The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-09-08
us; you are such company for mother
o,o1 ,x,av

10, Jou aIo oucu cOmpdny lor mOJuer
and me-"
"Thank you, my dear. I've grown as
fond of you as if you were my own
flesh and blood. There, turn down the
light, please. Draw the curtain, dear,
and put another stick on the fire, please
1t grows chilly, doesn't itp You might
kiss me just once, if you wouldn't mind.
It's hundred years or so since any one
kissed me-"
And the next morning, when Della
carried up Mrs. Clements breakfast, her
boarder lay cold and still upon the pill
lows.
The first shock over, Della wrote to
the lawyer of whom she had heard Mrs
Clement speak as having charge of her
affairs, begging him to notify that lady's
relatives, if she had any. In reply Mr..
Willis wrote:
"The late Mrs. Clement appears to
have no near relatives. Some dis
tant cousins, who have an abundance
OF this worlds goods, yet served her
shabbily when she tested their generosi-
ty, as she has tried yours, are all that
remain of her family. In the meantime
L 1nclose you a copy of her last will and
testament, to peruse at your leisure"
"What interest does he think take
in Mrs. Clements WILL" thought Della !;
but read, nevertheless:
"Being of sound mind, this 10th day
of June, 1S-, 1, Della Rogerson Gle
ment, do hereby leave one hundred
dollars to each of my cousine; and
l bequeath the residue of my
property--viz., thirty thousand dollars
invested in the Ingot Mining company,
fifty thousand dollars in United States
bonds, twenty thousand in Fortune
Flannel mills, and my Jewels, to the
beloved niece of my first husband, John
Rogerson, Della Rogerson, of Crofts-
borough, Maine"
For ! was stranger, and ye took
me in, hungry, and ye fed me; sick and
ye ministered unto me-"
Goodness alive |" cried the neigh
bors, when the facts reached their ears.
"What a profitable thing it is.to take
boarders OF course Steve Langdon
will come and marry her, if she were
forty old maids. You may stick a pin
in therep
Della did not open her house to
boarders the next season. She found
enough to do in looking after her
money and spending it, in replying to
letters from INDECENT people, who
seemed to increase alarmingly; in re-
ceiving old friends, who suddenly found
time to remember her existence. And,
sure enough, among the rest appeared
Steve Langdon, and all the village said,
81 told you so."
cts not my fault that you and are
single yet, Della" he said.
"And we are too old to think of it
now, Steve"
Nonsense! It's never too late too
mend. I'm not rich, Della, but I've
enough for two and to spare"
81 wouldn't be contented not to
drive in my carriage and have servants
under me now," laughed Della.
"Indeed Then perhaps you have
a better match in view. Captain Sey-
mour asked me, by the way, if 1 had
come to interfere with Squire Jones
interest"
I" Yes. Squire Jones proposed to me
last week."
"Now see here, Della, have I come
all the way from Melbourne on FOOLS
erand? There I was growing used to
my misery and loneliness, when the
mail brings in a letter in strange
hand, which tells me that my dear love,
Della Rogerson, loves and dreams of
me still, is poor and alone, and needs
meme ! And the letter is signed by
her aunt, Mrs. Clement, who ought to
know, I packed my household goods
and came"
"Im glad that you did"
In order that I may congratulate
Squire Jones?"
"But 1 haven't accepted him. In
fact I've refused him-because-"
because you will marry your old
love, like the lass in the song, Della ?"
In Croftsborough people are not yet
tired of telling how a woman made
money by taking boarders.