The Baltimore County union., 1882-12-02
WHAT BECAME OF HER.
nv HELEN FORREST GRAVES.

There was 4 great commotion IN Fox
vile when old ParsonFox died.
!; was nc; only because he was the
pioneer of the place, having come there
when the woods were one primeval mass
OF green, and himself having erected
the old stone parsonage around which
the thriving village had grown up with
almost incredible rapidity.
Il was not that he had preached the
gospel to them for four. and forty years;
il was not that his footsteps had been
instant on every threshold where sick
ness came or sorrow brooded.
All this had been received as 4 matter
Of course, and forgotten as soon as the
necessities were past.
But il was because Foxville curiosity
was on the gHi sfre about Joanna, his
grandchild, the sole remaining blossom
on the gnarled old family tree who was
left quite unprovided for.
al declare to goodness" said Mrs.
Emmons, 'I don't know what is to be-
come of that girl -
"She hain't no faculty." said Sabina
Sexton, the village dressmaker "and
never had"
"Books possessed no charm TO her -
sighed Miss Dodge, who taught the
Foxville district school. "She always
cried over her parsing rhetoric, and !
never could make her understand cube
root u
"There's no denyin' that the old
minister was as near saint rs We often
see in this world" said Mrs. Luke
Lockedge, piously. "But he hadn',
ought to let Joanna run loose in the
woods and fields the way he did. Why,
| don't s'pose she ever made 4 shirt OF
fried 4 batch OF frit,ers in her life -
as it true" said Miss Dodge, peer.
ing inquisitively up under her spectacle
glasses, "that she is engaged to your
Simon, Mrs. Lockedge ?"
Mrs. Lockcdge closed her mouth,
shook her head and knitted away until
her needles shone like forked lightning.
"Simon's like all other young men,
Miss Dodge" said she-"took by :
pretty face and pair o. bright eyes
And they set on the same bench Al
school. And as long as We s'posed
Parson Fox had left property why there
wasn't no objection. But there WASH
nothing-no, even life insurance. SC
I've talked TO Simon and made hin
hear reason. There can't nobody liy,
on air !"
"But that's ruther hard on Joanna
amt itl" said Mrs. Emmons, with :
little sympathetic wheeze.
"Reason is reason," Mrs. Lockedg,
answered. "My Simon will have prop
erty and the girl he marries must hav,
suthin' to match it,"
So that Joanna Fox, sitting listlessl,
in her black dress by the window, whcr,
the scent of June honeysuckles aos:ee
sweetly in, and trying to realize that sh,
was alone in the world, had divers anC
sundry visitors that day.
The first was Simon Lockedge, look
ing as II his GRAND were somehow con
nected with grand larceny.
Joanna started up, her wan face bright
ening. She was only sixtecn-a brown
haired. brown-eyed girl with solemn
red mouth and round, white throat
banded with black velvet.
"Oh, Simon," she cried, al knew
you would come when you heard-'
Simon Lockedge wriggled uneasil,
into seat, instead Of advancing to clasI
her outstretched hand.
EYES," said he. "Of courseit' s verl
sad, Joanna, and I'm awfully sorry 70
you. But"
Joanna stood still, her face hardening
into a cold, white mask, her hands fall
ing to her side.
"Yes," said she. "You were say
ing"
"It's mother !" guilty conEsset
Simon. ga fellow can't go against hi
own mother, you know. She says IL
nonsense our engagement, and vi
shouldn't have anything to live on
And So" with final twist, "we'd bet
ter consider il all over. That's tn
sense Of the matter-now amt il Joan
ma"
She did not answer.
"I'm awfully sorry, "stuttered Simon
al always set a deal Of store by you
Joanna"
"Did your" she said bitterly. "On
would scarcely have thought it."
"And you know, Joanna" he added
awkwardly, mindfulo Of his mother'sdrill
"when poverty comes in at the door
love flies out Of the window !"
Joanna smiled scornfully.
'It seems" said she, ''that love doe
4 nof alwavx wait for that