Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1880-04-23

year before. this uncle had died, leaving
will which was net to be opened till he had
been dead twelve months. That will be-
ing read at the appointed time, proved to
contain the somewhat arbitrary dictum
that his beloved niece should not have his
m onev unless she married his beloved cous
in. Give Soulard, the said Give beng still
single at the opening Of the will. Pen
Bradshaw was an exceedingly pretty girl
but contrary, captious and self-willed, as
pretty girls are apt to be. and she trowned
in The most decided manner upon the I'M
expected lenof of her uncle's will. If he
had given Give half the property she
wouldn't have minded. but to force her to
make her choice between poverty and Give
to oblige saucy little airt like her to
marry anybody-was abcminable.
She forgot. even in her own mind, to
add to the sum of her grievances on the
subject. the fact the provoking will cut
short the most delightful little Irritation
Miss Pen had ever INDUCED in. She had
known Give all her life; indeed, they were
distant cousins, and Give had spenta good
STARE Of his boyhood. and most of his Va
cations, during his school and college days
at Uncle Bradshawe's house, where pretty
Pen alternately petted end plagued the
life out of him. 1t vas bad enough to be
snubbed and coaxed by SO pretty a girl as
pen while he was in jackets and she in PIN
AZORES, but to have such state of things
TO continue-well, it was so highly I'M
pleasant to Mr.. Give Soulard that he
could not conceal his exultation at the
turn which was necessarily given to affairs
by the terms of UncleeReed's will. He at
once dropped the suppliant air, aud be-
came nonchalant, careless and at ease
provokingy so. one must allow, under the
circumstances Pen Bradshawe could
scarcely be blamed for not liking the tables
turned upon her in this summary manner.
She persisted shat she didn't like Give
one bit, not in that way, but she couldn't
give up her heiress-ship and be poor sew
ing girl like Kitty Bryce, or music teach
er like Ellen Steele, or, in short, be poor
at all. and so she told Give she'd
marry him just for that one reason.
and no other. If he had a mind to take
her. knowing she didn't love him and new
er expected to. and that she thought it
shameful piece of business altogether-a
cruel conspiracy against a poor girl who
couldn't help herself-why, he could. For
her part, she should be afraid to marry
anybody that felt toward her as she did
toward Give Soulard, ETC., studying to
say whatever she judged was best calcula-
| ted to provoke her prospective spouse out
of that sorry nonchalance he had only so
lately assumed. But Give was not to be
provoked. He assured Pen that it made
no sort of difference her not loving him
the money was the main object-which as
surance, strangely enough did not comfort
Pen particle, or make her one whit more
resigned to her fate. He utterly declined
withdrawing his claim either to the money
or Pen. The possession of the former be-
ing conditional upon the latter, how could
he? he gravely questioned Pen thought
if he were not utterly selfish, instead of
forcing her into marrying man she didn't
like, he would refuse to fulfill the condi-
ton of the will himself, and 80 generously
bestow upon her the property and freedom
at the same time. But Give disclaimed
all pretensions to unsel6shness, and can
didly told her if she had such an invlnci-
BILE repugnapce to him she had better give
up the property, and secure her freedom
at the same time. He thought it would
be pity to marry man she disliked so
much as she seemed to do him. Now with
him it was different. He didn't dislike Pen,
by any means; he was rather thankful, on
the whole, that dear old Uncle Reese
hadn't thrown Ann Thompson in his way
instead of Pen Bradshawe; he could think
of plenty of worse membranes to fine
property like that than Pen. Vastly con.
selling this style of talk, was it not? Was
he laughing at her, or was he IN earnesti
Had he only been playing with her all that
:, past time, when he seemed to live on her
J smiles-whep frown or petulant word
would make him apparently the most
wretched of men? or had he (oh! mos
: heart-rending supposition) the money il
J. view all the time, and only sought her tt
! secure that? It looked like it, certainly
this sudden assumption of indifference
Y to her pleasure; this open exultation at thu
terms O. her uncle's will. Pen, the beau
9 tiful, the bewitching, the tantalizing, was
u quite non-plussed. If she really thought
a if she were positively certain, that hi
wasn't doing this to plague her, that HI
Z didn't care for anything but the money
she wouldn't have him to save his life
. she'd go off and be governess, or take il
9 sewing for living before she would mar
J. ~ him. No, she wouldn't either; in tina
q case she'd have him out of spite. In shor
besides having natural shrinking from
p sewing for living, Pen, consciously o
J. otherwise, did not dislike her futur
t spouse quite to the extent she pretended
n Somewhere in her capriciOus heart ther
III was soft place for Give Soulard all tn
10 time. He was so handsome, so graceful
u; all the other girls were in love with hin
l. if she were not,
~ And so the, weeks wore away till til
20 wedding day; Give, light-hearted, cart
u less, laughing, banteringly sympathetic
u ten times as handsome and agreeable as h
70 had ever been, but not in the least love
like-anythlng but that; Pen, sulky an
saucy by turns, but really miserable. an
- secretly so, for reason she could not cor
10 fess to herself, but much less so to M
Give Soulard.
10 PEN the invincible, was in love at las
=. and Of all men. with Give Sonlard.
h. Give suspected it, he kept his suspicion
), to himself, and never, by any chanc