The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-06-09

| sue almost expected to find some one
waiting for her: but all was still and
desolate.
! They were dreary weeks that followed
the more dreary that she found
heavy mortgage lay on the farm, and
that when all things were cleared up,
there would be left to her but few hun
dred dollars. ......... 49,. --~
| "He will not care" she murmured.
1T Will prove his love for me the more"
The week after the funeral, set in the
| first heavy snow-storm, and the papers
told how it had spread from one end of
the country to the other.
Lena was almost barricaded in her
lonely home, but she sat all day, with
| folded hands. looking upon the soft.
| feathery flakes - watching the drifts
grow higher and higher-and knew that
it was all bringing summer to her heart
The neighbors came to take her in
their sleighs, when the sun peeped out
| again and all the earth was wrapped in
its white mantle. They said that her
checks were pale and her hands fever
lsh, and that she must have more of this
clear, bracing air.
But she shook her head and refused
to go. Could she leave the house, when
at any moment he might come? Besides.
she had sent to him paper with the
announcement of her fathers death, and
this must surely hasten him.
But day succeeded day, until week
followed week, and still he neither came
nor sent her word. The snow-clouds
had formed and fallen many times, and
each time her heart grew sick with long
ing.
She loved him so wholly, she trusted
him SO completely that she Thought only
sickness or death could have Kept him
from her. w. D, '........
The hours dragged very slowly. Her
little studio was neglected She sat all
day, and every day, beside the window,
until one morning she wakened to know
that the first robin had returned, and
the first breath of spring was in the air.
He had failed to keep his promise to
her.
That same day they told her that the
farm must be sold. Many neighbors
offered her home, but she declined
them all. ..,.
A sudden resolution came to her. She
would go to the city where he lived.
Her pride forbade her seeking him, but
maybe, If he were not dead, as she often
feared, she might one day meet him in
the street, or at least hear some news of
him.
The hope of meeting him-of hearing
him-vanished, when she found herself
IN the great metropolis, and realized it's
size and immensity.
with good, motherly woman, but her
purse was growing scanty, and she could
not tell how long it might hold out, I'M
less she could find some means of sup.
port, when one day, sauntering idly on
the street, glancing into shop window,
she saw some fancy articles, painted by
hand.
Gathering up her courage, she went in
and asked If there was sale for that sort
Of work, and if she might be allowed to
test her skill.
From that hour all dread of want van
ished, and, now that hands were busy,
she found less time to brood and think.
''I want fan painted" the man said
to her, one day. ''You may make an
original design, but it must be very
beautiful"
Lena's heart had been very sad all day,
as, at evening, she unfolded the satin,
and sat down, brush in hand, TO fulfill
this latest order. ,
'It is gift to an expectant BRIDE"
the shopkeeper had said; and the words
had, recalled all the long waiting, the
weary disappointment, those words
might bring.
And, as she thought, she sketched,
and the hours crept on and the evening
grew into night, and the night into
morning, and still she bent over her
work, silent, engrossed.
I 1
given the order for the fan sauntered into
the store. With an air of pardonable
satisfaction, the man drew it from the
box.
"The young artist has outdone herself,
sir" he said. "I never saw more
beautiful piece of work, and the design
is entirely her own. /"
But he checked his sentence.
The gentleman had taken the fan in
his hands, and was examining it with
startled eyes, and face from which every
trace of color had fed.
Gould it be that the word Nemesis
was painted upon the satin? No, this
was all he saw. On one side was O.
woodland scene, while, seated on log
beneath the leafy branches of an old
oak, we're two figures, one o man, and
one q woman. His arm was about her
waist. Her lips seemed to move, her
whole expression was full of love and
trust, and his of promise. A little laugh
ing stream ripppled at their feet. A
bird sang overhead.
Where had he seen just such q scene
before? He turned the fan on the other
side. Summer. had vanished. It was
winter here. Naught but the fast-falling
snow drifting in white heaps upon the
earth. 1882
= "Who painted thisP" he asked, in
hoarse, changed tones.
The man gave the name and address
How we'll he had known i'll but how
came Vlona sharhO AL .,l,oL ...., Al =