The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-08-19

WueTe lie lldu JuSb Se6n Ills own Image
lying so seductively, occupied his mind
as tacile though watery solution of
his trouble. Then he thought how fine
it would be to marry another girl, and
let Miss Finch mature into an old maid.
But to this there were three objections.
| In the first place, it was not certain an
etEer girl would have him secondly,
Miss Finch might not become an old
maid and finally, he loved Miss Finch.
At last he said to himself, 81 know
what III do; I'll disappear"
And he did.
No young man could have been better
situated for indulging in this popular
modern pastime. He had no family in
town; his accounts were correct to a
cent; his habits were irreproachable.
There could not be, consequently, any
distress to parents, or suspicion of pecu-
lation, or disgraceful reason for his
dropping out OF sight; and the mystery
of the thing would be complete.
In fact, when it became known that
he was no longer in the village, the
theory of suicide was the one immedi.
ately adopted. for the usual reason that
there was no evidence to sustain it. Sui
cid,P And howP For what motivep
Nobody could tell, but it was settled
that the cause must have been disap-
pointment in love, although all testi-
mony on the subject went to show that
for day or two before he was last seen
the missing young man had been in
exceptionally good spirits. 1t was pro-
posed to organize a search after him,
and even to drag the river and the
ponds; but Postmaster Pound an
nounced that this would be useless.
''Atlee left message" he said, stating
that all such doings would be labor
thrown away" in corroboration of
which he produced a paper signed by
his late clerk. 1t could not be learned,
either, that any one had seen him near
the water, or, for that matter, anywhere
about the railroad. The last person who
had had sight of him had met him on
the street toward evening; Atlee had
passed on into the dusk, and that was
the last seen of him.
1t was with some idea of relieving her
mind, | think, that she betook herself to
the railroad this windy day for trip to
town. An old man with copious white
hair, gold-bowed glasses, and fiat
crowned felt hat, who sat placidly at
one of the car windows, reposing his
hands on a cane which he kept remarka-
bly, perpendicular, was good deal
struck by her fresh and sweet appear
ance as ne saw her blown along by the
wind to the depot; and, as luck would
have it, when she entered the car-true
to her instinct of preferring age to
youth, and finding all the seats hall
filled By very dapper young men, or very
dirty and disa9reeable middle-aged ones
bertha selected the unoccupied por-
ton of this very seat where the old man
was meditating, and nestled down into
it as cozily as a young martin in the
maternal martin box. 1t was in keep
ing with the slight recklessness of her
general character that she should inn
mediately extract paper novel from
her pocket, and begin to read, despite
the industrious efforts of the train to
.joggie her eyes out of her head and the
print out of the page.
Windy day, young lady," said a
mild voice in her ear, so atfably modu,
lated that she felt as if it could hardly
be the voice of a stranger. 1t was the
old man speaking to her.
YES" she assented, pleasantly; 81
thought it would blow me away"
You air rather mite of body to
fight it out with such a breeze" re.
marked her new acquaintance. But
it don't seem to hurt ye, to judge on it
from the roses in your cheeks. Lord,
remember in the days when | was
courtin' how / used to like day like
this. 1t made my gals face shine Just
so; and l ain't too old to take pleasure
in it yet"
Bertha felt her face "shine" still
more than before at this speech, whi ct
she rated as a trihe familiar, comins
f.om a stranger. But then the man had
white hair, and, after all, it was not un'
pleasant. She smiled, with some en-
| barrassment, but said nothing, and re-
sumed reading, while her fatherly com
panion seemed to become absorbed in
reco. .lections of his youth. Before long
however, he said: 81 suppose it hurt,
your eyes a good deal, reading in the
train, don't itP"
"It does sometimes" she admitted
somewhat annoyed at this second open
ing of conversation, for her story was
| interesting. But determining to resigr
herself, she laid the book dowr
abruptly, and looked straight at the ole
man, who returned her gaze geniallI
from the midst of his whiskers anC
spectacles.
"S So you live in GlyddonP" he in
quired.
eyes"
I'm acquainted there some. uset
to live there"
"You didr' exclaimed the young girl
Frightening up al once.
The old man began asking question
about various people in the village, ant
finally mentioned Atlee. He cam
from the place where live-Woodruh
Vermont-and folks thought he was
likely enough young man when h
started down to Glyddon. How's h
doing nowP"
Poor Bertha blushed and shook wit
as much feeling of guilt as if she ha
personally superintended the closing G
Guys career with a violent death
Somehow this bland, fatherly old per
sons interest in him gave her a ney
perception of the mystery and awful
ness of his fate.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. hadn't yo
heard?"
"What! he amt dead p responded he
neighbor, with q quaver in his voice
But Immediately he added: mo,
can't be. should have heard OF it. Pei
haps you mean he's married."
AT another time Bertha would hav
laughed at this absurd juxtapositior
and even now had the impulse t
answer, mo, it's not quite so bad 9
that" But the mention of marriag
came too near her last interview wit
Guy to make it wholly comical, so 81
merely said: He's gone away, nobod
knows where; it was quite sudden al
unaccountable."
Alter a good many expressions