Connecticut western news., 1880-10-27
MADGIE's HERO.

MADGIE'S HERO.
 "So. this is the end of all your TO- nance, Madgie this is the 'hero' you so often vowed you would marry We'll, I confess I am surprised"
 "And disappointed, too--why don't you add that, Nellie ?" Mrs. Bentick said, as she led the way to cozy little sitting-roon where cheery fire was burning. "Sit down, dear, and drink your tea, and have little rest before dinner. Some day, perhaps, you'll have better opinion of Phil, and even learn to admire him-who knows ?"
 Nellie and Madgie had been friends at school, and when they parted-the former to join her father in India Mad gis to take up her abode with her uncle, Captain Mason, at the Woodlands they had vowed eternal constancy and exchanged schoolgirl pledges of affec- ton and remembrance.
 Scarcely six months after leaving school Mad gie was alone in the world, heiress of Woodlands and all her uncle's wealth, and with Dr. Philip Bentick for her sole guardian. Nellie was in India, and there seemed no immediate prospect of Major Grahame returning, and as Madgie had no other dear friend" to Nellie she poured out all her heart on paper, dwelling at great length on her delightful, solitary, romantic life at Woodlands, and her unalterable resolu- tions to marry real bona-fide hero or remain forever Madgie Mason. And Phil Bentick was the end of all her dreams!
 "He's decidedly ugly" Nellie said, glancing at photograph which stood ou the chimney piece. "I'm sure if l had the misfortune to marry such man, I wouldn't have his likeness in every conspicuous place in the house. I'm surprised at Madgie, with her love of everything beautiful and her own pretty face and fortune. She surely might have done better; and. yet she seems happy and contented enough, though she was such -worshiper.
 Nellie had come in accordance with a long-standing promise to pay Madgie a visit. It was their first meeting since they had left school, five years before. And yet Philip Bontick had had his romance, too. He had been old Cap tain Mason's medical attendant, and after bis death Madgie's sole counselor, ''guide. philosopher and friend" Wood lands was roomy, old-fashioned house, buried in pleasant woods, five milesf sfrom village, thirteen from 8 town. The nearest neighbors on one side were only rough-and-ready farmers, on the other poor fsher-folk who tried to wiring { wretched subsistence from the sea anc barren westerly shore.
 But Madgie was not lonely. She loved Woodlands, loved to wander all day through the gardens with volume o poetry or an old romance in her hand loved the distant glimpses of the seq owed the dreamy solitude, which sh, peopled with heroes and beroines of he own creating ng-yery delightful, but whol ly impracticable individuals.
 But with all her sentiment Madgi was very charming, and it was not sur prising that Dr. Bentiek-despite hi being her guardian, and poor struggling country doctor into the bargain -shoul fall in love with her. It was what ever one expected, and Madgie herself wa the only person astonished or unpre pared, when one day, in plain homes fashion, he told her of his love an asked her to be his wife. Is was as Madgie had been awakened from yer pleasant dream by rough shake. Dul ing the two years she had been at Wood lands, she had become accustomed t the doctor. He had always been 2 hand to consult, to confide in, and talk all responsibility off her shoulders. Sh was used to his honest face and kindl voice, to his constant attentions and ot casional lectures, and in way she like him but the first idea of loving or ma rying had never entered her head, fC the doctor was commonplace to the la degree, and entirely devoid of all sent ment and romance, and Madgie had s' her whole heart on C a hero-" But Ph Bentick was not destitute of feeling and when Madgie, more plainly the politely, declined his proposal, the loc of pain and sorrow in his clear, homes gray eyes would have accorded with u most extravagant protestations of d spair and misery. But he did not gi, way to them-only apologized grave for having troubled Miss Mason, al was taking his departure in the mo matter-of-fact way, when Madgie bur into impetuous explanation.
 s'It is not that dislike you, Phil, like anyone else better, and I knc you're twice too good for me; only"
 "Only what, Madgie ?"
 Down went her brown head in co fusion. It was not easy to tell a m to his face that he was not hero. a that was the sole objection to Phil Bentick.
 ssOnly what, Madgie?" he repeate sternly. Is it wealth lack? or am too old-too ugly, or have simply misfortune to meet with your genei