Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-02-12
A THOUSAND POUNDS.
Written for the Free Press and Times
by Phillip BourlSe Marston.

rpl II idly WHO is dDOuU W ptSS
holiday, with her lover, the twenty-nfth
anniversary of her birthday, it cannot be
said that Rose Belward looked the incar-
nation of earthly happiness. She sat alone
ami eNpectant in the drawing room of
Grove IodQe--a small house in a new
district of London, occupied by Mrs
Bellward and her two daughters, Rose
and Clara. The Bellwards were not rich :
and the house had that speckless appear
ance which is only observable when the
services of the one professional domestic
have been eked out by the combined forces
of all the feminine inmates.
AS have said, Rose sat in the little
drawing room, with it's we'll worn rep
furniture its centre table, with photo
graph album and few gift books, in
which somebody's selection from English
Christian poetry was conspicuous. On a
sde-table was a stuffed bird under glass
case. In the window, betweeen the stiffiv-
starched lace curtains, Il live bird swung
triumphant in brightly-gilded cage,
untouched by any sympathetic instinct to
tell him that just under him, in vault of
glass, Il brother with moveless wings and
songless throat was preserved perpetually
in state. Likely enough the dead bird
had once upon a time made merry in the
caue where now the live bird lived. Just
so had he shrilled out his song in the
warm spring sunshine; just so had he pro-
digally dashed after rape seed and canary in
search of the dearly loved and baneful
hemp Just so in the pauses of song had
he communed with himself in low notes
which could mean nothing else but Sc
rene seli-laudatlon. Yes, dear, you have
done well indeed" they seemed to say
viii Beauty try it again ?' which Beau
ty, after a little demur, would proceed to
do. SO had he hoped from perch to
perch so had he revealed in the swing
depending from the roof of his house. and
known-had he known-the terrible cpl
sode of green, glazing eyes, as the cage
swayed dreadfully in the clutch of the
clinging claws, and fluttered feathers flew
this way and that. Had he, too, heard
the rush to the rescue and the wall of the
defeated enemy he, too, by night with
head tucked safely under his wing dreamt
OF those dreadful eyes of green flame, and, |
dreaming. sounded strange unbirdlike
note, making any one who might happen |
to be i'll the room wonder what could be |
the matter with Beauty
AS it is with birds SO it is with men We |
chlrrup and we sing, we swell our feath- |
ers with pride or flutter them with fear |
then we pass, and others succeed to our
POSITIONS and as after death we are not |
available for stuffing and putting under |
glass cases by way of reminder, we are
very soon out of sight, and very soon out
OF mind, to those who have loved us
best. Something in this strain ran Miss |
Bellward's thoughts as she listened to
the canary's song. You see she could |
remember Beauty the first, upon whose
glass vault Beauty the second was now
raining his seed and spalshing his water
sun she was not being sentimental over
dead bird.
OF what is she thinking, then, this 25th
or May, while men pass the window with
their fiower-laden barrows, sh; ing as
only only g sdop %h f by RsG@ o, 'pa F0n
MOWERS All BLOWN and a rowin' :"
And Beauty's cage as it swings in the
light flashes with almost dazzling bril-
lance. Is she thinking of a 25th of May
six years ago, when she had waited-not
III TINS room, but in room overlooking
the British Chancellor someone to come,
someone whose step made her eyes shine
and her heart beat-someone on whose
grave the grass had now been greenly for
four years? Fools are we who trv to keen
anniversaries with the living They are
meant for the dead alone!
40 not mean Tor moment to imply
that Rose was giving her right hand to Il
living lover while while her left hand re.
tanned that of Il dead one. Her yoiInr
romantic love had been genuine and zen,
ulne had been her grief when death frus.
trated her hope, and a fever, brief but vir-
ulent, stopped forever the gentle and
chlvalrous heart which had beat with such
loyal love for her. But as the flowers
grew on her lovers grave, so, though not
perhaps with quite so quick growth,
hope grew again in her heart, and
when, four years after her lovers death,
Reginald Longhurst, a struggling young
artist, with manly figure, clear cut,
sionate eyes, laid his heart at her feet,
she was nothing lOath to take it into her
keeping Still, when the anniversary of
her birthday came around she could not
help thinking of a certain grave within
sight and sound of the sea. Yet her look
then was not the look of one who is en-
PERTAINING ghosts, saying Yes | remem-
Der what you said that day, what | wore,
what kind of day it was-indeed, re-
member it all all though the CHASTITY
smile about your faded lips would seem
to sayI had forgotten ~
Beside Miss Bellward on the table lay
superb bouquet and IA beautiful and
costly fan. Looking at these her deep
violet eyes grew grave and earnest, with
the look of one preparing to meet some
crisis.
She was worth looking at, was Rose
Bellward with her rare violet eyes, her
pale proud face, her lips at once sensi-
tive and resolute The dress she wore,
though simple in texture, fitted so as to
show to advantage her beautifully mold
ed figure. Round her head, which in.
clined to be massive, her abundant brown
hair with gold lights glinting in it, was
coiled fold ON fold. She was evidently
deep in thought, regarding the flowers
and the fan with wistful eyes, when
quick impetuous application of the knock
er to the street door made her start. Fore
stalling the servant she FASTENED to the
hall and opened the door herself The
next moment she was caught close in
strong arms; the door closed and lips
met lips
MAY all good things he with you on
this day, my darling ~ said the man. His
voice was pleasant till heard under the
influence of great excitement, when it
became shrill. Reginald Longhurst
would heve been n perfectly handsome
man but for a painfully weak, receding
chin.
There they stood in the hall, she with
her hand i'll his, her head resting against
his shoulder, while his lips caressed the