The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-05-12

went out; was fairly passe. Aunt Browne
had abandoned all hopes of me- / was a
good nursery maid, q cheap -governess, an
Inexpensive companion in the family. In
the meantime. L could have married any day,
if had chosen to accept Rev. Abel Am
herst, and transfer my labors to the parsOn-
age. To be sure, this would not have proved
the brilliant marriage my aunt had expected
of me- nor the romantic one / had dreamed
of myself and it was not till l 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 husband, Mr. Browne-Susette and
Anne we're 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 1,
Adrienna Lennon, owed my daily bread to
the man i had refused, and who had forgot
ten me. Earning my own livelihood was out
of the question. drudgery was my only voca-
ton, and that was too badly paid to be en-
couraging looked at Rev. Abel Amherst
often at this period with q view to installing
him in Cedric's place, if Cedric would only
vacate. Oddly enough, Mr.. Amherst re-
newed his suit at this time, and pressed it
with the eagerness of lover, and for the
first time l began to hesitate. THE woman
who hesitstes is lost" said Susette.
1 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 interest of going to par
ish meetings, becoming the President of
Dakota Leagues and sewing circles, visiting
the poor and drinking tea opposite 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 negative photograph
"There is a 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 music
room, but there was no letter TO be seen.
perhaps one of the girls has removed it,
she suggested. But no one had meddled with
it.
"Grandma cooked letter over the tea-ket-
tie, said little Teddy, rehectively.
"Yes," said grandma, Il wrote a letter to
your pa, child. / hadn't any blotting paper,
but the fire answers the purpose quite as
we'll"
AT that time | had never heard of opening
letters by steam. Well we ransacked the
house for that truant letter, but in vain.
"Who was it from, aunt2" l asked
allow should know, child?"
"But the handwriting-the postmark?"
''The postmark was blurred"
"Had it foreign stamp?'' / asked with
sudden earnestness Cedric had gone abroad
some months before, and / had not heard of
his return.
"a foreign stampl No. Were you expect
ing foreign letter2'
mo; but it is the unexpected that always
happens, you know"
ats awfully provoking" said Susette.
Perhaps it was only the recipes Mrs. Clark
was going TO send YOU"
Nothing more likely; but what has be-
come of it2 It's prolonged game of hunt
the thimble."
"And supposing it's letter notifying you
of the existence of first Mrs. Amherst, I"
put in Anne, cor legacy left by your forty
fifth cousin in Australia And then the
dOor-bell rang.
Well, after that / suppose that must
have accepted Mr.. Amherst Everybody
behaved as if 1, had. L received congratula-
tic ms and a ring, and the parish began re-
pairs upon the parsonage, before / could
muster courage to tell Mr.. Amherst all
about Cedric and my mistake, and how
wasn't sure 1 could ever get over it, and
care for anybody else, but that / would do
my best. And he smiled in sort of
absent way when ] told him,
but seemed content to take me as
l was, for better OF worse; only it did strike
me sometimes that he was the most unde.
monstrative lover in Christendom; but
hadn't much experience in lovers, and per-
haps they wern't as gushing in real life as
novels pictured lie used to kiss my hand
when we parted; that was all. He was very
gentle, but little sad, fancied, with look
which might mean that he was afraid of so
much happiness, or that to marry the wo-
man he loved was not all fancy had painted
it; and sometimes / thought / had perhaps
done wrong to tell him everything 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 field daisies and grasses for the
occasion. You may believe that l avoided
the sight of Cedric in the interval before the
wedding as much as possible but somehow
L was always stumbling upon him; he
seemed to be perpetually at my elbow; he
surprised 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 / felt like hypo-
critic whenever Mr.. Amherst appeared,
| his look of sober satisfaction, which
reminded me of those lines of Matthew Roy
den on Sir Philip Sidney,
A full assurance given by looks
| Continual comfort in face.
| The lineaments Of gospel books,
might have taught me that all was well with
| him.
| "You are the oldest sweetheart i ever
saw" gossipped Susette. II wouldn't give
a straw for such lover; and as for you,
Adrienne, you resemble a ghost more than
a BRIDE"
| In short, a thousand years of purgatory
would i'll represent my sufferings during those
last weeks before my wedding Well, to
1 hN1a Ann eosI IL