Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-07-31
The Storp Teller.
THE BRIDAL ROBE.

The midsummer sun hung high in the
heayens-the air was sweet with newly cut
grass, and the white lilies lifted their scent
ed crests along the edge of the garden wall,
when Andrew North came whistllng up to
the ancient we'll, with his broad straw hat
pushed back from his forehead, and drew
draught of cold sparkling water IN the OLD
bucket.
He was a tall, handsome young fellow, a
very Adonis of the wilderness, with silky
black beard, eyes soft and liquid as pools of
Jet, and complexion of that rich healthy
brown, which is wooed only from summer
sunrises and wild forest winds. 1t Wasdith-
cult to imagine how he ever came to be re-
lated to the sour little old woman who was
peeling harvest apples for pies on the door
step-a woman whose cOuntenance bore an
odd family resemblance to one Of those wal.
nutshell faces which children cut out at
Christmas, and whose mouth turned mourn
fully down at both corners.
''Well, mother" said the young man,
cheerily, as he set the bucket down on the
we'll curb, Chow goes ito"
Mrs. North heaved Borean sigh.
"My dear one," said she, "this is world
of change and sorrow, Andrew"
$50 / have always heard," said Andrew,
with undiminished cheerfulness.
81 knew something was going to, hap,
H. D. L
you singing before breakfast this morning"
''Did sing, mother? ?"
"!And I says to myself, Il do hope there
amt nothing in store for us! But I've most
always noticed that when have that sort
of foreboding creep over me, something is
sure to happen"
"Well, mother, and what has happened
now ?" said Andrew, pleasantly. -.
"I was down to the store this morning."
said Mrs. North, mysteriously.
"Well, what of that ?'
II was buying a skein of carpet-thread
and two eight-ounce papers of tacks," sigh
ed Mrs. North. "And the phing ma
chine had writ out the message. And I
amt one of the peepin' and pryin' sort, and
never was; but couldn't help seein' it over
her shoulder. And it was from a young
man down in York State to Fanny Cleve-
land"
"Hush, motherv' said Andrew North,
reddening to the very roots of his hair.
sDon't tell me any more. 1t is not Tor us
to examine into Mrs. Cleveland's private
affairs"
"But it is my bounden gospel duty to tell
YOU this, Andrew" said the old lady, with
mild persistency. "No young woman has
any business to deceive man as Fanny
Cleveland is deceiving you. THE bridal
robe is finished,' was what the young man
teleeraphed. Come and see it at once !
Don't look so struck of heap" added Mrs.
North. ooh, my poor Andrew, women are
deceitful and never didput no confidence
in that Fanny Cleveland from the first mo-
ment set eyes on her at Deacon Dolph's
tea party, with her hair dressed with ropes
of pearl beads in that queer, outlandlsh
fashion, and a straight up and down black
velvet dress, when all the other company
was wearing puffs and frills and f1ounces.
Yes, YOU may depend upon it, she is going
to be married right off, and to some young
man in the millinery business. l don't
know what should ha' thought, if your
Door father had meddled with my dresses
and pelisses and caps, as men folks DO now
adays!"
But the last words of the old lady's lugu-
brious sentence were lost on the ears of her
son, as he strobe away under the apple-trees
"Poor Andrew she sighed. "I'm
afeard he'll take it hard. But its better to
find out the truth before he has got any fur
ther entangled. And never did think it
right for a widow to marry again. never
did, know, although 1've always believed
that Elder Dedlew would have proposed, II
I'd given him the least encouragement, the
And Andrew! Very different were his
thoughts as he stood out in the middle OF
the great level field, where pertumed waves
of buttercups, daisies, and delicious grass
followed the sweep of the merciless blade.
II don't believe it ~ he said aloud, as he
examined the edge of his scythe, not know
ing whether it was sharp or dull. 81 can't
beIieveit! Fanny is not woman who
And vet what fool lam" Suddenly fling
ing down the scythe.) "Is there any wo-
man in the world who is free from deceit ::
And. after all, we never have been formal
Iy engaged. loved her-and l was idiot
enou9h to believe that she loved me do
not think that l shall be likely to offend
again in that way until the end of time."'
It is very easy for q man to make up ms
mind that he will forget a woman-that he
will nut behind him for evermore all the
SoIlies and madnesses of love. But to carry
ont that resolve is quite different thing
sc moor Andrew North found to his cost.
While the old lady went around among
her friends relating the horrible story of the
photographic message" under solemn prom
ise of secrecy, and in twenty-four hours ev-
erybody in Lindenville knew all about "
that Mrs. Cleveland, the pretty young. artist
who had taken "Wild Rose Cottage was
to be married very soon, and that the bridal
dress was already completed at tashlona-
hIe emporium in New York. indeed, SO
fast did the story grow, that the very, fabric,
price and trimmings were conndelltiy ta1h. m..
ed of. And the bridegroom, IL was oolulS
asserted. was famous Man-hlillner IN the
GREAT metropolis, who had accumulated d