The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-05-22


Throne shuffied eff the mortal coil
aud this unjust will came to light,
: and SesrIe himself was at that time
Only young lawyer wrestling with
circumstances, with no great amount
of funds at bis command "And
nothing for little Tom bu, this paltry
hundred dollars p groaned Hitty,
when The will had been r a 1 and the
estate administered.
"0f course / shall Eeyer marry, y
said Liddy, who was plain and old
looking for her wears, aud whose one
lover had Tilted her years ago. when
the bloom of youth, st least,
had been hers TEere wasn't the
smallest danger that Liddy would
threaten Toms interests by marry
ing
+ NO, you may never marry, Lid
Z dy,r sighed her sister; 'bas IL
7 love Auson, and Oh : love little
Tom, toc-my little motherless Tom.
| cannot rob him of his patrimony,
and cannot live without Anson
How can | wrong Tom TO pleasure
myself? What will he have to go
out into this hard world with, if-if
-
Hush, you silly girl; be will
have his head and hands, ike other
men; and .hen-you may never have
any children to stand in his way"
bat how unhappy it would make
pense; to see him earning his bread
by the sweat of his brow, while they
Jared like the lilies of the field +; to
have Tom envy and perhaps hate
them, and feel bitter tha. life had
been rendered so much easier for
them by injustice "
Perhaps they would share with
Tom
"Ah, it wouldn't be quite sale to
trust to that pleasant perhaps y
"You ought Lot to suspect your
children of being less generous than
yourself"
"But their mother must haEe.heen
uDgenerous first, you see. :, =
"You have Anson 10 think d,
Hitty, in this affair. as weIi - EosD.
If you don't love Tom better
Il DON'T don't; but the will IA
mach it impossible to marry-snd Be-
happy If he were sure OF earniLg
fortune, with which We could make
amends to little Tom, it would be 1
different. But cannot count upon
such an improbable contingency
As you say, Tom win have his head
and hands TO push his why, but the
best head and the busiest hands do
not always compel fortune; and, if
any harm should come to him from
want Of capital, ii be should be
tempted to sin from lack of money,
Il should have to answer for it it
would be my guilt"
Nonsense, Hitty; your conscience
is too tender Mary Anson and
trust to Fate, that's my advice
Supposing you refuse, and be mar
ries somebody else, and-little Tom
doesn't live to grow up"
Il shall not have wronged him"
But you viii have wronged An
SOM
"Not if he-if be marfies-auoth-
er."
Many would. perhaps, approve
Hitty Thorne's conduct at this crisis,
more would condemn; b1t she walk
ed according to heriilight in those
cruel days. Il was no easy task she
had set herself She was 10 receive
no need for her sacrifice excep; self
approval-nothing but reproaches,
Could she have seen al that would
happen she might have spared her
self this cruelty. And how much I
can happen in this time, low much |
to make our wisest fOreihoughts as
same the aspect Of improvidences
Property changes hands, values
shrink, children grow up with wills
Of their own, people die and mske
room for remote beirs, or they cut
live the sharp edge Of sorrow and
anger, and learn to bear the burden
OF their mistakes Miss Hitty had !
faded in the meantime, while Anson !
SearIe wore his years like garlands
The fortune of which her mot i'm
possible" children might have rob
he'd little Tom had dwindled to the !
merest pittsnce through the knavery
of the man to whose wisdom il had
been entrusted, while Auson Searle
had Unexpectedly stepped into pos
session Of the Searle estate, with lis
old stone mansion, lis orchards and
outlayiug meadowlands, and the in
come that had been rolling up since
the Searles FIRST set foo. uoon Plym.
outh Rock. Twenty years b5fore
there had been no shadow of such
possibility, no dream in Anson's
mind or snother's. Two healthy
lives had barred the way agains,
him, but Death had effected q
breach
"What a mistake Hi;ty Thorne
made :" people had commented these
half dozen years "She might have
been mistress of Sesrle Hill if she'd
a mild to risk marrying poor man. |
Folks get their come-up once in this
world sometimes" with the usual
charity commentors bestow upon the
motives of others. Nobody had
known The true cause of Hitty's re-
| fusal to marry Searle 1t had been |
the town talk to be sure-a riddle |
which no one had solved She had |
not even con6ded her secret to her
lover. lie would overrule them, she |
feared, would call them absurd, and
only make her task more difficult, |
and perhaps grow 20 bate little Tom !
and some time Tom might need |
his good will; who could tell, An
son Searle had net borne bis disnis-
sal with the forti,ude of an early |
martyr, but be had sworn be would |
never ask her twice to marry him,
and he had kept his word. But per-
haps after his anger cooled, and be !
watched Ter saddening year by year,
some surmise that her be- avior had |
not been dictated by caprice or any
petty motive, grew upon lin, aud |