Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-08-26

the IS Chicago, Oct. Is to the "Per
CO. in the lower right-hand corner.
The blood danced through his veins,
his heart throbbed with an exultant Joy,
his very fingers tingled. He was slim
ulated out of his languor as he had some
times been by the freshening breeze
when sailing down the harbor on sui
try morning, or by finding himself in q
cool, woodland dell, surrounded by the
aromatic fragrance of wild azalias after
a brisk, warm walk.
81 have decided to start on the 8 D..
Z m. express for Chicago, - he announced,
to the surprise of the household, after
he had already surprised them by ap-
pearing at lunch, which they were en-
joving with two or three lady friends.
After rapid journey for a person in
pursuit of rest and enjoyment, he found
himself on clear, crisp October MORN
ing in the vestibule of the business quar-
tiers of Sturtevant & Co.
s'Mr. Sturtevant? One flight, No. 1,
to the left.''
The young New Workers. heart beat
as it had never beaten before at
anticipation in any form. He thought
81 shall see her in her plain, gray dress,
with her smooth, brown hair, white
cheeks and her thin, plant hands busy
over tie morning mail. How her shy,
blue eyes will light up at sight of me.
1 don't know what 1 shall say. OF
course, l shall go through all the prop
er conventionalities. All me!'
He reached the door. His hand trem-
bled on the knob. just then it was
turned from within, and he stood face
to face with Mr.. Sturtevant.
| Whv Rrnpcnpf NM MAN. or1od 70
see you. Been ill? You look like the
ghost of your former SELF" But his
quick eye did not lose his VISITORS rapid
glance about the office, nor the change
of countenance when the accountants
desk was seen to be vacant; but he
made him say, after little common
place talk, making an effort to speak
quite naturally,
'sMiss CLARK is not with you?''
I" No, her place is at the house. NY
wife was an Eastern woman, and had
relatives by the name of Clark. They
have hunted up some kind of relation
ship, and have struck up great friend
ship over it. Kitty, as my wife calls
her-'Per c. she will always be to me
! fits right into our household as if she be-
longed there. Wife needed a compan-
ion. The children needed a governess,
and l needed some one at the house to
straighten my books out for me, when 1
can think to take them up, and to write
orders when l am in hurry.
"'Per c. and Eliza, the wife, are
taking singing lessons and brushing up
their German, and / don't know what
all; but l do know that she more than
earns her wages by the additional light
and life and interest she brings into
our home. She's a rare woman, Bron-
son, a rare woman, and there are plenty
of people in Chicago who are finding it
out. You must 60 home to dinner with
me this evening and get acquainted with
Eliza and the children, and see what
the West has done for Per c."
He had planned to surprise her, but
of course he could not make that adj
mission, and had to accept the invita-
ton to dinner like any other gentleman,
and went about all day with an unde-
fined pain in his heart, lest, just as he
approached her, she would fade away
like the fiower-maiden of his dream.
Mrs. Sturtevant was never surprised
TO see a messenger coming with a billet
from her husband. The one this morn
ing, however, was of unusual interest.
ssHe's comet" it said, 81 knew he
would, and he looks as if he had been
through siege. You must tell her, for
we won't allow her to be surprised. You
ought to have seen the man, with his
heart in his eyes, when l opened the
door upon him just now, and the blank
look that succeeded when he found me
to be the only occupant of the office.
shall bring him up to dinner. Have the
children down; we will receive him like
60 f,,;o ~ 70 hot
mans best riches are in his home
And mind you, Eliza, we won't leave
them alone for a moment. If he wants
favors, he must ask for them.''
think Miss Clark cried a little for
Joy as she knelt beside the low white
bed in her pretty room, and, instead of
uttering any spoken prayer, saying SIM
ply, in prayerful spirit, 81 shall see
him again!" But experience had taught
her better than to admit one stray CLEAN
of hope into her yearning heart.
She was in the back parlor, telling the
children story, when Mr.. Bronson en-
tered the high, handsome rooms with
his jolly, bustling host. Too much the
man of society to fail of saying just the
right thing when he was presented to
Mrs. Sturtevant, he was still looking for
the quiet maiden, whom he had almost
begun to think of as a creature of fancy.
He had never seen her surrounded by
children before, and thought at first,
" She has caught a CLEAN of youth from
them," and then the thought asserted
itself, chad 1 known my mind we might |
have been married these seven or eight |
years." and still approaching her
through the long rooms, at the further |
end of which she had risen and remain |
ed standing in the center of the pretty
group, he thought:
''This plump, girlish figure in blue |
silk and white lace and frizzes is not she |
at ALL" But Miss Clark smiled and |
blushed, and held out the small white
hand which he took in his own for the
first time in all those years of acquaint-
ance, and as he held it fast said bravely |
before them all:
81 can't do without you, and have
come to ask you to return with me as |