The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-09-02
"Ycs, and Mr.. FELTON, aaid 1t was
shame to treat flower So" put In little

The captain listened impassively, but
AIilly gave -pained glance at the
flower. "That was just like you,
Stephen" she said, softly, and
Stephen frightened for the first time that
day.
1t seemed to Stephen, looking back,
that his love for Milly had begun when
he was boy of five and she was baby
in the cradle. He could not rccollect
the time when he did not prefer her to
al! other girls. At school he was her
knight, his sled, his jack knife, bis help,
always at her service. Stephen taught
her to skate, to row. 1t was he who
brought her the first maple sugar, tho
first arbutus; he who took her oa61e;tsh-
rides, and walked home with her from
church and the village tea parties. Miily
absorbed these services not ungrate.ully,
but as a matter of curse. She had been
used to them from her babyhood, and
could have almost as well dispensed with
sun or air out OF her life; but sun and
air being never withdrawn, are rarely
noticed or alluded to. 'Dear, good old
Stephen" she called him. NV, it is
not we'll for man to lavish himself on
woman VIII, thinks of him only as "dear
old Stephen"
And now Stephen was doomed to
stand by and see stranger appropriate
the object of this lifelong devotion. He
had sown, and another was to reap his
labors. Day by day all that summer
long the glamour grew and decpcned.
Captain II ,llctt's leave of ab ence seemed
of the most elastic description, permit.
ting him to stay the entire season at Bay
mouth. His mornings, his evenings, his
moons, were spent with Miliy. Stephen
sickcned at the inevitable gold.banded
C Up hat met his ey>s whenever he enter
ed the house, and proved his rival in
possession os the field. Milly greeted
Stephen kindly always, but there was
sense Of interruption; he felt himself
a third party. Then he tried staying
away; but that was worst of all, for his
love did not notice his absence beyond a
careless "What ages is it since we saw
you, Stephena' This state of affairs, of
course, set people to talking, but Milly
was blushingly indignant. at was hard, :"
she declared, eff girl couldn't have a
pleasant friend without having such things
said" But her pretty poutings and pro-
testings made little difference and it was
generally understood that the affair, If
not an absolute engagement, amounted to
"an understanding" whatever that may
mean.
At last tho long, lovely summer came
to an end, as summers will Scarlet
boughs famed in the forests. go,den-rod
burned along the brook-sides, the birds
flew, and with t EN- Captain Hallett pre-
pared for flight. His orders had come to
report in Galveston, Texas, and his leave
takings were hurried. The last moment
was Milly's, and though no one knew the
exact situation of affairs, it was taken
for granted that another year would bring
orange blossoms and wedding.
Mllly's own expectations were not SC
definite. No definite promise had passed
between her an her lover; but she
trusted him and waited brightly and
hopefully. Letters came and went; the
scarlet boughs burned into ashes anI fell
to the ground in pale heaps; then came
snow and the winter, to be in turr
scourged away by the whip OF the fi4rc.
New England spring. Still Mllly
waited; but not so brightly now, for III,
letters came less regularly than at first.
By and by they ceased altogether
Weeks passed without word. Milly,
with visions of yellow fever and Indiln.
chasing each other across her terriec
bra n, write and wrote again, but nj
presage of the real danger which threat
cned glanced over un il one day
| opening the newspaper, this met he
eyes:
"At Galveston, Texas, by the Rev. Pierre
st. Cloud, assisted by tho Rev. Thomas Dix
: Captain Edward Hallett, U. s. A., ant
Blanche Emily, only daughter Of the lat.
Pierre st. Cloud of Pilatki, Florida N,
l cards.
g Mrs. Graves upstairs hear1 no sound
c but when she went down Mllly lay OIL
y the sofa white and rigil, the newspapcl
S still clasped in her cold fingers. 1t wa
long before her senses came back
Her mother famed with anger
. but the girl hushed her with wear,
sob.
''We were never really engaged, yo,
& know"
o "Not engaged! Oh, Millyw
! But Milly turned her face to the wal
and said no more.
Baymou,h was stirred to its depth
!, next day by the news that Captain Hal
. lett was married to Southern lady, ant
Milly Graves was down with typhoit
J fever Everyone wanted to help t
:. nurse, above all, to know the particulars
r Such masses of b.anc-mango and jelly
c were sent in tina. poor Mrs. Graves wa
s at her wits end to know how to dispos
e of them. But no one could readily aid
:, not even poor Stephen, who scarcely lef
l. the house day or night, or ate or slept
IT till the crisis passed, and Milly was pro
= nounced out of danger.
a Out of danger, but it was weeks b
; fore she could sit up, and weeks longe
ie ere she came down stairs, thin, white
It shrunken--a mere shallow and wreck G