The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1885-02-26
UNDER A CLOUD.

morning, each with copy of the morn
ng's paper in his hand, each with a
clouded brow and troubled eye. The
elder gentleman was the first to speak.
at is bad business. Morris"
"a bad business, indeed, sirl'
Then there was another long silence.
while each again read the ominous
news of the failure of a firm whose
business was so involved with their
own that the failure of one house was
nearly utter ruin to the other. The
hot chops cooled on the dish, the coffee
was untouched, and the breakfast lit.
orally forgotten, when the gentlemen
left the house to ascertain the extent
of their misfortunes. Bad as they
feared these would prove, the realities
were even worse than the anticipa-
tion, and before night the old firm Of
Tucker & Co. was in the list of fail
ures.
There was dreary amount of hard,
distasteful work to be done after the
failure was an established fact; but
Morris Tucker never flinched from
any task or interview till night shad-
ows fell, and he faced his uncle at the
table once more. Then, with set fea-
lures and pale face. he said:
eff you can spare me for an hour.
sir, l think had better call on Miss
Cresswell."
81 can spare you, but are you wise
to hurry an interview that, 1 fear, will!
be very painful?"
"Betler. to understand my position
at once, sir. If" he moistened the
dry lips here. as if the words choked
him-"if Meta is true to me l will re-
main here and try to work my way up
again to the position l held only yes
terday. If she frees me from my en-
gagement, 1 accept your proposal to
60 to California"
81 think it is good time to look up
those old claims" said Mr.. Tucker
sliding easily over the first part of his
nephews speech; there may be money
in them"
eve will see! If l do not 60 we may
be able to find some trusty messenger.
Il am afraid you will CO." his uncle
said.
at may be- Mrs. Cresswell is a
worldly woman"
"Meta is worldly woman! Nay,
let me speak. Morris. l have said
nothing before, though my heart was
sore over your choice of wife. Meta
is wonderfully fascinating, beautiful
and accomplished as but few women
are, but she is thoroughly heartless. ]
hoped your choice would fall on Clar-
ice."
"Clarice! She is mere childw
"Only two years younger than Meta
love her very dearly, Morris"
"But you are fond of Meta"
mo! For her fathers sake, the
brother of my dead wife, l have tried
to love Meta, but she repels mel"
"Yet you never spoke when I told
you I should seek to win her love-"
because love is too sacred in my
eyes for any one to interfere with its
expression. If Meta loves you 1 will
give her warm welcome and cordial
affection when she becomes your wife,
Morris. But nerve yourself for the
worst, my boy"
Nerved for the worst Morris Tucker
sought his betrothed bride. From the
time he had come from his Western
home, an orphaned lad of nineteen, tc
accept his uncle's offer Of home he
bad met Meta Cresswell constantly
He had received cordial welcome from
her mother, and had not suspected
the schemes and subtle influence that
had led him on, step by step, from the
position of friend to that of accepted
suitor of the beautiful girl. While
his feet were bringing him slowly tc
the momentous interview after tbs
failure of the firm of which his uncle
had made him full partner, Mrs. Cross
well was schooling her daughter tc
meet the emergency.
"Did yo,, write to Morris, Meta p
she asked, languidly stirring her coffee
"Not yet" was the reply. "Hc will
probably call, being an honorable gen
tleman, mamma"
al hope you will be firm, Meta. Re
member that you have been the In
iured party throughout. From the
time your poor papa died 1 have hat
every reason to believe Mr.. Tucker
would make you and your sister th'
heircss of his property. He wor
shipped your aunt. and he never spok,
of any relatives of his own till thi.
nephew appeared. l believe ther'
was some quarrel between the broth
ers that ended in the younger one goins
West, while John. the elder, remained
here. At all events it is very clea
now TINT Morris would haro been hei
to the business and property II thi