The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-01-01
DELICIA.

- She was so exquisitely beautiful, it
was actually provoking that there
shouldn't be the least romance about
her. Waves of pale golden hair rippled
away from her pearly forehead, and
were gathered into n superb knot ut the
back of her head. Such blue cleaned
in her sweet eyes, such lovely pink
mantled her soft cheek, such II smile
parted her ripe mouth, that, we'll bred
as you might be. you could not have re-
Trained from staring ut her; and then,
thinking of strawherrieS and cream. have
xI6nged for n silver spoon with which to
,at her.
But2for all this there wasn't the least
Romance, ,conu ected with her. Though
&hree-and twenty, Deicia had never
3lad a lover. She lived in n quiet firIn-
s,use among the White mountains with
r father and mother all the year
and. She loved them dearly--was
kppy with them and her horse, Joan
Are.
= oan was beautiful, high. spirited and
Delicia, who cared nothing for dancing
FOR flirting, and could neither sing nor
Pplay, was pnssionately fond of horseback,
riding. There was II spirit of pride and
caring in her which made her superb
rider, ard caused the young men of the
very bare neighborhood to call her
naughty. The delights of her life were
the pinc-scented woods, the winter
landscapes of ermine snow and glitter.
ing ice, the dreamy sweetness of the
autumn orchards. At twenty-three
Delicia had been content with an cX-
istence lived in comparative solitude.
Then came n terrible calamity. Her
father was killed by runaway horse,
and her mother, frail and unable to en-
dure the shock, sank slowly but surely
until, one mockingly bright, beautiful
day, Delicia found herself entirely alone.
Outsiders then called her cold, for no
one saw her weep. She only trembled
so excessively beside the open graves
that old Aunt Thankful, who had
nursed her de..d mother, was obliged to
support her to keep her from falling.
Otherwise she was composed, only her
sweet eyes had look in them pitiful to
see.
A change had come over Delicia's
serene life; the dear home-love was
gone, and the girls content had gone.
With a native courage and reserve pc
culiar to her she made no complaint; !;
she asked Aunt Thankful rather wist-
fully to stay and keep house for her, and
then turned to her books and horse and
: maiden meditations. But Delicia's
dreams were troubled now. Life's grief
had touched her; she knew that sorrow
was in the world; she feared the future.
The strange, sad summer passed. One
fine November day, Bob, the hired man,
led joan of Arc prancing to the door,
the side-saddle on her back.
81 have to go to the village, miss, to
buy the new milch COW. I'll not be
hack till noon. You'll not mind letting
Joan stand with the saddle on n little
till | Gomez"
=. No" said Delicia, absently.
der Beautiful oval cheek was white
under her velvet cap. There was q sad
ness quite unmistakable in her eyes as
she turned Joan's head toward the hilf-
, road.
Yet who, to have seen her beautiful,
!, spirited figure Looping along the uplands,
would have divined the rare heart of
the heiress of Wheatlands? She did
not, perhaps, understand herself, and
dld not know she had asked her own
soul; Am | to be all my life aloneP
III no ohe great and good ever ask me
70 be MS aeM'y- beloved wife? Ifnot, ]
r shall perish on 1le face of the Carth."
lou Inust nave Suessed rarely to have
guessed now deeply ran the still waters
Of that idyllic life. You wonld NOT
have guessed it from anythin@ in he,
perfect proud face as she turned If 70.
ward a passing carriage. The occunants
were bJGSe-looking man of thirty ner-
hapS, and very young and pretty girl
A single glance told the story-that
the young girl was loving ard unhappy (;
that the man, for some reason, found
her desirable of possession.
He had hard black eyes that repealed
Delicfa, yet the sight of the two seated
: so closely gave her vague, painful
feeling of solitude and desolation which
not long ago was utterly unknown to
her.
The carriage glittered by, and Joan
kloped softly along the woody road,
,oundless with thick carpet of pine
tho one made circuit, and came back to
tne main road.
Duuae1ly unusual sounds attracted
nol a.eeHlon. A crash and violent
screams reached her ear, and as she rode
view. en- "ursI upon her
The carriage had gone over an on
nankment and was a perfect wreck. the
lhofses lay prostrate- one of them Killed