The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-02-14

power to grasp any intellectual pursuit.
She knew him patient, kind of heart.
strong of purpose when once aroused.
AM it fretted all the grander attributes
Of her nature to think of the waste of
such q manhood.
For what was he? A walking tailor's
advertisement, a charming partner in q
dance, a courteous gentleman, willing
servant to his aunt No more
Yet when Edna wandered with her new
mistress over the Old World, enjoying
with keen zest the intellectual, artistic
and musical treats spread before her. she
turned mentally to Walter for congenial
pleasure. When Bhe vapid praise or
weak criticism OF the fashionable invalid
was poured into her ears, she wondered
how Walters clear brain would have
viewed the same object. Her home
memories were not very pleasant ones to
her soul, full of sordid cares, of mean
shifts, of shallow pretense, and she
rested upon those of her Cousin Walter,
floating upon them to rosy dreamlands,
till stung to life again by the rejection
of his hand and her reasons for that
step.
Viewed through the medium of this
-ose-haze of memory she softened to
her discarded lover, thinking of the
chivalry of his wooing, the unselfshness
of his love. She well knew that Mrs.
Ambrose Montgomery's heir might have
chosen bride among the wealthiest !;
that Walters handsome face, 1lndoubted
talents and courtly manners would have
won him true love among the most fas-
tidious. And yet he had turned from all
these to choose her, a penniless girl,
whose education was, for the most part,
seH-imparted, who was quick tempered
and unpopular In spite Of her beauty,
she knew well that she often owed it to
Walter and his efforts that she was not a
wall-fower in social gatherings.
He loved her, and she had shut her
heart to his love. She did not regret
that home of luxury he could have com
manded for her-the probable fortune
! she would have shared with him-but in
+ her bitter loneliness she hungered for
the sound Of his tender voice, the love
of his pleading eyes.
-
and thither across the Old World at the
caprice of her employer. Then law
yer's letter informed her of her Aunt
Lucille's death, and her own Inheritance
of $50, 900, and a superbly- bound copy
OF the Lives of the Pilgrim Fathers, y
Mrs. Montgomery's one literary effort,
being collection Of all her own cuttings
upon the subject.
She was glad to go home again, glad
to end her uncongenial bondage. At the
steamers arrival her Cousin Walter met
her. There was q new beauty upon his
handsome face-the beauty Of purpose,
of noble content. He had hack in
waiting, and drove first to hotel for
breakfast. In the private parlor where
it was served he told her:
edna want to thank you!"
"Thank me?" she said, wondering.
"For awakening me from a slothful
know how I have spent the last four
years ?"
"With Aunt Montgomery, have you
not"
"Certainly. I would not desert her
in old age, when was certainly COM
fort to her. But ] studied medicine,
won g diploma, and have now prac-
tice. It is large, Edna, but not very
lucrative, being among the very poor
for the most part. But T have found
what you told me I lacked, cousin
purpose in life, a field for labor where
hope [ am not altogether useless"
ct congratulate you with all my
heart" she said, impulsively, holding
out both hands.
want more than that, Edna. Your
words opened my eyes to my own waste
of life; but, thoug h I find my time
busily filed, my heart wants something
more. Edna, all the old love there cries
out for you. Can you love me little
now ?"
"Not little" she said in low voice,
her cheeks flushing rosily, "but with
all my heart, Walter"
"Then you will grant me my hope,
and be married here and now, coming
to my old home as my wife, to help me
In the ife-work to which your words
guided me?"
And Edna, loving him, granted his
wish, and in his old home proves, as he
hoped, true wife and he'll ornate in his
noble works of charity and usefulness.