The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-05-29

corners, it was still a comfort to know that
she was thought worthy of being won, even
| without the former attractive money col
| laterals to enhance her charms And so the
days came and went rounding up the fruit
age of September, spilling the pomp and
| splendor of October, winnowing Novem-
ber's woods and fiinging DEFENDERS robes
over the dying year.
Christmas-tide came once more to Mar
| garet; and it needed stout heart for her
to face this day alone, to keep the sheens of
memory from being spotted with tears. The
great church was ablaze with light, full of
warmth and the fragrance of pines and
cedars. The arches were festooned with
| long trailing ropes of evergreen, the walls
covered with quaint designs, the altar
radiant with blossoms. As Margaret sat
in the choir, from the depths of profound
melancholy in which her soul had been
stepped during the entire day, she felt her
| spirits rise in sudden exaltation; q flood of
| happiness seemed to sweep in upon her,
| like the tides of the returning ocean, and
when her voice rose in the "Benedic anima
| mea," it filled the church with its power
and sweetness until the vast congregation
stood hushed and spellbound as under the
wand of an enchantress. When the services
were over, flushed and happy and more
lovely than ever Margaret made her way
slowly down the long, crowded aisle, and
| as she neared the outer door she felt hand
close upon her arm in a warm pressure, and
| looking up met two great, shining eyes. in
whose clear and honest depths she read the
love that the lips below had 2ever given
utterance to.
| Somehow PILLS presence was not sur
prise to her. 1t seemed but the compile
ment and rounding out of her exaltation;
! as if the sudden tide in her dependency
had turned because of his unguessed pres
ence, and Afe once more was to be worth
| living.
'Was it generous in you, Maggie, to run
| away from those who love yonG' he asked,
when they had gained the open air and he
| had drawn her hand within his own.
mot generous, perhaps, but necessary"
she answered.
| "Why necessarily"
What could l do?' she said. 81 could
| not stay in showdown. | had my bread to
earn. DON'T interrupt me, please; know
I have always known the warm place /
have in your mothers heart, but''-
"Ah! Maggie" he cried, interrupting
| her, ''you might have come at last as nv
| mothers dearly-loved daughter. She felt
| that the impossible barrier which placed
you so far above US had at last given away
| and the admiration she felt for you when
she learned of your voluntary surrender of
your wealth was sweetened with the
| thought that now she'might claim you as
| her very own
"She did not understand, Phil, that if l
had consented to come to her in that rela-
| ton, your own fortune would have been
hampered by the failure of the wretched
| bank"
"You have not guessed the depths Of my
mothers love for you, Maggie" he
| answered. 'It is with this knowledge that
she has sent me to bring you home; task
| should long since have undertaken could
l but have found you"
"And the barrier still exists, Phil, and l
| must still remain as | am' she said, with
a half-sob in her voice.
| There never was but one barrier that
made you unapproachable for me; and
that no longer exists l have come to
claim you, if necessary, as the savage
claims his captured bride. l am going to
| take you home and marry you, though
your debts were larger than the nations"
The talk of lovers is the despair of the
historian; those airy nothings, honey on
the lips. music in the ear, grow wonder
fully fiat and stale under analysis. 1t is
sufficient to know that when Margaret
ushered Phil into her little reception-room
| she was no longer her own mistress.
Henceforth she belonged, debts and all, to
her lover. He was the precious Christmas
gift which fate had sent her. A little
later when she turned to her writing
table, she found, bearing her address, a
| large envelope, sealed in many places with
great blotches of red wax She tore it
| open and took out many thicknesseS of
folded papers, and, as she caught the i'm
port of their meaning, her face beamed
with pleasure. The first paper was the
| Chillson q Co., every creditor of the
| broken bank having been paid his
claim in full The second paper, far more
bulky, was full of preambles and resolves.
She read: Whereas Miss Margaret Deane
| Ch1llson, with a generosity almost I'M
paralleled, has surrendered her entire
| private fortune for the payment of claims
for which she was not legally bound, there
fore, as token of their gratitude, esteem
| and admiration, the subscribers, late
creditors of Chillson 81 Co., ask of her to
accept as token of our unbounded admir-
alton and regard, her late home and all the
| personal property intact, as left on the
| day she so magnanimously surrendered it."
| Then followed pages of signatures, in every
conceivable style of chirography. The
third paper was deed from the assignees
of Chillson q Co., conveying to Margaret
Deane Chilson, her heirs and assigns for
ever, all that certain piece. and parcel of
land, etc, together with all the personal
property pertaining thereto.
With glad cry, Margaret placed the pa
pers in Phirs hands. What other conceiv-
able Christmas gift was now worth her &C
ceptances Not her lost million of money
surely, if it took Phil away, though but few
lovers would bring that sum in open mar
ket 1t needs but few possessions to make
| life bearable if love but sweeten it and over
look its foibles. Those dreadful bonds.
What good had they ever been to hers
| They had served but to keep her soul from
drinking in that dulcet music she had for
years longed to hear; but to tempt the man
| long trusted by her father into the down
ward path, whose end was the suicides
grave. She laid her head on Phil's broad
shoulder and gave way to tears, that SUI
| preme outlet of a woman's joys and sor-
rews. Was she not supremacy favored!
For who, in all the world, had received such
Christmas gifts as herself!-R. A. Oakes, IN
| T,do