, 1882-06-23

| bond DrOtner saved tlne AFTER tllne
from ruin, an old clerk living on a
little pension, a disabled washer
woman coming for her weekly rent
and fuel, little ragged beggars
clothed, hungry ones fed, small char
tiles where the left hand knew not
where the right hand gave She
crossed the room and pressed her
lips upon the face that goodness had
made beautiful in her eyes for forty
long years.
"Your wife and child can never be
poor" she said, lovingly. The
bread you have cast upon the waters
will come back. Even Wilfred
Mansfield owes his first start in bust
ness to your influence and money. "
He has paid me back all L l",ned
him.. ~
Very true. But you did loan it
when he had an opportunity to pur-
chase his present business that, but
for you, he must have let pass by
him."
"Tut tut ! Let him make Mag
gle happy, and he vii. owe me moth
ing. Half-past nine What do you
mean, Mrs. Clinton, by keeping me
from the store till this time of day?"
Perhaps Maggie Clinton guessed
at the news which formed the sub
ject of conversation between her
parents on st. Valentines Day. She
had carried her gift from the patron
saint of lovers to her own room, and
read the verses there in a murmur-
ing tone, dwelling upon the fond
words with lingering emphasis, She
was not a beauty, she was not an
heiress. Her accomplishments were
summed up by a limited knowledge
of the piano forte and the gift of
singing ballads in a sweet but not
very powerful voice. Her education
had been carefully superintended by
her father, and she was thoroughly
grounded in her own language, a
fair German scholar, and well read
for her eighteen years. But you
might go in many homes before you
would find a neater housekeeper, a
daintier seamstress, or a more low
able maiden than Maggie Clinton.
Her pretty little figure was always
neatly dressed, though Maggie had
never owned more than one silk dress
at time in her life. She had soft,
brown hair large, blue eyes a nice,
fair complexion and, with no pre-
tensions to positive beauty, was as
pretty and winsome a maiden as ever
was coveted by a loving heart to
brighten home, Wilfred Mansfield,
though ten years the senior of Mag
gle, had never seen a face that was
so lovely in his eyes and with his
whole, honest, loyal heart he loved
her, hoping for no greater happiness
than to win her from her own home,
to make sunshine in the one he pro
posed buying. He had saved enough
from his business expenses to buy a
small house and furnish it, and there
he hoped to see Maggie preside, his
own loved and honored wife.
At the same hour when Maggie
was for once neglecting her house
hold duties, to dream over her Valen-
tine, Wilfred Mansfield was return
ing from business errand to his own
store. He was thinking Of the mo-
mentous question he meant to ask a
few hours later, and his cheek
burned and heart thrilled as he
thought of his answer. His ladylove
was no coquette. Modest and maid
enly, with no boldness of manner or
speech, she had yet all unconsciously
betrayed in her soft, blue eyes and
pretty bushes how pleasant the soci-
ETY. of Wilfred had become to her,
and though no coxcomb, he felt that
his wooing would have as fair a
chance of success as he hoped for.
He knew Maggie would have but
small dowry if any, for Mr. Clinton
made no secret of the fact that his
savings were very small. Maggie
was the youngest of nine children,
and the only one living to gladden.
her parents hearts. One after an
other, at different ages, and often
after long and expensive illness, her
brothers and sisters had been taken
away before she had ever known
their love, for her parents had bur
led the eighth child before Maggie
was born. She had been literally
the child of their old age, and Viii
fred Mansfield deeply appreciated
the honor paid to his own worth in
his old friends cordial approval Of
his suit.
He was full of happy, hopeful
thoughts, when a sudden revulsion
of feeling was caused by an alarm of
fire and the sight Of men running in
the direction of Mr.. Clinton's store.
He hestened his own footsteps to
find his worst fears realized. The
store was wrapt in flames, and q
horror stricken whisper was circu-
lating that the old gentleman was
still in the building. He had been
active in helping to remove some
portion of the stock, but had impru-
IDENTIFY gone back to seek box in the