The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1885-01-08
HIS LlPE'S one HOLIDAY,

BY LILL1As CAMPBELL DAVIDSON
Huntingdon Wayne was thirty-five
and had never yet been in love. He
had worked hard and we'll and had
made q fortune which even he felt
would enable him to marry without be-
ing reoklesslv imprudent, and he began
TO think it was time to decide upon \
vito who would satisfy his somewhat
tastldlons requirements. She must he
OF stately and noble presence-Wayne
had rather an idea of fine woman not
700 young nor too emotional; Wayne
was . person who hated scenes-in
eho:t, she was to be woman made to
order, and he found it more difficult to
discover her than he had at first SUD-
posed.
1t vas with feeling of something as
akln to failure as his we'll regulated
mind ever INDUCED in that he ordered
his portmanteau packed for a fort
nights visit to Newton-o Sea, and tore
himself away from the destinations of
club and Office life to pay long prom
Used visit to his old friend, DR.. Mar.
shall. He had seen nothing of the Mar
shalls for years past, though there was
a tie OF old associations between them.
and even something OF sadder interest.
FIVE years ago, when Wayne's uncle Of
Tered HIM berth in the tea business.
OF winch ne was now the head, he ex-
tended q like offer to Huntinpdon's
younger brother, Jack; but Jack. al
ways something of hot-headed fellow
took otfense at some word or deed Of
his elders, ond refused the offer. Soon
after no took some post on the east
coast OF Africa, and went out with high
hopes OF the fortune ne was to bring
back and lay OF Hetty Marshall's feet.
huntingdon heard of the engagement
with some contempt, for the folly which
possessed two young people without a
penny; but when, three years later.
Dews came of poor Jacks death out in
Zanzibar, the little bride that was to
have been passed out of his mind, and
1t was only when an invitation came to
him from the Marshalls, who were at
Newton on-Sea for Hetty's health. that
the thought of her existence crossed
him again.
He had not even seen her since she
was little child in pinafores, and when
lie was brought up. on the evening he
arrived, to the side of crimson ham
mock swung between two tall pine trees.
and introduced to slight, pale girl,
whose great blue eyes were raised to
his with a pathetic gentleness and
sweetness, a feeling such as in all his
thirty five years Of sensible life he had
never before experienced shot through
him with thrill Of wonder, and al
most bewllderment. He took in his
OVID the small, fragile, white fingers.
and then laid them down almost revar'
emily on the soft customs amid which
she lay.
suppose if any one had asked him
then and there whether he believed in
love at first sight, he would have an
swered as contemporary as ever; and
yet, for all that. he was as deep in love
rs ever man yet fell at one blow. He
told himself it was pity-a pity that
only grew as the days passed by. and
lie saw how frail and delicate creature
her great trouble of two years had left
her, 1T seemed to him it was his duty to
try and atone to her for all the suffering
and loss she had undergone; as if his
Tie ought to make up to her for Jacks
death, somehow. Strange, that duty
had never had such a zest and pleasure
in it before.
She was thing so new to his OK
Perience, with her pleading blue eyes,
her soft little ways, and the pathos that
hung about all that she did and said.
Wayne used to sit and watch her fur
lively, as if she were creature of some
unknown race
Three days after that first evening
and the hammock, the ideal "fine wom-
an" had died out of his mind, never to
return, and before the week was over.
he had said to himself-he, the practi-
cal. cool-headed, Huntingdon Wavne-
that life without little Hetty would be
hardly worth the living, and that he
must have her for his own, or die.
Practical common -sensical men often
take tho hardest form of the disease
called love-
He spoke to- DR.. Marshall before the
middle of the second week, and asked
his consent to win Hetty. The doctor lis
tened with good deal of surprise, but
no appearance of displeasure. and when
Wayne had finished, he grasped him
heartily by the hand.
MY dear fellow" he said With some-
thing between smile and a sigh, "you
have my heartiest consent and my best
wishes, if you can get Hettv
to say Yes You are almost q
part Of poor Jack, and there's no
one else, I should so gladly call my
son. OF course it all rests with Het-
ty; but 1 know she does not dislike you,
and you must trust to time for the rest.
Love such as she gave poor Jack, per-
haps the same woman never gives twice
over; but there's no reason why she
shouldn't love you we'll and make YOU q
good wife. The grief of two years back
is assing await is more the physical
state left by the shock of that time that
wears on her now. Perhaps she will
never be very robust, but You will take
good care of her I'm certain"
"She shall be strong again, please
God, If can make her so by my devo-
tion," said Huntingdon, while a vision
OF unspeakable happiness danced before
his minds eyes-a snow white yacht
cruising among smiling islands in a
summer sea, seeking health for her
who was Its queen.
''I1l leave the business to look after
itself, he thought, with glow of rap
ture, "and travel round the world with
her till the color comes back to her pale
face, and the light to her eyes, yes,
and the happiness to her heart"
So the fortnight wore away, and an
other was we'll nigh gone. and yet
Wayne fingered at Newton on-Sea. He
was never away from Hetty's side; he
fetched and carried for her like dog,
he was slave to her every wish. Dr..
and Mrs. Marshall regarded him with