Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1885-05-06


Early flowers Of spring
MISS ESrABROOKE.
i by ANNABEL DWIGHT.
DR.. Lynn Reede was thirty tall ,darh
full.bearded, and the admiration @
women, In spite of the fact that he ha,
only his practice in the city and an Old
fashioned country mansion away up Il
Vermont.
/ Mrs. Annesley, an Old friend of hi
mothers, had exhausted large flow O
eloquence In the vain endeavor to In
duoe him 10 take unto himself wife
the doctor was wont to shake his heat
I with q smile Of mockery at her entrea
ties.
Dear friend" he said once, "wher
could find q woman who would be {
wife In the truest sense Of the word
One who would make home the deares
place on earth ? One who would brav,
sickness and trouble aud death with
me One who would sucoor the pool
and comfort up the broken-hearted
There arc no young women of THU
stamp In New York society,""
Yes, there IL one" responded Mrs
AnDesley, triumphantly. Miss Esta-
brooke. She 10 just home from Europe,
aud you have not met her. There IL your
affinity, Lynn. A girl who is not spoil.
cd by ri' hes or fiattery, and one who
| will sym pathize heartily with all your
charitable notions, for charity Is her
hobby"
l thoroughly dislike woman with
hobby" commented the doctor,
| grimly.
"0n, con .istency. thou art a
ingly, as the doctor bowed himself
from her parlor, and went off to his
daily round of calls.
Hardly day passed after that In
which he did not hear something of
Miss Estabrooke.
She was lovely; she was eccentric;
che was charitable. Her benevolence
and her magnificent toilets were the
talk Of all Gotham.
Lynn Reede was unchaIitable enough
10 say that her generosity was merely q
surface virtue She gave freely that
her name might be lauded to the
skies, but as for real sympathy or sac
rifce-what did she know about
either?
He had not yet met her. 1t was q
busy time with him, and he went little
In society.
One day he visited u poor tenement
house In one of the most miserable of
the city streets, where young mother
was III with hard work and priva
| ton.
There was r little boy of six and o
| two year old baby.
The father was out of work, and the
i 1ncfor had prnYpiapd Tn iutaroat hiVn aal T
| In his behalf
The door was ajar as he assembled the
rickety stairs, and the sound Of a must
| cal voice came 70 him.
"By baby bunting
Papa's gone hunting,
To get little rabbit skin,
To wrap the baby bunting In"
Tho foolish little rhyme Of dear old
| Mother Goose's.
DIR. Reede paused on the threshold,
with faint smile curviI Z his lips.
A girl who looked about twenty sat
| there In the outer room, with the
youngest of the two children in her
| arms.
She Was dressed in o plain, close
fitting robe Of dark gray, and her hair,
| which was brown, with golden lights
| ia the sun, was coiled simply at the
back OF the small head, which was
bent 60 over her little charge that the
| doctor could only see the outlines of
her face-a rather pale face, he thought,
with q straight nose and decided chin
The child in her arms nestled close 10
her aud smoothed her pretty hair with
| one little hand.
The older boy sat on q stool at her
feet, pattipg on his knee noise!ess &C
| compartment to her song.
She look d up as DR.. keede entered,
and he saw then that her .nuuln was
sweet and wOmanly, and her eyes .
clear, dark gray, with jet black lashes.
"Mlss Esther Is singing TO U.s." said
the little fellow beamingly.
miss Esther 2" queried the doctor
My name Is Esther Brooke" an.
nounced the girl quietly, as she put the
child upon the floor and arose to her
feet. al am here TO do what can for
Mrs Ray and to amuse the children
for little while"
DR.. Rsede staged ten minutes, and
when he took leave he left something
behind him-his heart.
Within o month he and Esther
Brooke had made the Rays very com
Portable. The sick woman was up, the
children warmly clad, the father pro.
vided with permanent employment
Meantime these two met in other
homes where want and suffering had
entered.
The doctor fell into the habit of call
irg on her to aid him, and she never
failed.
Singularly enough he had never called
at her home, had never invited her to
any place Of amusement, although he
was very earnestly in love, and only
awaited suitable opportunity to tell
her 30.
She had told him that she was an
orphan and lived with her aunt on the
west side.
They had been too busy In their
mutual labors for our sedate doctor to
push bis friendship further
She, woinan-like, had guessed his
secret and bidsd her time patiently
sometimes thinking with q queer little
smile that he was an odd lover.
Once they met in q. miserable home
whore she had been working In vain.
A ten ear-old girl lay dying while her
mother crouched on the floor In drunk
en- stupor
Esther Brooke had brought some
flowers to the little creature, and with
her I. eble finger the latter had pinned
them to the yoke of her night dress.
do you s'pose they'll let me have
all the pretty things want where l am
going 2" she queried, look ing up ut the
doctor with such wistfulness In the
II