Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1882-06-08

sisting upon our waiting until Rick
was 81 And Lefty suddenly Iemem-
bered that ever since Rick came in To
make morning cali, knowing Mrs.
Lounsberry was absent, baby had been
sitting alone in the dining-room in the
middle of the big diner liable, surround
ed by all the pickle and marmalade jars
and fruit cans and catsup bottles and
Jam pots out of the store-room. For 1t
was the monthly housekeeping day,
and the store-room fell to Letty's share,
the foreign help being gifted with too
great talent for smashing and break.
ing, to say nothing of an equally great
talent for abstracting and devouring
both sweets and sours. Lefty sprang
from the lounge, thrust her feet int
her slippers. and fastened where duty
had been calling her for some time.
Baby sat, as good as gold, nursing
bottle of tomato sauce, snugly wrapped
in a dish-towel. in the spot where she
had been when Kicks ring summoned
her sister to the door. Only one small
flask lay broken on the floor. That
won't be missed, said Lefty. Il thank
But the thank was scarcely uttered
when her eyes fell upon the last jar
of the famous peach marmalade, the
secret of the making Of which died with
grandmamma, and which was being
carefully kept for Aunt Emory's AUNT
Emory was an old maid worth $50, O0O)
birthday. There it stood directly in
front of baby, with more than half of
its thick paper hat torn of, and yawn-
ing cavity made in its precious contents
by little scooping fingers.
oh, Baby, why couldn't you have
taken any jar but thatY asked Lefty,
reproachfully and dramatically. But
Baby evidently had no excuse to offer
for not doing so, for she kept on Groom
ing to her bottle-doll, while her sister
hastily fashioned another paper hat and
tied it securely over what remained Of
the original covering.
Then said Baby, "Rick tiss I-nice
Rickp
oh, that is what he was doing when
she foolishly imagined he was waiting
for her to come and implore his forgive
ness-bidding good-by to Baby. She
might have known it, for he had al
ways loved Baby dearly
Yes, Baby; nice Rick, good Rick,
dear Rick; but, for all that, the ring he
gave me goes back to him tomorrow
unless hear from him tonight. How
dare he wish that we had never metz
But she did not hear from him that
night, and the little band of gold was
placed in Kicks hands as he left his
place of business. But ah, what silent,
sorrowful maiden wandered about the
LOunsberry dwelling thereafter! What
listless, weary voice repeated the
nursery rhymes that Baby demanded
fifty times day!
No nice-no more, said Baby, miss
gthe merry tones and the happy laugh.
But Mrs. Lounsberry was not at all dis
| pleased with the turn affairs had taken.
Broughnan Brown suited her much
better as prospective son-in-law than
Richard Creighton. One was wealthy
young brewer, the other poor clerk in
a counting house.
Lefty will soon get over it, she said
to Letty's father, whose heart ached at
the sight of his daughters sad face.
"A first-love disappointment is always
hard to bear for a while. / thought /
should have died when Stephen Ford
married my cousin, but didn't; lived
to marry you, and l have seal-skin
cloak, and Mrs. Ford hasn't even a
jacket And so BroughmaD Brown,
who was really manly, generous, good
hearted fellow, in spite of his beer and
wealth, encouraged by the maternal
head of the house, began devoting him
self in the most ardent fashion to Lefty,
and she, seeing her mothers pleasure
thereat, and hearing no word from Rick,
received his attentions in passive, I'M
responsive way.
Three months went by, and 1t was
Aunt Enory's birthday, and that &C.
centric old lady had decided to divide
it among the family. lunching with one
portion, dining with another, and sup
ping with third. The lunch party
was given at her sister Letitia's Mrs.
Lounsberry), and some half dozen old
friends and some dozen relatives were
hidden to the feast. Lefty, in sea-
gown with spray of pink hyacinths
in her hair, went quietly about well
coming her guests, Brougham Brown
following her like her shadow, until
lunch was announced. Then, taking
her place at the table, the young man
still near her, she raised the cover from
and dipped spoon into the last jar of
grandmama's famous peach marmalade
(she had had it placed before her, trust
ing to be able to hide the mischief Baby
had done), when somebody said, adj
dressing her mother: Have you heard
that Richard Creighton is going abroad
for his healthp He has given up his
situation, and sails in day or two.
They say he has failed fast lately
And the very next moment Aunt
Emory fixed her specialized eyes upon
her niece's pale face, and asked, sharp
ly: What's the matter, child? Do
you see anything dreadful in the
sweetsP