The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-12-22

JuTueu MISS I1JOh3 hOO FSA y "CiA PAS1''~N
with the mans manner
The driver muttered something to HIM
self, banged the tin trunk down on the
roof of the cab, and drove off in huff.
Il wish there had been another cab, "
thought Laurette Lyon, uneasily, as she
leaned back in her seat. II don't like this
driver at all. | wonder if he is drunk. !
hope Mr. Mansfield will be at home when
I reach Tivoli will ask him to pay him
for me.
In the meantime the cab was progressing
as rapidly through the crowded, slippery
streets as could reasonably be expected, and
Laurette began to look about her. Eight
years had passed since she had visited
Bristol, under circumstances very different
from the present Then her father had
been her companion; they had stayed at
fashionable hotel and money had been plen-
tiful. Now she was an orphan, a lonely,
hard working governess, going to spend
Christmas with an old school friend who
had been recently married. Laurette did
not like Christmas To her it was time
haunted with sad memories. Every year
as Christmas Eve came round the picture
of a certain Christmas Eve long ago rose
up before her eyes. She could see it all.
The pretty drawing-room, lighted only by
the Pickering fire, in the roomy old house
at Blackheath; and Herbert Lindsays ear
nest face as he asked her to be his wife.
How happy they were that evening, and
how eager Herbert had been to ask DIR.
Lyons consent, never dreaming of refusal
They had sat side By side hopefully plan
ming for the future and listening between
whiles for her fathers STEP And when
they heard him enter the house and cross
the hall to his study Herbert had raised
up at once, anxious to get the interview
over and return to her.
'Give me one kiss before | so, Lau-
rette, y he said.
But she had laughingly refused him.
81 will owe it to you, she had said,
kissing her hand to him as he turned to
look at her as he left the room.
And she had never seen him since.
The interview proved to be long, and,
alas. a stormy one Dr. Lyon refused
Herbert's offer in harsh, almost insulting
terms; and the young man, deeply wounded
and mortified, had hastily left the house,
and shortly afterwards quilted the country
for Australia But before sailing he had
written once to Laurette.
GAS your father sets such high value
on money" he wrote, II have resigned my
situation, and am going out to Australia to
make my fortune. It will be long pro-
cess, fear, but strong will and stout
| heart can do much, and | shall not want
for these if | am assured of your faith,
Laurette. Will you be true to nae, as |
shall eyer be to you, even though years
pass before you hear from me again, for |
shall not write unless [ baye good news to
send Think well before you answer, and
do not promise unless you can do so freely
and with your whole heart. 1t is no light
thing that ask, and it may, and probably
will, involve years of weary waiting. If
you have any doubt of your own feelings,
of your own strength, beseech you tell
me now. Remember, your promise once
given, shall believe in it implicitly, and
on the strength of it build all my future
happiness. y
To this Laurette had answered simply
II love you dearly, and as long as live |
will be true to you
Tyo years later, on Christmas Eve, Dr.
Lyon died suddenly His daughter, in
common with most persons who knew him,
had imagined him to be wealthy man
but after his death it was discovered that
he had lived far beyond his means, and
when all claims were satisfied paltry f20
year was all that remained for Laurette.
1t Is a bard thing for any girl brought
up in ease aad idleaess to be suddenl
turned ont of luxurious home and COM
PEELED to earn her own living as best she
may Fortunately Miss Lyon was a girl
of sense and resolution, and she had at once
bravely faced the position; and though her
heart ached for her fathers loss and she
keenly felt the change of circumstances,
she had nevertheless calmly accepted the
inevitable, and had taken, without ado, the
first situation that offered Eight years
ago tonight DR.. Lyon died, and for eight
years Laurette had been working hard as
daily or resident governess. Ten years
had rolled away since she and Herbert
parted, and all that time no news of him
had reached heT, How she had thought
and dreamed of him, and longed with
heart-longing for letter. But &c letter
had ever come, and year by year hope
waned in her breast and now it was well
nigh dead II shall never see him again.
she Thought "He is dead, | know, or he
must have had some good news to send me
all these long years. She had kept her
faith to him inviolate. 1t is an easy thing
to be true TO aB absent lover if no lover at
your side tempts you to bFeak your word.
But Laurette's faith had been tried by
temptation, and her quiet "no' had been
so decided that no aspirant for her hand
had ever ventured to repeat his offer.
This visit at Bristol had quickened many
old recollections, and her thoughts this
Christmas Eye were sadder even than usual.
Wrapped in her own reflections, she did
not see how far she had proceeded on her
way to Stoke Bishop, or how slowly the
cab was progressing.
As before stated, it was a bitterly cold
night Rain had fallen in the afternoon,
aud before the ground had had time to dry
the wind changed, and it had begun to
freeze and was freezing still. and all the
country roads were like glass. In the
beaten Bristol thoroughfares and along
White Ladies road progress was fairly
easy; but having climbed the steep bit of
hill at Redland and gained the level of the
down that stretched between that and the
pretty village of Stoke it became difficult
for the horse to stand, and when about
halfway across the down, to Laurette's
great surprise, the cabman suddenly pulled
up, and, getting down, opened the cab
door.
''You must get out, he said, roughly.
sect out" repeated Miss Lyon, in as
tonishment. "Why, this is not Stoke
Bishop. We are not more than halfway
across the down.
II know where | am well enough, but
l can't take you a step further. My 'Orse
can't keep is feet, and I'm not a-going to
ave is knees broke, and is neck, too.
pr APPS, for anybody.
'Do you mean to say that you intend to
leave me with my luggage here, in the
middle of the down." asked Laurette,
4 quietly. .tAnd at this time of the even