The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-05-01

went out; | was fairly pGSSee. Aunt
Browne had abandoned all hopes of me.
l was a good nursery-maid, cheap
governess, an inexpensive companion,
in the family. In the meantime / could
have married any 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 marriage my aunt had ex-
pected of me, nor the romantic one |
had dreamed of myself, and it was not
till | came into possession of certain
family secret that / began to revolve the
possibility in my mind. 1t seems that
when my aunt married her second hus-
band, Mr.. Browne-Susette and Anne
were both Lowells-they had subsisted
upon the patrimony left to Cedric by
his own mother, and that after his
fathers death, Cedric had turned in the
same family income from the estate for
the family use, and that I, Adrienne
Lennox, owed my daily bread to the
man whom | had refused, and who had
forgotten me. Earning my own liveli-
hood was out of the question, drudgery
was my only vocation, and that was too
badly paid to be encouraging. l looked
at the Rev. Abel Amherst often at this
period, with view to installing him in
Cedric place, if Cedric would only va
cate. Oddly enough, Mr.. Amherst
renewed his suit at this time, and pressed
it with the eagerness of a lover, and for
the first time began to hesitate. ssThe
woman who hesitates is lost" said Su-
settle.
had been out on the hills one day
trying to make up my mind to forget
Cedric, and marry Mr.. Amherst; but
whenever l began to think with some
interest of going to parish meetings,
becoming the president of Dakota
Leagues and sewing circles, visiting the
poor, and drinking tea opposite the Rev.
Mr.. Amherst 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
a negative photograph.
"There is letter for you, Adrienne,"
said Aunt Browne, when l entered the
house, sin the MUSHROOM, on the top
of the dado, under Mozart's picture.''
L went into the MUSHROOM, but there
was uO l0UUcI W U6 S66u.
"Perhaps one of the girls has re-
moved it," she suggested. But no one
had meddled with it.
"Grandma cooked letter over the
tea-kettle," said little Teddy, reflect
lively.
eyes" said grandma, "I wrote a
letter to your pa, child. 1 hadn't any
blotting-paper, but the fire answers the
purpose quite as we'll"
At that time l had never heard of
opening letters by steam. Well, we
ransacked the house for that truant
letter, but in vain.
"Who was it from, aunt?" I asked.
elbow should 1 know, child?"
But the handwriting-the post
mark?'
"The postmark was blurred.''
"Had it foreign stampP" asked,
with sudden eagerness. Cedric had
gone abroad some months before, and
had not heard of his return.
GA foreign stamp! No. Were you
expecting foreign letter."
"N-o; but it is the unexpected that
always happens, you know,''
" It's awfully provoking" said Su-
settle. "Perhaps it was only the recipes
Mrs. Clark was going to send you.''
Nothing more likely; but what has
become of itp It's a prolonged game
of hunt the thimble."
"And supposing it's letter notifying
you of the existence of first Mrs. Am
herst," put in Anne, cor legacy left
by your forty-fifth cousin in Australia-''
And then the door-bell rang.
Well, after that l suppose must have
accepted Mr.. Amherst. Every body be-
haved as if had. / received congratu-
lations and ring, and the parish began
repairs upon the parsonage, before 1
could muster courage to tell Mr.. Am
herst all about Cedric and my mistake,
and how l wasn't at all sure could ever
get over it, and care for any body else,
but that | would do my best. And he
smiled in a sort of absent way when |
told him, but seemed content to take me
as | was, for better or worse; only it
did strike me sometimes that he was the
most undemonstrative lover in Christen-
dom; but | hadn't much experience in
lovers, and perhaps they weren't as
gushing in real life as novels pictured.
He used to kiss my hand when we part
ed; that was all. He was very gentle,
but little sad, 1 fancied, with look
which might mean that he was afraid of
so much happiness, or that to marry the
woman he loved wasn't all fancy had
painted it; and sometimes thought I
had perhaps done wrong to tell him ev-
cry thing about Cedric so unreservedly;
yet had only meant to be honest. But
the day was appointed, and suddenly
Cedric appeared among us, when l
thought he was at the worlds end, and
he and the girls decorated the little
church with white field daisies and
grasses for the oscasion. You may be-
lieve that 1 avoided the sight of Cedric
in the interval before the wedding as
much as possible, but somehow was
always stumbling upon him; he seemed
to be perpetually at my elbow; he sur
prised me more than once with traces
of tears upon my face; the sound of his
voice made my heart turn and culver
within me. If had dared to withdraw
at this juncture, I'm afraid l should
have done so; but it was too late; and
though l felt like hypocrite whenever
Mr.. Amherst appeared, his look of
sober satisfaction, which reminded me
of those lines of Matthew Royden on Sir
Philip Sidney,
e..1I