Saint Mary's beacon., 1883-03-01

He put out his finger geatly, eau
tiously. and tOnchsd the laces of dress
tentatively. o . man might touch .
flower or o butterfly.
Pretty frOck, isn't il r said L0ttie,
carelsssly. I pat it On On purpose 30
come and zee You
1t must have cost q great deal.
said Dunstan Reade. trying to look
stern again.
LOttie shrugged her shoulders.
I don't know; papa has the bill.
| never think Of that. like to have
pretty things about me, don't you 3
Dunstan looked up into her bright
young face. and sort Of glow spread
over his own.
! think so.' he said; but I dom.
know much about It.
No? Well, that Is another thino
| shall teach Yon, Mr.. Reade; look At
that butterfly that has come in throuch
the open window-there is something
for you to look at. you know. And
you are coming to dinner, are you
not |?
Yes. if yOu really wish it, said Mr..
Reade. quite meekly.
Timothy, ! am going out to dinner
tonight, said the missr to his ser.
want.
Mercy on us + calculated Timothy.
fairly staggering back against the
wall.
Go and look mp in the lumber
room. in the third black box beneath
the skeleton-case,' continued Mr..
Reade, sternly frowning, and you will
find a mulberry velvet evening suit
OF clothes and knee-breeches, stock
ings and buckle-shoes-gO and find
them, You stupid and don't stand
gaping there /
An angry stamp of the foot sent
Timothy flying up to the attic after
the mulberry suit.
Papa, Mr.. Reade is coming to din
ner said Lottie to her father that
afternoon.
mol exclaimed Mr.. Har6eld. WHY.
what witch you are, Lottie Good
gracious, child, what am TO talk to
the old mummy about p added the
worthy doctor in despair.
Chemistry, papa. / have found
out that it is his hobby; and give him
the best claret you have in the cell
lar
How on earth did you do it, child?'
cried her father.
'Ireaily can tell you, papa, laughed
Lottie. L cnly talked to him as if he
were rational being. He is only a
poor, cross. lonely old man, who wants
a little kindness to bring him out of
his narrow, selfish life.'
The evening came. Mr.. Reade,
very shy and very subdued, appeared
duly in the mulberry suit. He had
shaved and brushed himself with
care that had been unknown to him
for years; and his timid look at Lot
tie as he came in nearly made her IA
ther laugh.
That child, said the doctor TO him
self, could tame a bear If she tried +
Lottie nodded and smiled at her
guest, and when the dinner was an
nounced, came up to him and led him
into the next room herself.
Mr. Har6eld, although a hard
working medical man, had also large in
dependent means of his own; he pur-
sued his profession as an occupation
rather than a necessity. Everything
IN his house and at his table was OF
the best, and, thanks to Lottie. eve
rything was also of the most refined
The flowers, the silver dishes, the gilt
ter of the glass and china, so bewil-
dered our friend Dunstan Reade that
he was quite meek and amicable, and
as to the talk about acknowledgement a
bit of it all he did was to gaze at
Lottie adoringly, much to her faith
ers amusement.
The sight of her in her fresh young
beauty carried him back years of his
life, and bridged over a vast yawning
space OF hideous misery and self
absorption. She reminded him of
some one In the past vistas of his life
some one who had been gentle and
tender to him before his face was
wrinkled, or his heart grown hard
some one who bad smiled at him, and
had been kind. and yet who had
turned from his love and all his wealth
to marry his penniless cousin, and
that was what had turned old Dun
stan into such a man as he was now.
And Lottie, heaven bless her was
like that faded idol Of his youth-not
In her face, but in something indiscri-
bable IN her sweetness and frankness.
In the daintiness Of her dress aud the
faint perfume OF violets that her pre-
sence gave forth.
The old man was quite softened and
gentle; he did not say one hard or nm
kind word; and he tried 50 hard TO
behave well at the dinner table. and
to polish up his long-dormant man
ners, that the effort was almost pain
fully evident to his host.
Then, after dinner, DIR. HarfeId
was summoned away to patient. and
Dunstan Rsade and LOttie were left
alone.
The old man got up and came and
stood meekly by the side Of her chair,
and timidly taking the little white
hand, he raised it to his lips.
1 have been 9 very bad man, nv
dear, he said. tremblingly; but / am
not quite 90 wicked, perhaps. As eve
rybody thinks.
OF course not. said Lottie, cheer
fully. nobody is really bad but her