The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-07-13

marry Adrienne."
"Then you'll be much luckieI
than l." said Cedric, winding up q
top, and spinning it on his palm.
1t was a year since then. / nc
longer went out; | was fairly passee
Aunt Browne had abandoned all
hopes Of me. | was a good nursery
maid, a cheap goyerness, and an in
expensive companion, in the family
In the meantime / could have mar
ried any day, if | had chosen to ac.
cept the Rev. Abel Amherst, and
transfer my labors to the parsonage.
To be sure, this would not have
proved the brilliant marriage my
aunt had expected of me, nor the
romantic one | had dreamed ofmy-
sell, and it was not until | came in
to possession of 4 certain family Sc
cret, that | began to revolve the pos
sibility in my mind. 1t seems that
when my aunt married her second
husband, Mr.. Browne, Susette and
Anee were both Lowells, they had
subsisted upon the patrilnony left to
Cedric by his own 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 /
had refused, and who had forgotten
me. Earning my own livelihood
was out of the question, drudgery
was my only vocation, ard that was
too badly paid to be encouraging
| looked at the Rev. Abel Amherst.
often at this period, with view of
installing him into Cedric's place, if
Cedric would only vacate. Glad
enough, Mr. Amherst renewed his
suit at this time, and pressing it
with the eagcrness of q lover, and
for the first time began to hesitate.
"The woman who hesitates is lost"
said Susette.
| had been out on the hills one
day trying to IN Ike up my mind to
forget Cedric, and marry Mr. Am
herst but whenever | began to
think with some interest of going to
parish meetings, becoming the pres
ident of Dakota Leagues and sew
ing circles, visiting the poor, drink
ing tea opposite the Rev. Mr. Am
herst all the rest of my days, some
how or other, Cedric's face would
slip into the picture uninyited, and
blot out his rivals as strong sun
light fades a negative photograph.
There is a letter for you, Adj
said Aunt Browne, when /
entered the house, ''in the music
room, on the top OF the dado. under
Mozart's picture" ;" went into the
MUSHROOM, but there was no letter
to be seen.
Perhaps one CT the girls has re
moved it." she suggested. 'But mol
one else has meddled with it."
Grandma cooked letter over
The tea-kettle, said little Freddy, re-
aectively.
"Yes, said grandma, Il wrote
.etter TO your pa, child. | hadn't
any blotting paper but the fire az |
swers the purpose just as well.
At that time | had never heard of
opening letters by steam. Wei, wei
the house for that truantl
etter, but all in vain.
"Where was it from aunt ?" / |
lsked.
How should I know, child p
"But the hanwriting-the post
mark ?"
"The postmark was blurred"
Had it a foreign stamp?" Iask-
ID with a sudden eagerness. Cedric |
nad gone abroad some months be-
fore, and | had not heard Of his re-
urn.
"a foreign stamp ? No. Were you
a foreignletter ?"
mo; but it is the unexpected |
hat always happens, you know"
'It's awfully provoking" said Su-
scete. Perhaps it was only the rec
pes Mrs. Clarke was going 10 send
YOU"
Nothing more likely; but what
las become of it? It's prolonged
,ame OF hunt the thimble." :"
"And supposing lisa letter noti-
'ying you of the existence of q first
Mrs. Amherst" put in Anne, or a
egacy left by your forty-fifth cousin
n Australia" And then the door
1ell rang.
Wei, after that l suppose l must
nave accepted Mr.. Amherst. Eve
-ybody behaved as if | had. l re-
,eiyed congratulations and 4 ring,
md the parish began repairs upon
he parsonage, before | could muster
to tell Mr.. Amherst all
lbout Cedric and my mistake, and
low wasn't at all sure l could ever
ret over it, and care for anybody |
Use, but that / would do my best.
And he smiled in a sort OF absent
way when / told him, but seemed
content to take me as | was for bet
.er or worse; only it did strike me
that he was the most un-
lemonstratiye lover in Christendom;
,ut I hadn't much experience in
overs, and perhaps they weren't as
gushing in real life as in novel pic.
,ured. he used to kiss my hand
When we parted that was ALL He
vas very gentle, but little sad, | /
with look which might
mean that he was afraid of so much
or that to marry the wo-
nan that he loved wasn't all that
ancy had painted it; and some
imes | thought | had perhaps done
wrong to tel him everything about
Jedric so unreservedly yet | had
,nly meant to be honest. But the
lay was appointed, and suddenly |
Jedric appeared among US, when
hought he was at the worlds end,
md he and the girls decorated the
little church with white field daisies
md grasses for the occasion. You
nav believe that / avoided the
iicht of Cedric in theinterval before
he wedding as much as possible,
out somehow l was always stun
L 1. ..no.-..l I,t