Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1882-10-05
MISS Ii A RICO Rw )
LOVER.

at looks as if it were going TO snow
for weeks, Miss Elizabeth" said old
Gregory, as he touched his hat and
hobbled down the icy pathway as fast
as rheumatism and old age would per-
NIT him.
Miss Elizabeth looked down into the
old English garden, with the tangled
mass of shrubbery covered with snow,
and a mist came over her eyes.
A week! The slim white fingers
closed tightly over the yellow envelope
clasped in her hand. and as she turned
away from the door a tear 'plashed
down upon it.
In just one week the mortgage would
be foreclosed, the letter said, and UNI
less the amount could be raised in the
meanwhile, the dear old house where
she was born must pass into the hands
of strangers.
The investments that her nephew
made for her all proved failures, and
when, FIVE years ago, he had come bust
ling up from London and told her that
this mortgage would save her fortune,
she sigred her name to the paper, and
for while all seemed well.
How foolish she had been! Why
had she not asked more about it?
Ralph Morgan had paid the interest for
her as it came due, until two years ago,
when she received word from him, and
he had decided to go to Australia.
That was all. Miss Elizabeth had
seen very little of him. He was the
only child of her sister. When the IA
ther died, the property divided between
the sisters. Margaret took her share in
money, and went, with her husband and
child, to live in London, where she died
soon after.
Elizabeth had never left the old
homestead. and with proper manage
ment, there would never have been any
need to do so but now-she had made
another mistake.
The old clock was ticking loudly in
the great wide hall as she slowly went
up the stairs to the pleasant room where
she had spent her lifetime.
81 anu always making mistakes" she
noaned, drearily, as she threw herself
on the little white bed. "Sixteen years
ago to-day made one, and now l have
made another"
There were no tears now in the dark
gray eyes, only tired look that strang-
ers would wonder at; for if ever wom-
an was envied in that village Elizabeth
Harcourt was.
"She has everything one could wish
for" poor folks said, "but she is too good
with it all.
| How could they know of the business
worries, and the pinching economy, the
] aching heart that the sweet, calm face
never showed?
| Elizabeth Harcourt was a proud
woman, and in years gone by, had been
a hasty one; and now in the quiet of
her room, her thoughts went back ia
long ago when, in her hot temper, she
told Jack Rainsford she never wished
to see his face again. How could he
know that in the morning she would
have given worlds to unsay the words
1t had started like most quarrels
with such a little thingl But he had
taken her at her word, and one week
from the night she gave him back his
ring he sailed for India, and she had
never seen him since
She did not think he would stay
away, put in the meanwhile, no one
should ever know she cared at all SC
she laughed and talked more blithely
than ever, and grew prettier every day
until every one said she never had cared
for him and away off in hot Calcutta
Jack Rainsford heard it and his heart
grew hard and bitter.
A year went by and he did not come
back then she promised to marry Phi
lip Dinsmore. After that she was gayel
Than ever, until the wedding day was
fixed, and the villagers talking of the
grand match, she broke it off with him
Nobody ever knew why, except Philip
Dinsmore. If he had been less grand
and noble than he was she might have
married him but looking into those
pure eyes of his, she could not take a
lie Oh her lips. So she told him with
bitter tears how the face of her absent
lover came between her and any one
else.
Brave Philip Dinsmorel AS he lis
tened, whittier and whittier grew his face;
but when she had finished, he stopped
and kissed the sweet red lips for the
last time. In all the world he knew he
would never love another woman as he
loved Beth Harcourt, and it was a
grander love than she had before.
81 am going to India on business
next month, Beth" he wrote to her af-
terward, "and if can, / will find Jack
Rainsford." So he sailed away-and
the ship was lost, and Philip Dinsmore
never reached Jack Rainsford.
After that Elizabeth Harcourt was
never the same; and as the years rolled
on, she was left alone with faithful
servants in the old stone house. Some
body said that Mr.. Rainsford married
the daughter of rich merchant, but
he never came back. Something had
gone from her life with each year, and
now, at forty, the very last thing had
come, and the old home was to 20.
No wonder, on that winter morning
Elizabeth Harcourt was i'm despair!
She had so much to bear! From that
night that Jack Rainsford left her in
anger she had never really been happy
again. That hot temper her mother
had warned her against---ahl it had
been cooled since then. No one who
saw her bending quietly over the sick
- l.. a - A.