Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-05-21

! for anything. Oh, do listen, aunt, while
tell you all about it. was on my knees in
the path, picking up some currants had let
fall when / saw him through the hole in the
| hedge Brownies calf made the other day
coming slowly up the lane
'If you had been looking at what you
We're doing, you wouldn't have seen him."
said her grim listener.
"lIe didn't see me, of course" said Dolly,
''or / shouldn't have looked at him so intent
! ly. And, oh, Aunt Lorinda, il was Just like
| looking at picture!'
Stuff :" said Miss Cross
He was so handsome, and SO dusty, and
so shabby. poor fellow! And he sat down
under the old tree, took q crust Of bread out
of his pocket, aud began to eat it as though
he was very, very hungry. 7Aat went to
my heart"
Rubbish :" said her aunt
And | got up softly, aud ran into the
| house. and cut IL slice
"A slice Great grief" interrupted Aunt
Lorinda. "A piece big enough for the
breakfast of the whole family
"And l buttered it,"
You buttered it,"
YES, aunt l only took the butter that
| was left in the dish"
Half pound! You go without butter
! for a week
And | ran out again, and into the lane, rs
fast as | could continued Dorothy, appar-
emily undismayod by this threat for fear ]
might lose courage and stopping suddenly
| before him. / put the bread in his hand and
said L am so sorry for you = and turned to
run away, when he seized my hand, and
| Kissed it, Miss Lorinda Cross became rigid
as marble, "and said, These are the first
! kind words I've heard since / came to this
| beaetly country. Tell me your name. little
one Dorothy Waldo, said 1. Dorothy
Waldo, be repeated; 4 shall never forget
it and be raised his hat and went away.
Dear aunt, had you been in my place, would
you not have not done as | did z"
"I:' cried Aunt Lorinda-'I carry meals
to a strange man on the public highway? l
let a foreigner who called my country "a beast
ly country kiss my hand No, indeed be
never would have kissed my hand
Perhaps not" said Dolly, with momen-
tary twinkle in her eyes: and then she add
ed pleadugIy, But don't be angry any long
er, aunt I'll make another loaf Of bread
right away.
But that won't bring back what you've
wasted" said her infexible relative. "A
pretty wife you'd be for a man who hasn't
dollar to call ais own, giving away bread by
the loaf and butter by the pound (AIiss Cross
had retained at least one wougnly trat-a
slight tendency to exaggeraton) ito all the
thieves and tramps who happen to come
along
oh, aunt exclaimed her niece; 'he
looked like prince.
"A prince with a snort of scorn
Your head is turned by that trashy poetry
you read. prince 4 likely story-in
shabby clothes, and nibblinga crust! dis
guised burglar, in my opinion. But burglar
or no burglar, she continued it must be
confessed with some irrelevancy, you shall
never marry a man who hasn't a dollar to
call his own, with my consent and if ever
you marry without my consent, You make a
liar of your mother in her grave
Aunt l have told you again and again,
said Dorothy, firmly but gently that l
never would. l have not forgotten my
mothers last commands
Then don't be encouraging that Daniel
Howell to meet you every tack and turn
and if you must have some one to walk home
from church with you-I can go and come
by myself, thank Heaven there's Abner
Brown, and he has thousand dollars in the
bank"
But, aunt, I've known Dan so long, and
he is away so much, that when he is at home
l feel as though mean, l wouldn't like to
hurt his feelings"
Bah. - retorted the grim maidens Men
have no feelings. And As for knowing him
a long time, think you've known him quite
long enough"
but if he had the thousand dollars, in
stead of Abner Brown p questioned Dolly,
with more spirit than she had yet shown.
That would be in his favor, certainly.
But he hasn't, and never will have with that
old father and mother depending upon him.
A thousand dollars, indeed Where would
he get it? The sooner you forget Daniel
Howell, and the sooner Daniel Howell puts
you out of his head, the better"
There's is no need for you to talk SO loud,
aunt" said the little girl, Indignantly; and
then, startled by the look of malicious triumph
on her aunts face, Dorothy looked around
Just in time to receive a farewell bow from
Daniel Howell as he turned from the door.
He heard me" said Miss Cross. "I'm
glad he did twill save trouble"
"Oh, Aunt Lorinda how cdH you be so
cruel said poor Dolly, bursting into tears.
year and half passed away, during
which owing to his frequent absences and
Miss Lorndas watchful care, Dolly and her
lover had met but three or four times. Its
hard" said the young man, on the last of
these occasions, d" to know that | can not
ask your aunt for your hand because | have
not thousand dollars of my own, when l
know that there is plenty of room and love
aud everything for you at the old stone cot
tage Oh, Dolly. if you would but brave her
anger, how gladly I'd make you my wife this
moment
Dan" interrupted the girl, with dewy
eyes, lit isn't her anger-though feel that
it would be most ungrateful in me to provoke
it-but the promise my mother made for me
on her death-bed And if it had not been for
that promise Dan, you must remember, l
should have been the inmate of an orphan
asylum, and we would never have met"
Adding, the sunshine coming back again,
Don't yOu see how much worse things could
have been;"
"You are right, my darling, as you always
are" said Dan; but think-it may be years
before l have the bond
Il can wait Dan. Yes"-with mischiev-
Gus little laugh-''I can wait until am as old
as Aunt Lorinda."
God forbid, love! he said, catching her
in his arms and kissing her sweet lips. And
now good-by l am going away again to-mor-
row, to be gone l can not tell how long Oh,
Dolly, Heaven speed the time when little
wife shall be waiting with the old father and
mother at the stone cottage to welcome me
home!"
She raised herself on tiptoe, clasped his
face between her two tiny hands, gazed into
his eyes with a wealth of tenderness in her
own, and said, "Who knows? Good fortune
may at this very moment be on its way to
us"
And the very next day, January 3, 1880, as
Dorothy with a crimson shawl thrown over
her head, was out in the garden scattering
crumbs on the snow for the sparrows, she
heard the jingle Of sleigh-bellS, and Farmer
Beers came down the lane with a sled-load of
wood "Mornin', Miss Dorothy" he called,
as he reined up at the back gate Here's Il
letter for you. They thought it might be i'm
portant, at the office, and so, known how
keerful be, and that was comm this way,
they asked me to fetch it to you" And the
old man tossed the letter over the hedge, into
the girls outstretched hands, and drove of.
"a letter for me !" said Dolly, in tones of
the greatest amazement. why, never re-
ceiyed a letter before in all my life :" Then