The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-04-08

pected OF me, nor the romantic one /
mad dreamed OF myself, and it was not
till i came into possession of q certain
family secret that 1 began to revolve
the possibility In my mind. 1t seems
that when my aunt married her second
husband, Mr.. Browne-Susette and
Anne were both Lowells--they had sub
sisted upon the patrimony left to Cedric
by his mother, and that after his fathers
death, Cedric had turned in the same
yearly income from the estate for the
family use, and that /, Adrienne Lennox,
owed my daily bread to the man whom
l had refused, and who had forgotten
me. Earning my own livelihood was
out of the question, drudgery was INV
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's
place, if Cedric would only vacate.
Oddly enough, Mr.. Amherst renewed
his suit at this time, and pressed it with
the eagerness of lover, and for the first
time began to hesitate. "The woman
who hesitates is lost" said Susette.
L 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 parish meetings, be-
coming the president of Oak ota. leagues
and sewing circles, visiting the poor,
and drinking tea opposite the Rev. Mr..
Amherst all the rest of my days, some
how 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," I"
said Aunt Browne, when 1 entered the
house, " in the music room, on the top
of the dado, under Mozarts picture" 1
went into the music room, but there
was no letter to be seen.
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, reflec.
lively.
YES" said grandma, 81 wrote a
letter to your pa, child. l hadn't any
blotting paper, but the file answers the
purpose quite as we'll"
At that time / had never heard of
opening letters by steam. Well,w ran
sacked the house for that truant letter,
but in vain.
"Who was it from, aunt?" asked.
"How should know, childP"
81 But the handwriting - the post
mark ?"
"The postmark was blurred"
Had it a foreign stampP" / asked,
with sudden eagerness. Cedric had
gone abroad some months before, and /
had not heard of his return.
"a foreign stamp! No. Were you
expecting IA foreign letter."
mo; but it is the unexpected that
always happens, you know"
Its 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 prolonged game of
hunt the thimble."
"And supposing it's letter notifying
you of the existence of first Mrs. Am.
herst." put in Anne, or Of legacy left
by your forty-fifth cousin in Austria
liza" And then the door-bell rang.
Well, after that l suppose must have
accepted Mr. Amherst. Everybody be-
haved as if had. received congratu-
lations and ring, and the parish begun
repairs upon the parsonage, before l
could muster courage to tell Mr.. AM
herst all about Cedric and my mistake,
and how | wasn't at all sure | 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 | was, for better or worse: only
it did strike me sometimes that he was
the most undemonstrative lover in
Christendom; hut l hadn't much ex-
perience in lovers, and perhaps they
weren't rs gushing in real life as novels
pictured. Housed to kiss my hand when
we parted; that was all. He was very
gentle, but a little sad. tancied, wi h a
look which might mean that he was
afraid of 30 much happiness, or that to
marry the woman he loved wasn't all
fancy had painted it; and often thought
l had perhaps done wrong to tell him
everything about Cedric so unreserv.
edly; yet had only meant to be honest.
But the day was appointed, and sud-
den ly 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 occasion. You NAV be-
lieve that l 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. III had dared to withdraw
at this juncture, I'm afraid | should
have done so; but it was too late; and
though | felt like hypocrite whenever
Mr.. Amherst appeared, his looks of
sober satisfaction, which reminded me
of those lines of Matthew Royden on
Sir Philip Sidney,
"a full assurance given by looks,
Continual comfort in face,
The lneaments of gospel books"
might have taught me that all was well
with him.
"You are the oldest sweethearts 1
ever saw" gossiped Susette. 81
wouldn't give h straw for such a lover; /;
and as for you,. Adrienne, you resemble
ghost more than a BRIDE"
In short, thousand years of purga-
tory would i'll represent my sufferings
during those last weeks before my we'd
ding. Well, to crown the whole, Aunt
Browne said Cedric must give me away {;
he was the only male relative, the head
o. the family, so to speak, and he could
do it so admirably.
1--WE shall see," said he. "I'm afraid
] should make Il poor figure at giving
| Adrienne away" and he stroked his
triSte mustache as he spoke, and looked
at me just as he looked that day when
we gathered the laurel for Susette's fete
i could have sworn he did. / didn't
answer, for fear my voice would be
husky, and the tears would start.
The wedding was to be quite private
only relatives. Amt Rrowne ar