The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-05-22

me e., a And d. here ,e;, u have suddenly un-
a sLickily enough for her. John
opined. "Rosie and Posie will lead her
II life of it, dare say. They'll have it
all their own way now, and II very un-
pleasant way it is, as l happen to know"
Had old Green, as you call him, any
Should say he had. 1 hope he has
left lilly her share of it. She will get
nothing by favor from those two close
listed old maids that does not come to
her by right"
"I'll write to her mother this very
day."
/ "And I'll write to lilly" John added.
He wrote to the mother, too; he
seemed so anxious, as Phil said, to have
his finger in every corner of the pie that
Phil waived his rights of acquaintance
ship and permitted his friend to make
the disclosures to Mrs. Eaton, Phil con-
tenting himself with inclosing few lines
to his cousin-indorsing Johns moral
character-in. that young mans own
words. T..
Speedily came the answer. A very
incoherent,. agitated, short little note
from Tilly, so badly penned and ex-
pressed as to be almost illegible and un-
Ineligible. But John made out from
it that she was very unhappy, and would
hail any change with joy. Mrs. Eaton's
missive was blotted with tears. She
had evidently u talent for letter. writing,
that is, for the writing of letters consd-
cred as essays. This one invoked bless
ings upon Johns head. 1t referred to
the writer's past sorrowful life. 1t was
Il dirge.
~"She always had that whining way
about her." Mr.. Ross commented, after
perusing it. Coddles her miseries, you
know" .-- - ..:e-Eti
Not long afterward arrived the news
that lilly had gone on to her mother in
Greenbrier. John breathed sigh of
relief: He had learned that Dr. Green
had died intestate. His property had
gone to his legal heirs. 1t would have
been hard lines for lilly, shaving all the
rest of her days for those hard task-mis
tresses, the wicked sisters" The life
long bondage seemed inevitable to
Johns excited imagination.
So several months passed. Then John
applied for leave, on his DOCTORS advice,
who said he needed rest. 1t was a problem
where to spend it. He had no mother or
sisters to hasten to who would receive
him with open arms, and make each
day he was at home ~ holiday. He had
distant relations in England, none in this
country. He would have gone to Wood
bridge, as being the nearest approach to
home, had DR.. Green and Tilly still been
there. He would like to see lilly. She
had cried when he had hidden her good
bye. He did not think that any one else
had shed tears for his sake since. Poor
little lilly! Pretty little Tilly! He had
\ 4, 30
look her up. He wanted to find out
whether she would be glad to see him.
He went to Greenbrier. He found the
decent, tidy little brick house where the
Eatons lived. He was shown into n
dark little parlor. The woman who ad-
mitted him went up stairs to tell Miss
lilly so noiselessly that John thought
she must be in her stocking-teet. And
when lilly came down to him she ap-
peared to have on list shoes. Every
thing. about the house was muflled.
Mother has a dreadful headache" ;"
lilly explained; "she suffers terribly
with neuralgia" :
1t was impossible not to see that lilly
was extremely agitated. The hand she
gave to John was like ice, and trembled
to his touch. He almost seated her, still
holding her hand, and she looking up at
him with the old wistful look in her
eyes. John was touched. He always
had liked Tflly. And, poor little soul,
how thin she was! Was it possible that
she had only exchanged one kind of
bondage for another?
She went out to the front door with
him when lie left and he saw then in the
daylight how pale she had grown The
little wild rose had lost her bloom. lie
| ,-l- -nI 10 +,,1- Il Al l.
the sake of old times. "You look as
though you needed fresh air"
Yes, do not get out often; mother
is so ailing."
On the evening of his last day in Green
brier he had made up his mind that he
would ask her to marry him. He had
very little doubt of her answer. Door
foolish child; for his own part he f;tncied
he was in love with her. At all events,
he ought to be in love with some one by
this time. lilly was almost the only
girl he had ever known well. :
But fate intertered with his intention.
Mrs. Eaton was so i'll that Tilly could
not be spared from her side for more than
five minutes. She ran down Just to say
goodbye. John resolved that he would
write instead. He told Tilly he would
waite. "And take care of yourselfn he
added. She did not cry this time. Per-
sons who take an extreme view of human
maladies would perhaps have said that
she looked simply broken-hearted
When John did write, it was II differ
ent sort of letter from the one he had
planned. On his return to camp he was
confronted by crisis in his life A gay
party from Washington came down to
dance and flirt in the tented field in lieu
of the conventional ballroom. OF its
number was Maud Gaze, who, if expert
ence goes for anything, should have been
an adept in both dancing and flirting.
A society girl par eTcellence, but the first
of the type who had crossed John Leon
ards path. She had cultivated fascina-
ton to the full extent of her powers,
and John fell an easy victim to her prac-
ticed wiles. He was bewitched. What
were whitened and reddened, and her
eyebrows blackened? John was as in
nocent as babe about these matters
To him Maud was radiant in all the
fresh beauty of young womanhood
lilly? She faded in his thought by con-
trast into such mere dull little country
girl.
Still bewitched, he became engaged
! to Maud. She reasoned that she might
do worse. She had weathered a good
many Washington campaigns now,
Young as she looked. Still bewitched
he would have married her had not fate
! intervened. Had he done so, he would
infallibly have rudely awakened from
! his golden dream; but he would doubt
less have survived his disillusion, just az
other men and women have done before
him. He might have found comfort il