Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1880-10-06
WOODSTOCK, W., WEDNESDAY, OCT. 0. 1880,

found II In the pocket ol Ji'hh pen
Jacket, and maee Out how II was io
Miss Stella Ames, aud they told M
you were tho lady as tainted on th'
beach, she explained, You see, jim
has gone Tor the Doctor up town, aud
he changed his coat first 10 look ship
shape like
Thank you" said Stella 'Who
can have written TO mo here 7 ~ she
tore II open pnd read
4 am going to carry the lifeline
out TO shipwreeked crew, ! shall
probably never return alive, but 1t u
their only chance, While yoa are
dreaming on your pillow shall, per
haps bo tasting tho bitterness of death
aud parting, Verify, death Is this
to nee you 10 more ill the sa gives
up its dead, My darling, my darling,
let me have the happiness OF repeating
| love you, love you, Stella. Good
bye, sweetheart, goodbye"
"JonN AupESRgip"
Then she turned to the torn en-
yelopc addressed to "Allss Estella
Ames, Sea shell House. To be given
her only IN case never return The
revelation was premature. Colonel
Audenreid had returned, but so spent
that the doctor had been summoned
from town. Mr.. Mantin took hls
family back to Martinvalc, but Colonel
Audcnreid remained ut the seaside o
lortnigh, longer under treatment. In
the meantime, Stella went home
home for Stella meaning attendance
on the whims OF wealthy hypochon-
driac, with a small stipend, without re-
taxation. One morning tho post
brought her Il letter from Felicia.
Perhaps it contained news Of Colonel
Audenreid. 1t did with vengeance.
"DEAREsr STELLA Gt began)-
"How odd that the very thing ]
wished should come to pass To
think that, after all my nonsense, it
should be me-mysolf-little insig.
ni6cant, near sighted Felicia Martin,
whom Colonel Audenreid osks TO
marry him can hardly believe my
ears anu All nv Muiie I Uc,,v,"h Lo
was smitten with your charms. How
glad / am that you didn't care for him.
You must be my bridemaid. MANI
ma says it shall be white satin and
pearls.
Yours, in the seventh heaven,
FELICIA.
'P. S.-After all, he doesn't make
quite the ideal lover l fancied--he is
so respectful, and-not at all gushing,
you know. BY the way, yod never
told me how you came to faint that
night of the wreck.
1t was no wonder that Mrs. Davis
found Stella distraught that day, talk
ing at random, absent eyed and fan
tastic in her moods. What did it all
mean? Why had Colonel Andenreid
written that note if he loved Folicia,
and why was he going to marry her
if he loved somebody else? Didn't he
know that she had received his mes
sage of love Or did ne mean simply
TO ignore it, having seen fit to change?
From living in state OF happy OK
citemeut, when every footstep in the
street below might be Colonel Auden-
reid's, who was fastening to repeat
the burden of his note, Stella was
suddenly brought down to earth, to
the dull certainty that nothing mere
was ever likely to happen TO her, that
there had been some dreadful mistake
somewhere, which had lent her days a
rose. color for little while, to be sure,
only to leave them grayer and more
forlorn than before.
All at once she remembered with
shudder that Colonel Audenreids fatal
note was Mt Martinvale, that one
morning she had been reading it and
getting by heat in her own room,
when Felicia knocked at her door, and
she had slipped the precious document
between the leaves of her Golden
Treasure lying on the toilet table ;
and then Felicia had entered with Mrs
Davis, with summons for Stella to re-
turn to, duty and in her hasty pack
ing and departure she had left Martin
vale without the G. IT, Some day
she promised herself to beg leave of
Mrs. Davis to run away to Martinvale
and secure her treasure, not that its
possession would signify to her any
longer, only in order to keep it from
Felicia's eyes; but Mrs. Davis would
not hear to being left an hour, and
,o,to;me. Stella cherished the ineapc