The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-08-16

maxim up my mind to buy lottery ticket,
| and it does seem to me real kind of provi-
Dental that he should be hove off them
| cars right in my way, so to speak, for he
can tell me all about it, and they do say the
international Colossal Gift Enterprise, as
| he calls it, is all square. That sounds real
genteel and moral now, jest as he looks,
don't it. There's church members over to
Norwich has got tickets in it. They say
| he's got real persuadin' manner"
No more did Miss Eldridge wait to hear.
| With head erect, and mien that BODIED i'll
to evil doors, she was marching toward the
house.
She had been imposed upon! The stran-
ger whom she had watched and tended and
brought back from the gatas of death was
| wicked man. guilty of the immortality which
| she deSpised almost more than any other.
She had been basely deceived And yet,
| had he not tried to tell her "all about him
| Self" as he expressed it, more than once,
and she hld stopped him? What senti-
mental folly that had been! Miss Ell.
bridges anger was transferred from the
| young man to herself, as she refecte
And Phyllis! How culpable had been her
| carelessness in that respect! What was to
| be done? The invalid was not yet able to
| leave his room. She could scarcely turn
him away. The squire's ideas of hospitali-
tY would not have permitted that, if he had
proved to be an escaped burglar. But
ny MS luuo1 ~ db Ol1CS! MISS EluTluS0
went in search of her.
''Phyllis, l think that this would be
good time for you to visit Cousin Cornelia.
She is very lonely, and the change might
do you good" she said.
81 don't need to have any good done me.
l am very WE'LL" said Phyllis, with a little
pout.
Cousin Cornelia was elderly, an invalid,
and prim; so prim that Phyllis was wont to
declare that Aunt Hester in comparison
with her was 'frisky."
I ''We may have guests later. There is
nothing to keep you at home now," pur-
| sued Miss Eldridge.
"N-no," faltered Phyllis.
"You had better go on the early train
4 tomorrow, and stay a week." said Miss
lEldridge, in tone which Phyllis under
stood as meaning that from that decision
here was no appeal.
Phyllis devoted herself to preparations
FIR her journey for the rest of the day, and
Mss Eldridge was not obliged, as she had
fared, to resort to manGuyring to keep
he away from the dangerous society of
the invalid-the ''lottery fellerW
but in the evening Phyllis suddenly
turned upon her aunt, with a little air Of
defilnce, and announced that she must go
and5id goodbye to Mr.. Conroy, since she
was go away so early in the morning.
Mis- Edridge, who had foreseen this
|
than 10 resist, and fore ed herself to say
80, YES" in a calm and matter-of-course
way.
But she followed Phyllis upstairs in two
minutes. The door of the invalid's room
was atr, and out to Miss Eldridge's ears
there fOated a most alarming sound. Did
some one say, in a very low tone, with a
pleading accent, "Phyllis" or had the
wind played her a trick? 1t must have
been the wind, for, when she went in,
there sat the nurse bolt upright and atten.
tive, not mapping as was her wont, and
Phyllis was coming out, looking very calm
and tenure; and she could not have been
in the room more than two minutes.
Nevertheless, Miss Eldridge heaved a
deepsigh ofrelief when Phyllis was fairly
off tie next morning.
1t happened thac the first remark which
her PATIENT made to her that morning was
thatlt was time for him to go. He was
wellenough now to be moved without dan
ger, and he need no longer trespasS on her
kindness.
Miss Eldridge made no remonstrance
whaever. Her manner had become sud
denly cold and repellent in the extreme
lnwardly she was strugglingwith the doubt
whether it was her duty to labor with the
young man upon the sinfulness of his
course of life, or whether delcacy forbade
her to do so, since he was her guest, and
| uulteG great ODlSdllOuS W ueIs OH6 SdUlS
fled her conscience by the severe manner
until just as he was leaving-looking, Mis-,
Eldridge thought, sufficiently guilty ant
embarrassed to prove that he was moi
utterly hardened-she put into his hand {
little tract entitled "The Way of the
Trausgressor," and when he efficiently eX
pressed the hope that he might some time
be able to make some return for her kind
ness, she replied earnestly:
"You' can repay me, Mr.. ConrOy, by
turning from your immoral way of life, by
which you are leading others to ruin"
Then she turned away, and closed the
door. The dark flush that rose to the
young mans brow convinced her that he
was not without shame, and she cherished
some hope that her words might not b.
wholly without effect.
At all events she had done her duty, ant
he was gone; only to the next village where
he had secured comfortable quarters, bu
he would never venture to trouble then
| again, and Phyllis might safely come home
The squire, still confined to the house by
a sprained ankle, troubled himself very
little about the matter, though be still
puzzled over the telegram, and declared
that he would yet find out what it meant
Phyllis seemed to find staying witt
Cousin Cornelia more tolerable than usual
for she remained three weeks, and wher
she came home she had apparently forgot
ten all about Mr.. Conroy.
On a Sunday morning, about a weel
after Phyllis return, Miss Eldridge am
nounced, at the breakfast taEle, her inten
ton of driving to Fernivale, an adjoining
town, to church. She had heard that d
nephew of Reverend John Lyman, who
had preached at Fernivale thirty years be
fore, was to occupy the pulpit. Reveren.
John Lyman was the lover of Miss Ell
bridges youth. She could not now men
ton his name without little tlutter, and {
fleeting blush, although he had married
another woman, and had been dead fol
twenty years.
Phyllis, with queer little smile dimp-
ling about her mouth, said she wanted tC
go too, and Nicodemus, who had become
strangely shy and quiet in Miss Eldridge',
presence, drove them.
1t was Sunday morning very like tho
one on which they had driven to Norwich
and they all thought of it, but even Nicode
mus the garrulous did not speak of it.
Miss Eldridge walked into church will
downcast eyes and great primness, but
when she sat down in the pew, and raised
her eyes to the pulpit, she started violently
anybody less dignified than Miss Eldridg,
might be said to have jumped. Lookin!
calmly down at her from the pulpit, in
clergyman's black gown, stood her lat
guest and patient, ''the lottery fellerw
If Miss Eldridge had not all her lfetim
babe defiance to nerves she would hav
tainted at the shock. She cast n hurried
glance at Phyllis. That young woman
looked perfectly demure and unmoved, eX
cept for u queer little dimpling about he