The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-04-06

gentleman Salu. - was IN hopes Undl
you were taking holiday"
"Thank you, sir" was the reply, in
a detected tone. 81 can't well quit
work, sir. There's the wife and six
little ones, you see."
"Have you told Mr.. Ormsby the doc
tor says that your life depends upon q
few weeks of rest and pure airp''
=" Yes, sir. He's not keeping me; but
he says if l go he must fill my place
and that means starvation for my fami.
ly. could never get a new situation,
as feeble as am now" .... 81.
E" How long have you been here, Mr..
Watkins?"
Seventeen years, sir. / was with
old Mr.. Ormsby before you came, sir.n
"a faithful servant seventeen years.
said Mr.. Wilkinson, in low tone, g and
few weeks rest may save his life!'
AT this moment Mile shrank little
nearer her guardian. Through the
window from which Mr.. Watkins over
looked the loom-room she could see
Cyril Ormsby, walking briskly about,
his voice harsh and imperative, finding
fault here and there, and keenly scruti-
nizing every item of the work. Not a
face in the long room was frightened
by the presence of the master. Fingers
worked more rapidly, eyes were fast
ened persistently upon the looms, and
everyone seemed aware of stern task
masters gaze. But Mr.. Wilkinson
obeyed the mute petition expressed in
the looks of his ward, and led Mile
out into the wide passage again, to an
other work-room.
1t were too tedious task to follow
every step of these two as they passed
from room to room, everywhere meet
ing some assurance of Mr.. Wilkinson's
own hold upon the hearts of the
hands," and their terror of Cyril
Ormsby' harshness. .
Out again among the squalid homes,
where her guardian had no control,
but bestowed his kindly charity with
out ostentation; and here, more elo-
quently than ever, Mile heard how
cruel a mockery were all the schemes
of charity and philanthropy that had
been poured into her ears. 1t needed
no spoken words from her guardian to
tell her that the noble words uttered to
win her were but those of hypocrisy,
which knew how it could best plead its
cause with her.
One and another, turning to Mr..
Wilkinson as to a friend, unaware of
the torture of their words to the kindly
lady beside him, told of cruel exac-
tons of work in sickness or trouble, of
closest calculation of time, of small
wages and heavy rents. .......
eff we don't live here and pay, we
get no work in the factories!'' one said,
when asked why he did not seek more
healthy quarter. ...
s. | am doing overtime to pay for my
childs funeral, y one said, g for lost
the wages for three days. l stayed by
her to see her die, and to bury her.
'Im uneasy about the rent" an
other said, for | lost a week by fall
on the ice, and it's hard making it up
again"
Not one word of kindly sympathy, of
help, in trouble or sickness. The
"hands'' under Cyril Ormsby were
simply human machines to do so much
work, sick or well, and pay the price of
an hour or day of idleness, no matter
how necessary.
There was no word spoken as Mr..
Wilkinson and Mile walked to the Of
flee again. Once there, the old gentle
man spoke, very gravely: "As your
guardian, Mile, can speak to YOU no
word against Cyril Ormsby He is a
rich man, of good social position, of ir-
reproachable moral reputation, and a
man whose standing in business circles
is of the highest man who is a
good match in every worldly sense. So
much foryour guardian, As your friend,
my pearl, who loves you as your own
dead father might have loved you,
who knows every noble impulse of
your pure soul-as that friend, tell
you | would rather see you lying beside
your mother than the heart-broken
wife of such man as Cyril Ormsby."
6 came to you as friend, as almost
a father" said Mile, "and | thank
you for keeping me from lifelong mis-
cry. To know my husband such a man
as | know Cyril Ormsby to be, would,
as you say, break my heart"
q would not have told YOU said
her guardian, for you knew / dis
liked him, and might have thought
dislike prejudiced me. But, Mile, tell
me you will not let this days work
shadow your life. You did not love
Cyril, Millie?"
"No, reverenced what l believed a
noble generous nature. That reverence
mockery, | shall never break my
heart for man | thoroughly despise,
Uncle Mare" -.. 4.. -'-... .....
And it so happened that Cyril Orms-
by, coming to claim the fortune he be-
lieved within his grasp, met only Mr..
Wilkinson, with Miles polite but dis
tinct refusal to resign herself or her
fortune to his keeping.
But he never knew how it was that
Mile learned the true value of his
shallow words of charity and philan-
thropy. .......
Six Times Married.