New Ulm weekly review., 1886-12-15

W a. ulSu ucSISS. z uOCOS COulO O6 eX.
changed and returned ifnot approved.
Address Rupert. care of the editor Of
the Brickbury Chronicle"
The evening of the following Satur-
day two letters lay on his table.
Breathless with agitation he tore one
of them open. 1t was a blotted and
ill-expressed note from young lady
in a hairdresser's shop. He threw it
Indignantly on one side; what had he
and she in common?
The second letter was written on IL
lac paper, the envelope sealed with a
seal bearing the impress OF a cupid.
The letter itself was neatly written in
aclear, firm running hand. Wecannot
do better than give it word for word:
"Dear and gallant SRI feel as
read your thrilling lines that have
at last met with a kindred spirit (let
me not be ashamed to own it,) for
which my heart has long yearned!
Gladly, ah, gladly would enter cor
respondence with such one as Rupert,
but, alas! / am an orphan maid, and
the worlds riches are not for me- You
would spurn the poor girl who must
gain her humble crust by her own ex-
ertions. Yet, perhaps, your noble
nature might not turn from the d..
spised companion. Did I but know.
My dearest aspirations are to be ele-
CANT; to cultivate my mind to a high
pitch under your tuition, would leave
nothing wanting to crafty yours
dare she sign herself, affectionately
and humbly, =
C-
~ inclose my photo. 1 am bru-
net, with flashing yet melancholy dark
eyes. Ere sorrow met my path was
not considered unlovely. Your an
swer, should you deign to send one,
will be forwarded to me by triend.
Till then, farewell! Address R., Post
office, Great st. Paul's street, E. c."
The weeks went on. His holidays
were at hand. He would fain have
visited his Rosalinda at her home in
Surrey, but she besought him not to
come; he should not first look upon
her in the walls OF slavery. Her Ku-
pert must wait till fate smiled upon
their path, and she inclosed a little
poem on the subject which made him
happy for days. He sent ring
two golden hands casped together
and he wrote her long letters every
day, which she answered at first
once a week, and then once a tort
night. At length there came a day
when he had not heard for a
month. He became frantic with vex.
alton; some OF his friends had begun
to talk and tease him about his new
flame; should he lose her now, Just as
he was about to have his salary
raised? He could not brook the
thought.
In dispair he wrote a few hurried
lines, begging to be allowsd to see her,
bemoaning her long silence. Life with
out Rosalinda was insupportable to
him, etc. In answer to this appeal
he received a short epist]e in a
shaky handwriting. Rosali,,da had
been i'll; she had parted with her en-
ployer, and had gone to be the com.
panlon OF a maiden fady of wealth in
Nortbshire. 1t was a long journey
from London; she dared not invite
her Rupert to the house that was her
temporary home. If better, she would
write again next week. Adieu, and
again adieu!
But she did not write. Days went
by and at last, one foggy morning to-
ward the end OF September, Septimus
received a communication from
stranger, a gentleman who signed him
self '"Thomas Gawkroger." His worst
fears were realized; the gentleman
wrote that it was his painful duty to
inform Mr.. Potter that Miss Rosalinda
st. Claire was suffering from so severe
an attack OF illness that the doctors
declared that there was no hope of her
ultimate recovery. AS Mr. Potter and
the young lady had never met, the
writer hoped that time would soften
the blow, and reconcile Mr.. Potter to
the inevitable. The ring and other
trinkets would follow tomorrow per
rail. The postmark on the cover was
Charlhill.
mot 50 will be baffed!" cries Sep
timus. "Does this impertinent stran-
ger think to tear two loving hearts
assunder?" And then, descending from
his heroics, he confded to an intimate
friend of his intention of checkmaking
old Gawkroger in the long run.
The two young men laid their heads
together, and between them hit on
the following plan: Septimus was to
tell the firm chat relation of his was
alarmingly i'll in Northshire, and to
beg for a few days holiday He was
not to answer Mr.. Thomas Gawk-
rogers letter Ito write to Rosalinda
on a bed OF sickness would be worse
than useless, but to take d ticket to
Charlhill and burst upon the con-
spirators like bombshell.
"Miss St CIaire?" he inquired of
buxom high.colored woman servant.
Il am her intimate friend. How is
she? Is she better?"
"Beg pardon" said the servant.
"Miss St. Claire-the lady who is so
dangerously ill!'
''There is none sick in tn house
now," said the woman stolidly; .sbut
they've got tn whooping cough down
the lane"
''No, mol" exclaimed Septimus, ar
ranging his fur collar. He could SEER
glass in the hall how we'll he looked.