Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-06-04
ADkIENNE'S STORY.

WALL Iuc CudpeIOuS, VI usGenCu 10 some
garrulous octogenarian. Aunt Browns
interest IN me- such as it was, died nat
ural death after my stirst season-it had
always been weakly-and the result was
a sad deficiency in my wardrobe. She
had married off two daughters without
difficulty, but a neice, it seems stuck
closer than burr. However, it was not
my fault that remained unmarried. I
had done my best to be fascinating,
Though I hated the idea of marrying
tor home or position, yet was sue L
l. should not find it hard to love
one that was kind to me, if only on &C.
count of the novelty. I was thirty now,
and not unused to hearing the changes
rung upon old maids, and the beggars
who shouldn't be .. choosers, by.
my younger cousins Susette and
Annie. But I had had one oppor-
tunity to change for better or worse
of which they had never dreamed. The
son Of Aunt Brownies second husband,
Cedric Browne, had asked me to marry
him, three years before, as we rowed up
the river in June for the rosy laurel
blooms to decorate the house and piazzas
for Susette's birthday tetc. I sometimes
wondered what Aunt Browne would have
thought of the proceeding, as she had
set her heart upon. marrying Susette to
Cedric. Perhaps refused him because
l was taken unawares, because I was not
enough interested to care about trlstrat-
ing Aunt Brownies plans; perhaps I did
not expect to be taken at my word, but
imagined it the proper way to decline, in
order to be importuned. I believe all my
favorite heroines had conducted IN this
wise. However, we rowed homo, through
the sunset, our boat heaped with the pink
flowers, in silence.
"You look as If you were laden with
sunset Clouds" said Susette,. who was
watching for us on the shore; but I am
certain Cedric looked like thunder
cloud.
The next day was the. fetc. Every
body brought presents for Sxsette. c.
dric gave her an antique necklace of tor
quolses was sure he had meant it for
me. We had supper oit of doors finder
the great pine trees, and dancing IN the
moonlight. That day began to regard
Cedric Browne attentively. l had known
him under the same roof for weeks at a
time; I had laughed and talked with
him, believing him fore ordained to min
lister to Susette's happiness, "as inaccess-
able as star in heaven" 80 far as was
concerned. He had helped me with
Adele's children, who had come to live
at Aunt Brownies when their mother
died. But that he should regard me with
any tender emotions I had never even
dared to wish. In fact, I had thought
little about hun till to-day. had never
observed till to-day that his eyes were as
tender as stars, that his face was like that
radiant countenance of Mozart in the
music room, that his smile was simply
enchantment. It was rather late to make
these discoveries.
He did not leave us once; it seemed as
If he staid just long enough for me to
know all I had lost. :. Since then he had
! been with us once again for a whole
month; but little Walter was i'll with a
spinal affection that kept him ON his
back, and me by his side; and though
Cedric used to relieve me often by day
and by night, could see from my win
dow, and from occasional glimpses2 into
the drawing room, that the balance OF
his time was spent in Susette's company.
"Aunt Susette's beau is going to make
me kite" Teddy confded to Walter
one day.
"Who,s hep asked Walter from his
bed.
sWhy Cedric, of course-Cedric Browne
Bridget says SO HERSELF as if that put
matter beyond dispute.
The next day when Cedric came up
to amuse Walter with the affairs of down
stairs, that youth demanded: II say, are
you really Aunt Susette's beau, Ccdric2
Adrienne's ever so much nicer. When
I'm man III marry Adrienne."
"Then you'll be luckier than IT, said
Cedric, winding up a top, and spinning
it on his palm.
1t was year since then. l no longer
went out. I was fairly .passe. Aunt
Browne had abandoned all hopes of me.
I was good nurserymaid, cheap gov
erness, an inexpensive companion in the
family. In the meantime could have
married sny day, if had chosen to accept
the Rev. Abel Amherst, and transfer my
labors to the parsonage. To be sure this
would not have proved the brilliant mar
rage my aunt had expected of me, nor
the romantic one had dreamed of nv
self, and it was net till 1 came into poses
sion of certain family secret that I be-
gan to rsvolve the possibility in my mind.
1t seems that when my aunt married her
second husband, Mr.. Browne-Susette
and Anne were both Lowells-they had
subsisted. upon the patrin1ony left to c.
dric by his mother, and that after his fa-
theirs death, Cedric had turned in the
same yearly income from the estate TOR
the family use, and that I, Adrienne
Lennox, owed my daily bread to the man
had refused, and who had forgotten
me. Earning my own livelihood was out
of the question, drudgery = was my only
vocation, and that was too badly paid to
be encouraging. I looked at the Rev.
Abel Amherst often at this period, with
q view to installing him in Cedric's place
if. Cedric would only vacate. Oddly en-
Ougl, Mr.. Amherst renewed his suit at
this time, and pressed it with the eager
ness Of a lover, and for the first time
began to hesitate. 1.-THE woman who hest
tates is lost" said Susette. =
I had been out on the hills one day
trying to make up my mind. to forget
Cedric, and marry Mr.. Amherst but
whenever / began to think with some in
terest going to parish meetings, becom-
ing the president of Dakota leagues ana
sewing circles, visiting the poor, and
drinking tea opposite. the Rev. Mr.. Am
herst all the rest of my days, somehow
or other Cedric's face would slip into the
picture unlimited, and blot out his rivals
as strong sunlight fades negative photo.
graph. :.s-zzs-=s-s -,...-zs-s.s.a -.
'sThere is q letter tor you, Adrienne,' -
said Aunt Browne, when I entered the
house ''in the music room, on the top of
the dado, under. Mozart's picture.'' I
went INTO the music room, but there was
no letter to be seen.
Perhaps one, Of the girls has removed
1T" she suggested. But no one had med
died with il. n, ~. s.
Grandma cooked q letter over the tea
kettle, 2 said Teddy refectively ::
Yes, said grandma, 81 wrote LET
ter to your pa. child. ] hadn't any blot
ting paper, but the fire answers the pur-
pose quite as well. 9 IS .5.z.
At that timeI had never heard Of
opening letters by steam. Well, we ran
sacked the house for that truant iettlr,but