Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1886-09-17
HER BROTHERS DEBT,

=
Lilias Wayland's roun1 chysss
blanched to an unwonted whiteness !
she stood before her brot...-~ in the clos
cramped room which constituted her so
home.
Charley Wayland, ahandsome dissipi
ted-looking youth of two or three an
twenty, with bold, black eyes and merr
mouth that seemed made only to smill
sat opposite her, looking half-repentanI
half defiant, as she spoke.
'Lilly, l couldn't help it. tellps
l was hard up. A fellow must hay
money; you women don't know anythin
about the temptations and necessities 0
the worldw
"But, Charley" she faltered, edo yoi
know how this same world, as you phras
it, looks at the deed you have just com
mitted2 Oh, Charley, and her voic
grew low and tremulous, ''it is
forgeryr
Nonsense, Lilll It's only sorrowin,
part of cd Glencross' unused miiEle..
to aid my needs. / wrote and asked hir
for cash, and he, the unmannert, lout
refused. Well, what could he "a
after this, but that l should help
sclf9n \
Lilias wrung her slender hands.
GLOW dare you, Charleyl ThatS.
Wayland should come to this!' SD
walled.
'Daredi" he echoed, recklcssly; =
vas but the stroke of a pen, after al
and old GIencross would be paltria
miser than take him to be if he mals-
u fuss about a matter of five HUNDRED
| dollars
''it is the right and the Justice of tn
thing" cried Lilias. almost frantically
'If we could pay him in any way; but.
have sold everything that remains Of oy
former wealth. Secl" and she loalrA
round the miserable apartment. ''Se
how livcl Last night l sat up unit
midnight sewing to have a little ma
to pay the rent. have not a jewel
nor trinlSet."
ooh, bother, Lilll If old Glcncros
cuts up rough, it is only taking ru
across the water. know lots~of sIiir,
captains that would stow me away ur
der their holds, almost any moonligl
night"
Lilias looked dcspairingly at him
Was it, then, impossible to make hiI
comprehend the moral obliquity of tn
deed he had just committed?
"But can't stay fooling here" oil
scrved the young man, with toss Of hi
black curls. 81 must be off about IN
business. Good-by, Lill. Give US
kiss, my girl. Except that you're IN
common fond of lecturing fellow
you're not bad sister in the main"
After he had gone, Lillias sat down t
try and realize the new situation ii
which she and her brother were placed
All now depended upon the spirit il
which Paulus Glencross should receiv
this new cncroachment upon lis purs
and patience.
Lily had never seen this distant rela
tion, yet she had formed an opinion o
him in her inmost mind, as we are all ap
to do of unseen persons whom we hear ;
great deal about; and whenever sh,
thought of Mr.. Glencross the image of
hook-nosed old man, yellow-skinneC
and cadaverous, engaged in sorting
over piles of mortgages or counting bag
Of gold, suggested itself to her menta
eye.
'But ho must be human, at least
thought Lily, in the agony of her dis
tress. 'If I go to him myself, and tel
him just what poor Charley's necessitiei
were, and how good hearted he is, ii
/ spite of all his faults and thoughtlessnes'
if say frankly to him that have nc
money nor jewels to roimbuwe him, but
that l will stay and work for him, as ;
servant girl might work in the kitchen,
until l have discharged the horrible
debt, surely, oh, surely he cannot have
the heart to refuse. can do great
many things. l can sew and embroider,
and l can make good bread and biscuit,
and poor mama always said ! was good
housekeeper, and if Mr.. Glencross is
really so misery as Charley thinks he
would look at the economy OF the
thing. At least, it is worth trying
So favorably did Lilias Waylana re-
gard this idea, broached in her sore ex-
tremity, that in two days from the even
ing in which she had hidden good'by to
her handsome, reckless brother, she
stepped from the cars at the New York
depot, dressed in a sober brown SUIT that
made her look like shrinking little
mouse, with her carpet bag in her hand.
A little inquiry suficed to bring her
to the street where Mr.. Glencross re-
sided--a stately avenue, lined on either
side with elegant palaces, the nae Of
which Lily had never seen in the palmer
a,sJ rasFs sAs had been bora ESQ @edl