Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-01

holding out a long, worn official paper
I covered with erasures and directions anC
| bearing a number of English stamps
lit came this morning just after yOu
! went, and it has taken heaps of patience
not to open il. Ethel says it looks as il
! there were a whole romance sealed up il
| it. Do you see where they have crossed
your fathers Lame out and written yours
and then it has gone to Quinnimout, Yer
mont, instead Of Maryland? The Md
isn't very plain" she went on, putting
her finger on it as Constance took the
! packet; ."but their eyesight must have
been mighty poor to have sent it away VI
to Vermont. It's the title deeds to some
great estate in England, cousin Con
| stance; that's what it is. | wonder
| hadn't thought of that. And you have
| been kept out of it by some wicked man
who has repented on his deathbed and left
! you even more than your share. That is the
way it goes in the story books"
! She talked very rapidly, the words
! Jostling and leaping over one another like
! stones tumbling down hill. Her vivaciOus
manner was not altogether Southern, but
| she had her mothers rich tone and pro.
| nuncIatiOn and large store of the hearty
| Southern idiOms.
! "Perhaps-but please open it, cousin
/ Constance. It's mighty interesting"
| Constance threw her pelisse and hat
| upon the chair and sat down before the
/ fire. Her cheeks were glowing from the
| drive, and in her eyes the mild excite
/ ment of curiosity shone as she broke the
seal in her leisuTely manner with her pen
! knife.
| She gave low exclamation.
| "What is it, dear?" asked Mrs. Echols,
! gently; but she read on.
! she folded up the papers at length. Her
! hands fell into her lap, and for moment
! she sat musing.
Finally she looked up and as if in an
| swer to her aunt:
"YOu know father amused himself by
writing letters to London neWspaper!'
mo, dear"
yes, after we went to Judea he needed
some distracting occupation. He was
| glad to get back, but he missed the city,
| too, and he enjoyed writing. | used to be
| so glad Of it, and this letter is to say that
! he was replaced before his death. His
| political ideas were the ideas Of his gen.
GRAFTON. He often said that, and he
would add in his generous way that per
haps it was time he gave place to new
! blood. But TO think 1t had happened and
| ne never knew it!'
"Why, how was that, cousin Con
| stance?' asked Ethel.
The young girl had drawn a cricket to
/ her side, and resting her elbows upon
| COnstance's lap was looking eagerly into
! her face.
! THAT is the strangest part Of it. You
| see, aunt" she said, bending forward to
| show her the paper, while Ethel sat up
/ right upon her cricket, this would not
! have reached father before" She brushed
| her eyes quickly. 1T was mailed too late
| even if it had come directly. 1t was not
! the compassion Of chance. 1t seems to
! have been only the most perfect human
! fOrbearance. It's not very clear to me
| yet. ! ought to understand. After a
1 must have been Mr.. MaTch's real errand -
she exclaimed to herself, land we did not
| know
! She sat intensely meditatiye for a mo
ment, and they all waited with a kind Ofre-
/ spect for her thought.
"What do you mean, darliug?" asked
| Mrs. EchOls, after what seemed long
| time.
"Mr. March has done us all an even
| greater kindness than l knew"
''DO you mean"
eyes, aunt" returned she, with deci-
! sion. "These pa ers make that clear"
| She ran her eyes hastily over one of them
! again. 81 can't doubt 1t. The dates show
/ it. When Mr.. March came to us in April
| he carried with him a commission for the
| place which father held. We can only
I imagine how be avoided assuming it, but
at least he made no motion toward it, and
except for this we should not nave
! known"
''He must have resigned" suggested
Helen, whose ears had not been closed.
Nv aSn'I IL 7plonhid Of him ~
"And he never sad W.. ~ axclaimed
Ethel, ardently.
! These Young ladies were at the interest
| ing period in which hero is necessity
,,,,.If l,vs IN
| their purpose excellently.
! Constance was silent. She was think
! ing gratefully of his infinite generosity.
| II should like greatly to thank him, she
murmured, after time.
! This duty she had an opportunity to
! perform on the morrow. March and Lin
| coin mad promised Mrs. EchOls to assist
! in the preparations for the fair which the
| QuinnimOut Benevolent Society was
/ about to hold; and he and Lincoln came
! in early next morning with several of the
! laboring cOlonists.
The hall to be used was the theatre of
! the town, SO far as it had one. The long
| benches which ordinarily covered the
I floor had been removed, and only the per-
| manent raised seats running about three
| sides of the room, next the wall, re-
manned. The curtain, which was said to
represent Carthage in a certain state OF
| difapidation, was half raised, beheading
| the young water FORTRESS with which such
| performances are usually decorated and
leaving visible only an irrelevant face,
SurmOunted by a water jar which a
spectral hand cIdsped. Some busy ladies
occupied the stage, and the main floor
OF the hall was streWn with flowers and
bunting, out OF which rose certain tables
with picnic suggestions. Some negroes
were Iaughngly engaged in the erection
of large booth. March and Lincoln re-
ported for duty to Mrs. Echols, whom they
discovered upon the stage. She quickly
found places for the men accompanying
them, and asked March if he would SUI
perintend the building Of a Rebecca's
well upon the stage. Lincoln she sent to
assist in the decoration OF one of the ia
bles on the floor. AS this was, also, the
duty OF a nalf dozen of the charming
young ladies Of QuinnimOut Lincoln went
with much Willingness, and presently
might have been seen balancing on high
step-ladder and chatting merrily with
the group of feminine admirers below.
They handed him tacks and hammer and
flowers aud paper as be needed them, and
seemed to find him a delightful assistant.
JaCinth sat little apart sewing quiet
~ upon the long breadths Of a cambria
curtain to be used elsewhere in the room,
and when Lincoln had accomplished his
work upon the step-ladder he
came down and sat beside
her, talking while she worked.
From time to time he was summoned by
the nervous little band of workers at the
table whose chief difficulty seemed to be
the irremediable yagrancy of pair of
highly cessaTy scissors; but he always
returned to Jacinth when he had supplied
their demands.
Constance, who was in n way at the
head Of the festival. since it was given in
aid of her special charity, was full of
cares and harassed by iunumerable mat
ters requiring her personal supervision.
She ran hither and thither directing. ad
yiSing and assisting. She had not had OPP
portunity to think of the pleasant task OF
thanking March which she had set Lcr-
self, and she did not know that he was in
the room.
Mrs. Bartlett, who had been appointed
to bring the epergDe which was to adOrn
COnstanc4s own table as a centre piece,
had put her splendid structure for safe
keeping until needed in the hy-gallery
above the stage. Constance went for il
herself. as Mrs. Bartlett could not leave
her work. She climbed the steep stairs
leading up among the flies, and then re-
membered that Mrs. Bartlett had not said
on which side OF the stage she had lett
the epergne. 1t occurred to her that the
hiding-place had been selected little too
ingeniOusly. Wherever Mrs. Bartlett had
disposed it, apparently it was not where
she was, and she walked upon the bridge
that spanned the stage. 1t looked fairly
ru~t1 h H. a