The Penn's Grove record., 1883-08-18

shall never marry me because he pities
me. | would | rather kill myself first ]"
with violence.
Then, with pitiful cry
81 will run away ~ 1 ca~nnot--I
viii not-see him againi"
And actually the impulsive, morbid
ly-sensitive, undisciplined girl sprang
to her feet, ran into the back hallway,
snatched a shawl and hat, and turned
her back on the only home she knew.
1t was not SO hard she had never
loved it. She went rapidly down the
green road until the stage overlook her,
when she sprang aboard with satisfac-
ton, seeing the chimneys of Mulberry
Cottage disappear in the distance.
Tessie had passed about two years in
the city. Beyond almost Immediately
Sc ending a note to her uncle that she
was well and at work copying music
that she hoped he would forgive her
for leaving him, but she could not do
otherwise-she had had no communica-
ton with her old home.
She had fortunately been found useful
in a music publishers establishment.
She earned her bread, and ate it moist
ened with tears, but she never ceased
to feel joy that Alan Dunleith had not
married her for pity. The energy of
earning her livelihood improved her.
She gained confidence, force, color.
MI. Thorne, her employer, fancied
| her looks, heard her voice at last and
paid her unusual attention, in which
| there would have been no harm if he had
been faultless. But his money covered
a multitude of sins, and one day Tessie
slipped from his employ and his
knowledge, and, innocent and safe,
went to reside with an old woman
| who had nursed her mother in her last
| sickness-an humble but honest old
creature, to whom Tessie gave her
confidence, while aunt Gale gave her a
home.
"You're a good, brave girl, that your
mother'd be proud of this day, if she
were alive, Miss Tessie, " she said ''and
Heaven bless the day that you found
me out, for / need your bright face
sorely."
And now Tessie went out by the day,
giving music lessons. She liked this
better. She made acquaintance, found
variety, yet kept herself intact from
the world. She had a strange joy,
which she hardly understood, when
people complimented her on her beauty,
her grace, her tact. In these direc-
lions she had advanced much. She
was an elegant and intelligent gill,
very different from what she had been,
and she knew it. Musical people cult
waited her. She went out, and aunt
Gale constituted herself a sort of dra-
gon, and wa always on hand to see her
safely home.
"Miss Tessie Verney's maid, people
called her, though Tessie said
s'She is not servant, but an old friend
with whom 1 live"
Where Miss Verney livedno one knew
for a long time, and Mr.. Thorne,
meeting her repeatedly in society,
followed her home at a distance uE-
suspected, and learned the place of her
abode.
1t was a small, ol~d-fashioned house,
in a narrow street, but the neighbor-
hood was quite respectable, and aunt
Gale had paid for it out of her saw
! ings, and the meal left her by her
sailor-husband, and in it Tessie was Sc
cure. @sssN
lie made business an excuse and
called. But the girl in the low, old
fashioned parlor, would have none of
him. as
Her time was fully occupied-she
could undertake nothing in the way
of his pretext and, bafiied, bewitch-
ed, and determined to overcome in
difference, he came again and asked her
hand in marriage.
do not be hasty. / have Q fortune ;
you can adorn it, he said, looking into
her cold, exquisite face.
"You are going to refuse, but wait,
and let me come again. Give yourself
time to consider.n
Tessie consented to this, though
her decision she knew to be unal-
terable, even when aunt Gale wa
vered.
''Marriage-he offers you marriage,
child Well, that is an honor ; and he
is a very rich man, You tell me. Per-
haps it would be wisdom to accept.
You say no Tell me why ?" Il
knew a good man once. 1 am in
different to all Others Tessie said
quietly. And the proud Mr.. Thorne
received the politest Of dismissals.
The year passed, and another and In
other. 1t was five years since Tes-
sic, a shy girl of sixteen, had ran
away from Alan Dunleith and his
pity.
Three months later she heard of her
uncle's death. He had left her none
of his little property. He had never
intended to. She was not disappointed.
She had been glad to find the world
was wide enough for both. She was
far happier now. She and the strong
old woman mutually benefited each
other. The latter was shrewd and
faithful The young girl, with her
beauty, her music, her future, enriched
her life. She RAJ proud of her, loved
har and Taacia RAT har affacfin,