The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-12-07

knew your fatner before ne lei
Meadowville, and | knew your aunt
You may have heard of Robert AcE
erman."
"Who was to have married Aun
Susie?n
"Yes, dear child. You are lik,
very much like her. Are yol
staying in Meadowville?"
Eyes. have been i'll. Not yer,
sick, but"-and she gave a littl,
gleeful laugh-"the doctor says
won too many school prizes las
term. and that l must go to tn
country, and not open q book fol
three months. So | am boarding
with papa's cousin, Miss Martha
Gaines"
"Ah, yes. Well, you must let me
come to see you sometimes, for YOU
fathers sake"
II shall be very glad to see you,
said Susie, frankly, thinking this
was the dearest old gentleman she
had ever seen.
He chatted with her little longer,
and then walked with her to the
gate Of her cousins cottage, bu,
would not then go in.
81 will soon come to see you," he
profnised as he left her.
LIT he said nothing to Dorothy Of
this encounter, feeling that sacred
chord of memory had been touched
and shrinking from commonplace
remarks upon it.
The next day Miss Dorothy went
to the city to attend to her wedding
purchases, and to visit a relative.
Robert was man of sensitive re-
finement, gentleman in the truest
sense of the word, a scholar and a
philanthropist, while his sister, with
out being vulgar, was what the
Meadowvilleiahs called stirring
woman" full of life and hustle, OF
overhowing energy, and an inces-
SAINT talker.
Miss Dorothy had been in the
city but a few days, when a letter
from Meadowville filled her heart
with elation.
1t was signed Martha Gaines" +"
and that maiden wrote:
Your brother comes over nearly
every day. | suppose he's lonesome
while you are away, and he mostly
stays to tea. I've got u boarder this
summer, a daughter of a cousin OF
mine in the city. She's only little
girl, but she plays and sings a little,
and your brother likes to hear her.
She's been sick, and he's sent the
carriage over for US to drive every
pleasant day."
Every week there came a long ex-
ultant letter from Miss Gaines to her
dear friend Dorothy till the time was
drawing near for the elderly spin
ster's wedding.
All her wedding garments were
made, marked, and neatly packed,
when she received letter from her
brother.
swat until Wednesday, and
will be your escort to MeadowvilIe." "
This curt epistle had been written
after a day Of great moment to Rob-
ert Alderman.
He had gone quite early in the
morning to the postoffice, and re-
turning passed the cottage of Miss
Gaines. He had sometimes loitered
a little at that hour to chat with the
ladies as they trimmed the garden.
and caught his breath as an excited
voice rang out upon the air-the
voice of Martha Gaines, saying:
"You are an impudent little thing,
and I'll send you home tomorrow.
How dare you set up to teach me
how to to treat my husband"
A low sweet voice answered:
"You need not be SO angry, Cous-
in Martha. | only said | thought
Robert Ackerman deserved a wife
who loved him."
"Fiddlesticks-love! You senti
mental school girls talk such arrant
nonsense. Robert Ackerman is a
incoming, dreamy old bachelor who
wants q wife to manage him and
keep his house.,
Robert Ackerman is Il noble, true
gentleman-a man to honor, a man
to lovel And if he marries he wants
a wife to love him, to give him ten
der service, to make his life glad and
bright"
my good gracious, easped the
astonished old maid.
"YOu think more this minute
continued Susie, "of his house, his
money, his carriage, and his table.
linen than you do of him."
well, suppose do. Perhaps
you would like to marry him your.
self"
He would never think of such Q
thing; / ain just an insignificant
school girl, to whom he is kind. Blu,
if did marry him, it would be fol
love, and not for bis money or his
house."
Here the sweet but excited voice
broke in o sob, and Susie evidently
fed from the battlefield.
Robert Alderman walked home
very slowly.
For many weeks, ever since tha1
meeting in the cemetery, he had fell
as if his lost love, the hope of his
young manhood, had been restored
to him. Every hours intercourse
with Susie brought back the lons
buried dream of happiness more
vividly. But he had crushed dowr
all hope. Never could he link thai
bright, just dawning life with his
sad memory freighted one.
But this mornings experience