The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-12-09
TWO SECRETS.
"you don,s mean IL. Hettv P~


LLOYD Sutton, a good-looking, manly
young fellow, leaning on the half-open
field gate, looked earnestly in the face
OF the young girl on the opposite side
of the fence.
She shrank from meeting his eye as
she answered:
"I am. not accustomed to saying what
I don't mean."
He made no answer. Hetty scratched
industriously with bit of wild-rose
stem upon the trunk of the beech tree
which overshadowed them. Suddenly
she discovered that she was uncon-
sciously tracing over the initials LIS. F"
and "H. W."-the latter her own--cut
in the beech bark. She hastily with.
drew her hand and threw away the rose
stem.
"Do you remember what you said to
me, Hetty, the day I cut those letters ~
asked the young man.
Something foolish, I dare say" she
answered, with affected carelessness.
N1-told me you loved me-" he
said, in low voice.
Hetty stopped and plucked sprig Of
"Perhaps 1 thought so, then," she
sad, ihtently examining the blossoms.
"And only discovered your mistake
when this rich popinjay from the city
1eade his appearance" said Lloyd, bit.
terly.
She looked up with fash, ,pf hei
dark eyes. She knew very we'll that she
was doing something unworthy of her.
and lowering herself in Loyd's opinion,
as'well as causing him pain, and his re.
proach stung her.
81 have q right to like or dislike
whom l please" she said, haughtily.
He seized an unlucky grasshoppei
which at that moment lighted near his
hand'and savagely crushed it to death.
Hetty looked at him in surprise. II
was so unlike Lloyd to deliberately hurt
anything.
"You are. cruelI" she said, indig-
nantly.
"Not half so cruel as you. Hetty, /
had no idea you were so heartless and
mercenary."
The word escaped him unawares.
Hetty flushed hotly.
"df that is your opinion of me you
ought to be glad to haye fourid me ont
in time, she said.
Perhaps ought" he retorted, bit
terly.
"Then I hope you will be satisfied
as / am |"
She gathered up the skirt of her blue
lawn dress and turned away. Lloyd
passed through the gate and walked by
her side along the grassy meadow-path.
~ didn't mean to offend you, Het-
ty," he said, in more subdued tone.
~ am not offended. 1 don't in the
least care for your opinion of me-" re-
Piled sHetty, biting her lip and turning
away her face that he might not see the
tears in her eyes.
They had reached point where the
pathway branched right and left, and
coming along the latter was portly,
Acknowledgement, middle-aged man,
twirling cane, with which he was de-
capitating the tall weeds and field
daisies. On catching sight OF Hetty he
quickened his pace.
Mr.. Frisbee will SEQ me home. I
won't trouble You further, Mr.. Sutton, Z"
said Hetty, with an air OF great dignity,
as she took o step to the left.
Now, this left-hand track was the
most direct and frequented way to
Hetty's home; but the right hand path
way, leading along the little stream and
alder hedge, had ever been the fayorite
with herself and Lloyd.
The young man paused now, and
standing just where the two diverged,
said, in low tone, agitated, yet full OF
decision:
Hetty. decide now, once for all |
Will you keep on with me down this
path, or will you go with Mr.. Frisbee on
the other? Choosel"
She hesitated, and her color went
and came.
"You have no right to speak to me
So"
81 have a right" lie hereplied, firmly
"the right to know whether the girl l
love is false or true"
Hetty. like Lloyd, was high-spirited,
and his look and tone angered her.
go your own way, and will 60
mine r she said. proudly.
And without another word she turned
down thepsthway by which Mr. Frisbec
vss ssspvroaching.
Lloyd, as he reached the gate, turned
back to look at the two figures slowly
sauntering along the green meadow.
could never have dreamed il OF
her." he thought. 81 believed she loved
me. md to cast me of for fellow
Ike that, whose greatest recommenda-
3ibn Is his wealth Oh, Hetty, that /
should have been SO mistaken in You r.
And MIR. Frisbee, as he walked by
Hettysside, admiring her girlish beauty
and her pretty, coquettish ways. and
thinking how he would "shoW of" his