The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-01-05

had sprung up an intimacy between
the two which now seemed destined
to disturb their peate of mind. Lilo.
mel had stayed on. taking up his quar-
tiers ut neighboring farmhouse, and
feeling it week by week more difficult
to tear himself away, yet. happily,
finding with the weeks an added
stimulus to woik, as if his
very bread depended upon
his lahers-as, indeed, it almost did.
During those four months, it is scarce
ly necessary to observe, his steps had
tended frequently toward Bella Luce.
The doctor, good mal-was it because
of the inornate affection the young
fellow had conceived for ancient re-
mains ?-had taken to him marvel
ously, and 80 far from discouraging
his visits had encouraged them. Thus
it fell out that Doris and he had seen
much Of one another; and to see much
of Doris was to love her.
Lionel was not long in making this
discovery; and as he sat at work in the
little room he had fitted up as his
studio, his brain would often be busy
in the evolution of day-dreams. Though
the little income he was making was,
he knew, painfully diminutive as in
comes went, he nevertheless d d not ig-
nobly rail against fortune, but set him
self manfully to redress her deficiencies
in so far as regarded himself.
And if thou lowest me rs l love
thee, we require little else" he would
say, half aloud, as his hand would fall
to his side, and he would bend in a
sudden accession of tenderness over
the picture which he was thinning
Doris fair form. "Love will make
our cottage pleasant; and l love thee
more than life" But then he wasn't
lord of Burleigh, as he would little
ruefully reflect, and the only acres he
had to offer her were few acres of
rather indifferently painted canvas.
/" But the hand, lady, shall grow
stronger as the days pass on" he
would continue, still apostrophising
the picture; and judging from the
draughtsmanship, it really did begin
to look as if the hand were growing
stronger. The picture bore for title
Good Advice" and was being
painted surreptitiously.
Its subject was the Lady Doris Civ
ing admonitiOn, out of the fullness of
her experience of the world, to her
little handmade, Lizzie Syvret, daugh-
ter of David, who was about to leave
her on domestic service in the great
city of st. Peter Port-DOris, supple,
sylph-like, with her hazel eyes full of
wisdom looking well into the future;
Lizzie, reverential and receptive, in the
crispest and daintiest of mop caps,
kerchiefs and aprons; the two wend-
ing their way through the water-lane
which skirts the garden of Bella Luce;
their setting, a tangled wealth of dog
rose and bramble--emblematic. may
hap, of the thorns to be carefully
avoided in little Lizzie's path.
But to return to the Lively Polly,
which, coquetting with each wavelet
as she scatters it into spray, sensibly
nears the shore. David is sitting for
ward, meditatively putting a pipe of
honeydew, while Lionel, with his hand
resting on the tiller, is directing the
course of the boat, and, Judging from
his expression of dreamy abstraction,
is still lost in the revere which con-
Germs the Guernsey Lily. Suddenly
addressing his companion, he exclaims,
solemnly:
david, the masterpiece shall be I'M
yelled to your eye this evening The
private view shall take place"
What, the pictur', sir" asks
David, removing his pipe from his
mouth in Difference to the subject.
"The picture, David, the picture;
and if your little daughter and Miss
Doris don't walk before you to the life,
why-rip the canvas from the frame
and trice it up as new top-s'l for the
Lively Polly"
Thank'ee. Master Lionel" replies
David, looking well pleased whether
at the invitation to the private view or
the prospect of the new top-sail, does
not appear. After a pause he adds,
regretfully:" How Lizzie will miss her,
sir !"
"Nay, David" says the younger
man, with quick sympathy, 1--WE
mustn't call it a parting. Miss Doris
will be often getting over to see the
little woman. What, after all, is five
miles? ?"
David slowly withdraws his pipe
from his mouth, and, gazing across to
Lionel with face which betokens
wonder tempered with incredulity,
gasps out :
why, hast thou not heard the news,
lad?"
News? No, what news? How
could /? I've been staying away at
Ancresse for the last two days"
David gives vent to a long, low wills
tie, and leans forward:
Why, the news is just this, sir:
Somebody or another that nobody's
ever heared on afore has gone and
died, and the doctors come in for
thousands upon thousands O. pounds!"
he says, in a sepulchral whisper
Thousands and thousands AS soon
as l heard what folks said, / upped