Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-09-05

ing what tosay. q 4 II am deeply CRATE
full, Miss Benne ore than / eau ex-
press and Tshonld be very sorry for
any consequent as to yourself. 3 4. s
So: Oh, its nothing, Ruth answered,
as soon asshe sould speak The only
consequences to myself are ruined
dress, and that's o proper revenge Of
fate. 1t was to save this dress lit Wasso
new then, and 50 pretty" she. added,
patheticall lily that / trepassed on your
grounds six weeks ago. hope you. APP.
preciata the fact Of the Nemesis" And
Herewith she held up the torn and
streaming silk, to his astonished eyes.
% on won't exaggerate my heroism,"'
she went on, ".if / tell you that I thought
more Of this than anything else whenI
went into the river. I knew there was
no real danger if kept q steady head.
But ] hope the little boy won't take
cold and as that is my only danger just
now-"And before Mr.. Hale could re-
cover himself to find speech, she had
swept him a lnocking courtesy, and was
flying toward the Alexander house much
as he had seen her speed six weeks be-
fore. ;%%H
"Miss Bennett" Mrs. Alexander said,
few days later, &C ming into the library
after the children had gone, Il have a
commission to discharge. It's rather
peculiar one, but / hope you won't mind
such thing coming through s. third
person. OF course the situation is Pc
cuhar and rather delicate for Mr.. Hale.
He thought he would rather put it into
my hands; that is, rather let me find
out FIRST your-Your feeling about it. -
Miss Bennett looked up bewildered.
u don't understand, Mrs. Alexander.
Is it abont the little boy? Does Mr..
Hale want to reward me''-a deep flush
suffnsed her fairness" for what did?
I couldn't take his money, of course"
II don't know that he would look at
it quite in that light" Mrs Alexander
answered, ''It probably helped to
bring matters to climaxiwith him. In
deed, he intimatted as much. And per.
haps it is a reward of virtue. Certain
ly it is quite after the story-book style,
but you are pretty enough and bright
enough, as + told him, for almost any
position. He is @ self-made man him
self it ISM such a wonderful condescen-
sion when one remembers that. He
couldn't expect to marry into the May
flower, for all his wealth."
Miss Bennett felt as if her senses were
playing her false. "You don't mean
you can't mean," she cried, that he
wants to marry me 2"
Mrs Alexander put her arm about
her soothingly. "I suppose it is rath-
Ell overwhelming, my dear. It was to
me at first. But, after oil, why should
he not? There are three children, OF
course, and he's twenty years older, and
he hasn't much besides his money to
recommend him; but it would be a
splendid home for you, dear. It seems
he has watched you ever since that time
you trespassed. And he has made
inquiries of me. He began making
them some time ago, but didn't notice.
I thought perhaps he wanted a. COVER
ness. OF course gave you the highest
recommendations, she added, laughing,
Though + didn't know the position he
wanted you to fill. He seems quite
sure of his own feeling, and it is certain
~ a great triumph for you, my dear.
Miss Bennett sank back into the chair
from which she had half risen. Her
mind plainly could not take in the new
situation; but she came to herself when
Mrs Alexander went on: cot course
you may want time to think it over, but
he would like to see you this evening,
and---he hopes for an answer then"
"Oh! oh p Miss Bennett cried, spring
ing to her feet. "There's no use. +
couldn't if my life depended on it,
for--I'm engaged to some one else. And
I never knew-indeed, I never knew,
Mrs. Alexander, until a few days
ago, that Philip was his neph-
ew. you see," she went On, breath
lessly, "his sister was with me at school,
and that was the way learned to know
him. And Mr.. Hale was very angry at
his engaging himself to 'down-East
school-ma'am,' as he called me. He
had promised to help him before, but
but thsv auarreled over me, and Phil
went west, and I came here. And it
was only fortnight ago that wrote
him-because I hadn't much else to
write-al about nay trespassing, and
what had come Of it. And he answered
i had his letter last week. That's
my own dragon OF an uncle, and if
you've won one concession from him,
perhaps you could do more. IF he
learned to know you, he might think
differently about our engagement, and
though I don't need any OF his help now,
still he's my nearest relative, and +
should like to be on good terms with
him. And 1 had been hoping but
now-now you see how impossible it is.
And if Phil has his own way to make,
we may have to wait long time, and
perhaps always be poor, I love him too
much to mind"
The soul of young love and trust
Was in her eyes as she looked
up Of Mrs. Alexander, and the
woman's heart in her was touched.
It was the philosophy Of the Babes in
the Woods, indeed; she could have
overturned 1t with touch OF worldly
common sense; but she only bent near
er her, and then suddenly Ruth felt a !
kiss on her forehead, kiss Of q mothers
compromising love. ....@
But when she had cooled little from
this unexpected touch Of enthusiasm,
Mrs. Alexander had her plans. She
met Mr.. Hale herself that evening; she
confoundeG him with the news that the
school-ma'am despised for his nephew
was his own elect; and she followed up
her advantage till he consented to ex-
press his gratitude to Miss Bennett by |
the gift OF a home-of which he should |
not be master. And since young Philip |
was doing well at the west. and needed !
no more of his uncle's help, the new
home was hardly ready before he could