Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-01-16
REWARD OF KINDNESS.


in dOlesOme tone:
Your Aunt Sabina is coming to Lon
don, and has invited herself here with
out ceremony
'When,' asked Arabella, with an in
tOnation OF intense disgust.
She will reach here this afternoon.
WILDER, you will have to meet her.
Sorry, ma, but / have to drive Miss
Caldwell to the park, Fred can co.
Certainly | will CO. Fred said grave.
ly, though there was a hot finsh on his
cheeks. Il am very fond of aunt
Nonsense said his mother, you
have not seen her for fourteen years.
l never went near the detestable old
farm after your father died.
Nevertheless, have q vivid recol-
lection of aunt Sabins's kindness when
we were there
Dear me, Fred,' drswled Lucills.
don't be sentimental. wish the old
thing would stay at home. can't
imagine what she is coming here for
she is our fathers sister, said Fred,
'and cannot find anything surprising
in her looking for welcome among
her broiher's children
Mrs. Gorham shrugged her should
ers. If she had spoken her thoughts
it would have been Fred is so odd.
Just like his father But she only
said, L may depend on you, then, to
meet your aunt, and will see about
her rCom.'
1t was source of great satisfaction
to Mrs. Gorham that her children were
all like herself. True Greer, every
one of them, except Fred,' she would
say, congratulating herself that the
plebian Gorhan blood was not trans
mitted to her elder son, WILDER, Or any
OF the girls.
That Greer pride meant intense sell
fishness; that Greer pride was Of cold, +,
hard type; that Greer disposition was
| tyrannical and narrow.minded, did
not trouble Mrs. GOrham. That the
son was all Gorham, WAS proud to the
core with the true pride that knows
! no false shame, that he was noble in
disposition, handsome in frank, man.
ly type, generous and self-sacrificing,
she could not appreciate. His hands
end feet were not so small as darling
Wilber's, he had no fashionable affec-
tations and no Greer look. So his
mother thought him rough and coarse,
and his sisters declared he had no style
at all. But outside Of home, where
great shows of wealth were made by
private economies Fred was more ap-
preciated.
When he became a man and knew
that his fathers estate. though sufti-
cient to give them every comfort, was
not large enough for the extravaganza
his mother INDUCED in, he fitted him.
self for business and took position in
counting house, thus becoming self
supporting though his mother declared
| that no Greer had ever been 10 trade.
That the money she lived on was made
in soap boiling, the fashionable lady
ignored entirely. Darling WILDER had
studied law, but his first client had
not yet appeared, and Mrs. Gorham
supported him, trusting his fascina>
| tiOns would touch the heart of some
moneyed belle. Miss CALI veil was ale
present hope. She was her own mis-
tress, an orphan heiress, and very
| handsome. That she was rather cold
in manner, was only an additional
charm to Mrs. Gorham, Lucilla, Ara
bella and Corrinne, who we're enthusi-
astic in their admiration of COrdelia
/ Caldwell's queeniy manner.
Nobody suspected that Fred, blunt
and straightforward Fred, hid one Sc
cret in his heart confessed to no living
being. And that secret was love,
pure and true, for Cordelia Caldwell
a love that would shut itself closely
away from any suspicion of fortune
hunting-that only dropped and
mourned, thinking of the heiress.
| o3nI1ol1 Erod vuoc of tho citation
with a carriage waiting for Aunt Sa-
bina.
What little old fashioned figure
she was in her quaint, black silk bon
net and large figured shawl. But Fred
knew her kindly old face at glance,
though he had not seen her since he
was twelve years of age.
You are aunt he said, going quick
| ly to meet her.
She looked at the handsome face, and
caught quick, gasping breath.
you must be one of Johns boys,
she said. How like you are to your
father
Il am Fred,' he answered.
'Dear heart, how you have grown.
Is your ma here?'
SHE is waiting for you at home
The good old country woman had
never had the least doubt of a warm
welcome at her brothers. house, and
Fred certoinly confirmed her expecta-
tions. He found the old black leather
trunk, the bag and bandbox, aud the
great cotton umbrella, and put them
all In the carriage without one smile
of ridicule. He made his aunt go to q
restaurant and refresh herself before
stasting on the long drive home. He
listened with respectful interest to all
the mishaps of the long journey, and
sympathized with the 'Ruination OF
every mortal stitch l have on, dear, in
the dust and smoke
And he chatted pleasantly of his
childish recollections OF the tiny house
and wide farm where Aunt Ssbina
lived.
You see,' she told him, Il made up
nv mind this year would come to
London once before died. have tried
to before now, but something or other
has always hindered. Dear, dear! You
are all grown up, 1 suppose, and you
was but lot of babies the last time
John brought you to see me-
'Corrlnne is the youngest, and sbe Is
elRnt6en. WllDer 10 Ino ouly OnS Olu-
er than l am
Yes, l remember. Well, dear, Pm
glad Johns wife brought up such a
fine family. L sn only an old maid,
but l do love children and young
folks
But chill fell on the kindly old
heart when home was reached at last,
and four fashionable dressed ladies
gave her strictly courteous greeting.
But for the warm clasp OF Frcd's hand,
/ think she would have returned to
the station by the same carriage she
came In, so wounded and sore she felt.
Not one kiss she thought, 'and
Fred kissed me at the train right be-
fore all the people,
Fred slipped coin into the hand Of
the servant girl who was to walt upon
his aunt, promising another II she was
attentive, aud himself escorted the old
lady to her room 1t WAS not often the