The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-06-12

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heir, it was quite unnecessary TO MAKE
any talk or fuss aboat the matter; butnow,
it is as well to understand my rights and
yours" . =.
! "Now %
"Your grandfather, my dear, being, l
charitably believe; in his detagc, has mar
ried-Myra Wilbur !" -
1t &as q crushing blow, Gilbert tswaycd
to and fro in his chair, and then fell inson-
sible.
His ideal poetic life was more real to
him than the actual world about him, and
he suffered acutely But his aunt was the
best of comforters, for, while she was full
of tender sympathy, she was emlnently
practical, and with clear 'forcible words,
she made him realize fully how unworthy
was the idol he had worshiped.
With her own personal property she had
also brought Gilbert's from their old home,
and she took a house in New York, where
both soon felt at home, returning no more
to Fern Nook. Then, with true practical
kindness she persuaded Gilbert to allow
her to buy him partnership in light
business, and reused him from his dreamy,
sensitive moods, to active, natural life.
He might have become soured and hard,
but for the love of this old maid, who had
never before let him read the tenderness of
her heart, But, while he suffered keenly,
his manhood developed, and he was a
stronger, better man for bis aisappoipt :
ment.
When Myra's name ceased to be a tor
ture, Aunt Jane made herself known to
old friends of her girlhood, and gathered
about her pleasant, social circle, where
| Gilbert was soon favorte. There was
no hint of the spinster's hope when she
said very quietiy:
"Any attention you can pay to Ella
Rayburn, will be very pleasing to me, Gil
bert. Her mother has been my warmest
friend in past years, and we have renewed
the old times most pleasantly. Ii Ella is
like her mother she is a pure, sweet, un-
selfish woman.
"And Ella was like her mother, and was
soon taken into Aunt James closest init
macy.
Still smarting under the past pain, Gil:
bert was merely attentive to his aunt's
young friend, and not yet realizing that
a reality filling his old ideal was near
him.
And while these old residents of Fem
Nook were quietly gathering up broken
threads of life, to weave a. more, perfect
web'ot content, Myra Gorham was eating
out her heart in bitterness. Instead of an
old, indulgent husband, ready to humol
every whim, to give her idolatrous devo'
ton, she found herself tied to a querulous
invalid, who had been accustomed to the
4 unquestioning obedience and devotion ol
his daughter and grandson, and who ex
acted similar care from his reluctant
wife. In place of balls, concerts anc
opera, the gay life of the metropolis.
Mrs Gorham found herself shut up in {
country house, certainly sufficiently hand,
some and well appointed to meet the mos'
fastidious taste, but lonely beyond endur
anee to the woman milesaway from her owl
friends, and coldly ignored by the friend
of the Gorbams, fully aware of her mer
cenary treachery.
Yet she endured as patiently as possible
till the old man, pining for Jane and Gil
bert, sickened and failed visibly.'
1t was when all hope was gone, that tn
young wife cautiously but very plainly
urged the necessity of making a will. |
seemed to her as if all the misery of lif
concentrated in the peevish reply:
81 have nothing to will. All the prop
erty belongs to-. Jane! I only hold a Lii
lease in my late wife's estate.
."Jane!' gasped Myra .remem berin
the insulting terms in which she had int
mated to that spinster that she preferre
to reign alone at Fern Nook.
j "Certainly! If Gifbert's father ha
lived he would have shared in the proper
1 ty, but it all reverts to Gilbert if Jane die
: unmarried"
All Gilbert's And might have been a
t hers.
Myra felt too stunned and miserab
; even to cry 10 think that all her ba'
scheming, her feigned devotion had le
1 her only to this, the beggared' widow of a
; old man. =
But after the funeral was over Mrs. Go
ham made few discoveries. First, all tt
i deep black of her dress, with. the fine viii
line of her widow cap, the somber Grape ar
i } soft snowy tarletan were most becoming
her brilliant blonde beauty. She studio
her dress to its minutest detail, and wht
e. it was perfect, formed her new plans. l
I har late hushan desk she found Fl,