The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-12-25

Fl < ( : . : 49,
"And all is mine, Katie, ALL And next
April the old house shall have anew mistress
and Harry Hatton shall have wife. Why
don't you speak? Why don't you smile!
What is the matter with you to-night?'
itance%'
~"Keep it?" Harry looks at her in wonder:
! "By Jove! what question. What should
do with it but keep it?'
"Resign it to Rose Hatton-Mrs. Andrews
now-to whom it rightfully belongs"
GA most likely idea, and quite worthy of
work for seven and twenty years, and now,
when the golden shower falls in my arms,
| am to resign it to Rose Andrews and her
drunken brute Of q husband No, no, Katie;
in the nineteenth century, men keep all they
get, and ask for more"
$50 I perceive" she says quietly, though
she is trembling as she stands. She draws a
! ring off her finger and lays it on the table be-
fore him. "Our engagement ends tonight,
then, Mr.. Hatton. Here is your ring"
He stands gazing at her. utterly bewildsred
II mean it, Harry. If papa had left me, 1
would have been your wife in your poverty
oh! so gladly-and worked for you, and with
you, with all my heart but now-now that
you take the portion of that woman worse
than widowed, Of those children worse than
! fatherless, wonld die first"
| The gentle eyes flashed, into the pale cheeks
an indignant glow leaped, and the soft, tender
voice rang out as he had never heard it before.
"But this is all nonsense, Katie" he cried
impatiently, "sheer nonsense! Ask your faith
era smile crossed Katie's lips-"ask any
body if the money is not fairly mine. Rose
| elopes with a scoundrel, who only seeks her
| fathers money, and she is disinherited, as she
| deserved. / am his sisters son, and to me
what she resigned has fallen"
"Her father forgave her before he died, and
would have made another will ii another day
| had been given him."
"Look here, Katie" says Hatton still impa-
| tiently, II will seek out my cousin Rosie, and
| ii she leaves her wretch Of q husband, I'll
| provide for her and the little ones. Will that
| satisfy you?
81 know Rose Hatton," Katie answers.
| "She was proud and obstinate, and would die
| CT starvation sooner than accept as charity
what is hers by right"
! He comes close and stands before her, his
eyes flashing angrily.
II must either choose between resigning
| you or my uncle's fortune?
You must"
IF resign it, am pauper as before, and
your father will order me from his doors.
You yin not disobey your father, so in either
Il love you Harry" she says with gssp
| II would wait"
IL ak you, ue says, Win SNORT laugh !;
| chat is poor consolation. You are a woman,
and waiting may be easy to you. l am a man
and don't choose to wait. Since l mnst lose
you in any case, 'lnot lose my money as we'll
G. BOD night, Miss Englehart. I wish you n
very merry Christmas"
"Harry!" she cries.
But he has gone, gone in fine fury, bang
ing the street door after him. and it is her
| father, white with passion, who stands before
her.
! Twice the Christmas tide has come and
gone; twice the joyful anthem of 'Peace on
earth, to men good WILL" has sounded down
the stately ailses of st. Philips, and the third
time is here. Once more it is Christmas Eve;
once more altar and pulpit are wreathed with
evergreens; once more the voices of the
| choristers rise to the vaulted roof; once more
the slender, brown-eyed organists sits at her
post, her fingers evoking wonderous music
from those pearl white keys. But the face
light than of old, and for the silks and sables
OF other days her dress is deepest mourning,
plain of make and poor of texture. 2
The last piece Is sung-something grand
and old and triumphant, and Good hight,
Miss Englehart," one and all cry, as they Hut
ter away ana down the stars. She smiles her
| farewell, but fingers after they have gone, as
| is her custom; and as herhands float over the
keys and her eyes rest on the music, she is
thinking Of another Christmas Eve, three
years ago, and of her father and lover who
stood by her side that night.
She has lost them both-the lover then.
never to hear OF Or see since, the father one
year ago. great financial crisis had come.
had involved shrewd lawyer Englehart and
| sWamped him. He had broken down under
| the blow, and in less than three months after
was dead and buried. He had never forgiven
Katie her refusal of Harry Hatton; he did not
| even forg i've her on his deathbed
WON had ,>ofI 1oo coa1 -..1--
and whims," he had said to her bitterly, you
need not have been beggar today Harry
Hatton is married long ago, no doubt, to some
wiser woman, and when am gone YOU may
earn your living as best you may"
| They buried him. and Katherine had earned
her living bravery and well. For years she
had played the organ of St. Philips as labor
OF love. Now it became a labor of necess-
lty. Her salary as organist, and half dozen
piano pupils. gave her all she needed, and life
went on somehow, and Christmas had come
again.
| sh- dreaded Christmas-the OLD pain and
struggle seemed to come all back afresh. She
did not regret what she had done. Better
loneliness and poverty then ill-gotten gain:
Oetter lose her lover forever than become the
wife OF man capable of wronging the living
and the dead. She had lost him, but she had
not ceased to love him. While she deplored
his sins. her pure prayers followed him in his
reckless wanderin gs over the world.
she LETT the organ at last, and slowly quit
ted the church Unlike that other Christmas,
no moon or stars shone. White, soft, cease.
less the snow fell She put up her umbrella
and hurried hone-the home of a neighbor
g-house-took her belated and solitary
supper, and ran up to her own little sitting
room. A fire burned in the crate, and her
piano-solo relic of former splendor-stood
open with some new music upon it, Before
sitting down to her long practice, she went to
! the window and looked out. All the world
was white and still and ghostly, and faster
and faster the snow was falling AS she stood,
the tall, dark figure OF a man opened the
gate, and came blowing through the snow to
the front door.
zone of the boarders," she thought. "belated
! as was How cross Mrs White will be-
- She left the window and went to the piano.
Before she commenced her practice, and halt
unconsciously, she began softly to sing her
fayorite old anthem.
Then She stopped, conscious that the door
| and opened, and the intruder did not advance
| Come in" she said, land shut the door,
please; there is drau-''
| She stopped with low cry, but he took her
at her word, shutsthe door, and came forward
Il have come back, Katie" he said. "Will
| you forgive me and shake handsw
! He took both hers without waltz ng for leave,
and held them fast.
II only reached England Yesterday" he
! went on: "All these years I have been