Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-07-14
ONE WAY or LOVE.

-HdFpcF9 Hetkys
ONE WAY OF LOVE.
She was q clerk in the treasury at Washing
ton on a salary Of nine hundred dollars a
year he was in the post Office enjoying the
privileges afforded by an income of twelve
hundred. Once in while there was a holi-
day, when they would take the boat down TO
Mount Vernon, If 1t was was warm, and
spread their luncheon in the shade of its his
toric trees and patronize nature as successful
ly as if they were nabobs. Sometimes they
had tickets given them for a comedy or trag-
edy, when they laughed or cried with the dis
cernment Of millionnairesa and the old famileG.
On Sunday mornings they sang in choir
and walked out to Long Bridge later in the
day, or strolled in the capitol grounds and
surprised the first violet in its hiding place.
Helen's landlady told every new boarder that
Mr.. Van Week twas going with" Miss Hill
dreth, but Miss Helen always protested that
he was merely a friend, that they were neigh
bors at home, and had gone to school togeth-
er when they were in their pinafores and the
landady always shifted when she remarked:
"If he's nothing but friend, 1 should think
there'd be q secession of his love-making
sooner or later"
One day when they were rambling about
Mount Vernon together Helen fell into ro-
mancing vein. Suppose this is my country
seat, said she, 'and have furnished it in
the Queen Anne style, and I'm entertaining
tho creme de n creme just as they do in nov
os"-
"a sort of Lady Geraldine-and am the
poor poet, eh p
can but the poetry" Knocked Helen.
"Now suppose this is my manor house."
suggested Theodore, furnished in the re-
Iat ipor 4
mand on your imaginantion-nnd I'm enter
tanning all the swells. I've lured you here on
the pretext Of looking for four -leafed clover,
but really to ask If you will share my mag
niicence with me what should you say 2"
81 should put my lessons in gymnastics into
use and Jump at the chance"
"And if should ask instead,
"Come, share my cottage, gentle maid -
DON'T" cried Helen.
He looked at her n little blankly.
"You don't mean that you care SO little for
me?"
81 don't mean anything. Don't let us talk
about marrying and giving in marriage; we
are happy enough as we are"
'But il don't marry you some other fel-
low will"
Nonsense; penniless girls are a drug in
the market. I've seen misery enough from
marrying on q small income I've seen peo-
pie living in two rooms, on water and a
crust, so to speak, doing their own work,
with no pleasures and no society, and no hope
| Of amendment; people who thought love
would tide them over all the quicksands-and
presently the hallucination wore of, but the
| quicksand remained; reproaches set in she
grew bitter and unlovely, and he morose and
neglectful'-
"Then you think love an hallucinAtion ?"
81 think marriage is a mistake ON twelve
hundred year. II l became dowdy and hadn't
| time to cultivate taste for aesthetics or what
ever was the fashionable craze, aud grew iad-
| ed and spiritless with the uncongenial task of
washing pots and kettles and stewing over a
range, and if nobody turned to look at me as
passed, one day you would find yourself disen-
chanted. Then, supposing the new admins
tration should push you out of Office even for
| a month, or you should fall ill No, we are
happy enough just as We are don't let MS
discuss marriage let US wait, like MIR. Micaw-
Der, till something turns up"
And so Van Week waited. Perhaps he was
disappointed in Helen's views, but he would
not confess 1t even to himself all women felt
so he supposed, cared moro for shadow than
substance, or mistook the one for the other
it was their poetic temperament that made
poverty hateful to them and splendor their
| natural atmosphere, and he applied himself
| llOib hAABuhAAg Ahoh NNoi " AAo AeSoi
far into the night at times.
'You were not at the Presidents last eve.
ming" one of his fellow clerks said to him
later.
81? No; should think not"
''But Miss Hildreth was there she and Mf
Sterling, NJ. c., were hand in glove. 1 heard
him ask her to go and hear 'Lohengrin' TO
morrow night"
'Mr. Sterling is in luck, was all Van Vlecl
A.. - 4 - al, a.
his heart on his sleeve for every clerk TO peel
at. If Mr.. Sterling were fascinated by Helen
it surely was no fault of hers; many maj
had been beWitched by her before this elderly
congressman, only Theodore forgot that the!
had all been needy suitors-and as for Helen
he felt as sure of her Rs of seed time and har
vest.
But on one occasion he left his work earl!
and hastened to see her a cloud of ugly ru
mors had Rssailed him and interfered with hi
tasks she should brush all the cobwebs on
of his heaven. He met her coming down tn
staircase in a white evening dress, with flow
ers in her hand-oostly exotios, such a
wealthy lovers send their sweethearts, such q
he had never dared to buy.
"Where did they come from2" he de
manded.
''They grew, 1 'spects,-like Topsy," an
swered Helen, laughing uneasily.
"Where did you get them, Helen ?"
''You are inquisitive, Mr.. Van Week. The
were sent me-"
"By Mr.. Sterling?'
''You do credit to your nationality, your
: a capital Yankee. Yes, by Mr.. Sterling,
course"
Helen" he cried beneath his breath
''Helen, are you going to marry Mr.. Ste
l ling?"
HI-I believe am, " she said dropping ht
eyes.
, Theodore never knew exactly how he foun
his way out of the house he was vaguel
aware of brushing against a stout gentlema
in fur-trimmed ulster, as he shot into Il
street, of stately carriage and pair standiI
: at the door, and dark -browed lady leanin
i out to look after him.
The next day he resigned his position
D the postoffice, drew his savings from Il
4 bank and left Washington. 1t were well, pc
7 haps, if he could put deserts and seas al
s mountain ranges between Helen and himsel
1t seemed to him as if the earth had reel'
g from its orbit, and 1t required time for him
! adjust himself to the situation. His idea W
i all that was left TO him he put into 1t all
J. earnings, he devoted heart and soul to its d
o velopment, and he finally forgot himself al
J. Helen Hildreth in his work and its success.
1t was seven or eight years later that tn
IT met, oddly enough, on the Mount Vern'
boat. Her yivacity was no longer the spo