gone
to the far west with her husband;
Algernon was finishing his medical
studies at German university, and
only the Judge and his wife and
Margaret-beslde the man and wo-
man servant, who had been with
them for years-remained at home.
Some unfortunate speeulations-
largely INDUCED in when the Judge
was quite young man-had encum-
bered the old estate with a mort
gage, and this it was the Judges
ambitien to discharge. He wanted
to leave the place totally free from
debt to his son Algernon.
The strictest economy had been
practiced for years in the household
with this end in view, and at last
the Judge held in his hands the mon-'
ey with which to liquidate the debt.
1t was late on Saturday night when
he brought it home, and said to his
wife as he swung the little black
leather trunk containing it before
her eyes:
"Well, Annie, at last we are to be
free from debt. There are eight
thousand .dollars in that trunk, and
on Monday shall pay Jones in full,
and we shall burn that abominable
mortgage together, you and I, An
ME. 1t will be the happiest day in
my life"
"But if anything should happen,
William" said Mrs. Wallace, ner-
vousIy. 'Do put the money in'some
safe place; it has cost US dear enough
to scrape it together"
The Judge bent down and patted
INC dhAlOus ulGl6 hOndu Ou JHO
head.
81 am going to put it in the little
oak closet, Annie. 1t has a spring
lock, and if by chance a burglar
should enter the house, he would
never dream of finding anything of
value in little stified up closet at
the head of the garret stairs"
And with a light heart the Judge
went off to deposit his treasure.
Margaret was sitting in the room,
darning the Judges stockings, when
the conversation took place, and of
course che heard where the money
was to be placed, though at the time
she gave little heed to it.
The next day John and Susan, the
two servants, bad holiday to visit
a married daughter of theirs, who
resided fifteen or twenty miles away,
and as it was in November and the
days were short, they would not re-
turn until Monday night.
Ard sometime after they set out
there came an imperative message to
the Judge from his only sister, say
ing that she was very i'll, and desir-
ed to see him without delay. Her
home was in Shelby, eight or ten
miles of, and of course the Judge
lost no time in obeying the sum-
mons. He took his wife with him
leavilng Margaret alone in the house.
After they were seated in the car
rage, the Judge stopped to say:
sit is barely possible, Margaret,
that we remain all night. 1t looks
very much like storm. And if so,
you had better get Sallie Turner to
come over and stay with you for
company"
But, though Margaret would have
liked Sallie's company we'll enough,
she at once decided not to ask for it
because if she did so, she knew
that Sallie's brother would be sure
to come along, and the less she saw
of Willis Turner the better she was
pleased. Willis was an honest, in
dustrious sort of a fellow, and was
Margaret's most devoted admirer-
but with the usual inconsistency of
her sex, she utterly refused to see
what was best for her.
The long afternoon wore slowly
away; Margaret read a little, and
drummed a few tunes llstlessiy on
the old fashioned piano, played with
the black and white kitten, and held
the old cat curled up IN her lap like
a sleepy caterpiller, and at last it
was sunset.
Time TO milk the COWS and shut
the barn doors for the night.
1t was evident enough that there
was going to be storm, for the
north and west were dark and low
ering with ominous black clouds,
and the west wind sighed drear-
lily in the pine woods back of the
house. And indeed, before Marga-
ret had done up all the jobs at the
barn, the first great drops of the
frozen rain began to fall, and by the
time she had eaten her supper and
strained the milk, the storm had set