The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-08-21

ldLlllly ChTIldBe, SLOW ana pOnQopOub, II
reliable, like the Judge himself. Pessi-
bly, Aunt Sophia, by guarding her
nephew from these ambitious ones in |
sighting their invitation to tea, was un-
prepared for his being taken captive by |
slim maiden in q straw bonnet, who |
showed q marked aversion to looking at |
him. The secret of Anne's subtle in
huence over her husband remained an
unsolved riddle to Aunt Sophia. Sit
ting in Florence saloon after dinner,
with Persian cat on her knee, she re-
called another scene intimately connect
ed with her own transplantation. The
awful day when Judge Moore had been
brought home from the courthouse,
smitten with the apoplexy on the bench,
had passed with the summer heat. Now
late autumn had succeeded, the sombre
skies promising snow, and the woods,
sere and brown, carpeted with fallen
leaves. Aunt Sophia had caught the
pretty widow seated before q mirror,
and accepted it as good omen. The
face reflected in the mirror was pale
with much weeping and painful thought,
yet dimples lurked in the fair cheek and
rounded chin. The lines of woe were
rendered more prominent by widows
cap and the sable garments in keeping
with the silence of the old house, stand
ing remote from the villHge street in
the seclusion of a garden. The public
had been surprised by the overwhelm-
ing grief of Anne Moore at the death
of her husband. To be sure, the bar
and the country had sustained an ire
parable loss in his demise, according to
the obituary notices in the county
papers, yet everybody knew that Anne
had only married him for his money.
The town was not to be cheated on this
point. Well, she had obtained her end,
and there was no use in crying her eyes
out, since the Judge was ripe in years,
after all, and had left her all his world
ly possessions. Deaf to this advice, the
widow shut herself up in tie old house,
and pined with grief too sincere to ad-
NIT of incredulity. The key to this sor-
row was remorse. She had not loved
her husband, and had married him as
the only avenne leading to independ-
ence.
Aunt Sophia had said, behind the mir
ror: '.My dear, the new minister has
arrived"
"Ah |" was the apathetic rejoiner.
eyes, and / wish you would try to
interest yourself in the fair for the town
hall fund"
"Oh, aunt, 1 can not p and the widow
had begun to sob, the human instru-
ment being so sadly out of tune.
The older woman had folded her
hands, and said, decisively: "Anne,
you must go away"
"Where ?" with faint CLEAN Of curl
osity.
"To Europe, perhaps" And Aunt
Sophia studied maps with a zeal after
ward.
She had achieved every thing, and
might be permitted to repose now in an
armchair, with a Persian cat on her
knee.
The couple in the window also turned
their leaves of experience in the silence
which had succeeded rush of words,
the cold constraint of mutual misunder-
standing, and this stiffness melted the
barrier of estrangement far more effect
ually than explanation. Anne's leaf was
closed page to excellent Aunt Sophia;
in turn that of Paul Chambers had been
by her unread all these years. Anne
beheld in dream her own youth again.
There was the young ladies' seminary,
! gentility-a structure whose very walls
vibrated with the jangle of many pianos.
Who so affable to parents and guardians
as Miss Crimp, and who SO tyrannical to
young Anne, assistant teacher, homeless
and friendless, gaining her own education
at odd moments Those were dreary days
in the tread-miI. Paul Chambers had
made all the sunshine. He was the
| 1nov NIT ola -
when the roses bloomed there were al
ways fresh buds for Anne's brown hair.
Judge Moore, portly, dignified, and
rich, was observed to study attentively
the seminary pews in church. Miss
Crimp bridled complacently, and Paul
Chambers suddenly departed. Then
the Judge astounded his world by MAX
ing Anne an offer of marriage. How
acrimonious had Miss Crimp then be-
come fairly driving her young teacher
to the protection of this elderly suitor.
Why had Paul deserted herr What be-
came of him? She had no longer a
right to ask these questions. Aunt
Sophia's proposition of foreign travel
had proved happy one. The advent
of the pale young widow in the capitals
frequented by Americans was a marked
event. One faction did not believe she
was rich, pronounced her to be entirely
devoid of style, and detected in her every
look the indications that this journey
was a campaign in search of husband.
The opposition, III sheer perversity, dis
covered that the late Judge Moore had
served his country with brilliant renown,
and left an immense fortune. Such
honors were heaped upon his memory
that he would not have recognized him
self. At Paris he was pronounced a
senator, at Dresden rich mill owner, at
Nice member of the legislature, and at
Geneva, minister to Spain in 18--.
Oh, wise Aunt Sophia, foreseeing that