News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-02-22
The Skeleton in the Family.

The day had been set, and ere another
moon should wax and wane, these two
hearts would be welded together in the
golden bonds of wedlock.
How sesaphic is loves young dream
the dream of two affianced souls
Thomas never tired of telling his dea
Lucinda of the brave plans he had laid
to make her the happiest little wife IL
BeanviIIe. He had already engaged
room in an aristocratic quarter, i'll close
proximity to the roof, whence, rs he was
fond of reminding her, she would have
the grandest of views, including the
church steeples. the roofs of all the
houses within a radius Of twenty feet
and chimneys almost without number
and he knew where he could purchase
secondhand furniture ON the installment
plan, and her boudoir-his mother per.
sisted in calling it a garret-should be
furnished with an opulent splendor fit fol
the loveliest queen of Oriental romance.
And I, Lucie dearest, hewould add as
a clincher, Il, Lucie, will forever be
your faithful and devoted slave"
And thus flowed on their happy lives
in one broad, gladstone stream.
But, alas true love never runs smooth,
and why should theirs be the exception
to prove the rule?
1t was not to be !
On the evening when our story opens,
Lucinda's excited air, her flushed checks
and shimmerng eyes betokened I'M
wonted emotion. What was it that was
burning at her hearts core. like funeral
pyre? What could it be but a secret?
Yes. she had a secret, and nobody neal
to share it.
Presently the door-beIl rang. It was
Thomas's ring; she knew it instinctively.
She also knew it from the fact that she
was peering through the blinds at the
moment and saw who it was as he
mounted the front steps, thirteen at a
time.
In another moment they were locked
in each others arms.
More rapidly than it takes to tell it
they were in the big armchair, and Lu-
cinda had said:
ooh, Tom, I've got secret. I've sworn
not to divulge it even to you.
And then she told it to him.
Pa had made his will, and had left his
entire property, old junk and all, to
Lucinda and Thomas, share and share
alike.
But instead of the Joy that Lucinda
had expected to see in the face of her
lover, Thomas turned deadly pale.
He disengaged himself from the fond
embrace of his dear one, and rising
hastily, and reaching for his hat, he MUIR
INJURED in sepuIchral cadence:
cit must not be-"
ooh, do not speak thus!" exclaimed
the alarmed Lucinda. ''Pray, Tom,
darling, what is the matter? You are
not we'll Let me run for the catnip =
"Nay," said Thomas sternly, grasping
Lucinda by the arm; "nay, it is not
that Catnip cannot reach my case.
Then, giving her a searching glance,
he shouted:
"LUcinda, farewell I love you too
well to make your life forever miserable
[ had thought that our lives might flow
on together forever, and that no clouds
should darken the heaven OF our common
bliss. But fate has determined it other
wise. Know you not that this will is the
golden chalice that has poisoned our
hopes and killed our happiness? A viii
is but another name for lawsuit, and I'M
Ter the bancful influence Of this legacy
yanishes forever boudoir, secondhand
furniture, roofs, chimney-pots and thee !
[ am accursed! Farewell!"-BoSton
Transcript.