The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-12-04

was heavy she and Lily used to steal out
early and bathe their faces in it. Fidelia
said it would make people rosy and keep
away the wrinkles.
1t works better on me than it does on
you, don't it," asked pink and white Lily,
innocently, once. The two were out in the
| shining white field together. The morning
lit up Lily as it did the flowers. Her eyes
had lovely blue sparkles in them; her yell
low hair, ruffied by the wind glittered as
radiantly between one and the light as the
| cobweb lines across the grasses. She looked
wonderingly at her aunt, with her nodding
gray head punging her little yellow hands
into the dewy green things. Those dull
tints and white hairs and wrinkles showed
forth so plainly in the clear light that even
the child's charming faith was disturbed a
little. Would the dew ever make this old
| creature pretty again!
But-"You can't expect it to work in a
| minute" replied Fidelia, cheerfully And
| Lily was satisfied
II guess it'll work by tue time Mr.. Len
nox comes" she said.
Fidelia was always neat and trim in her
appearance. her hair was always carefully
arranged and her shoes tidy; but summer
and winter she wore one sort of gown-a
| purple calico. She bad a fine black silk
hung away in the closet upstairs. She
had one or two good woolens and some
| delicate cambrics. There was even one
white muslin, with some lace in neck and
| sleeves, hanging there. But she never
wo-S cGe e. thayl. Her sister scolded her
| fcH SC lad ct6er people wondered. Eide
| las child-confidante alone knew the reason
why. This poor, nodding enchanted prin-
| cess was saving her gay attire till the
| prince returned and the enchantment
| ceased and she was beautiful again.
You mustn't say nothin' about it, :"
Fidelia had sail; but l amt goin' to put
| on them good dresses an tag 'em right out.
Mebbs the time'll come when pll want 'em
more"
Mr. Lennox II think that black silk is
beautiful" said Lily, can that white
| muslin"
Il had that jest after he went away, an
amt never put it on | thought /
wouldn't; muslin don't look half so nice
after the new look gifts off it'
| So Lily waited all through her childhood.
| She watched her aunt start forth on her
| daily pilgrimages to the post-office, with
the confident expectation that one of these
| days she would return with a letter from
Mr.. Lennox. She regarded that sacred
| loaf of plum-cake which was always kept
on hand, and believed that he might appear
to dispose of it at any moment. She had
| the sincerest faith that the time was COM
ing when the herb medicine would quiet
| poor Fidelia's tremulous head, when the
sage tea would turn all the gray hairs gold,
and the dew would mako her yellow,
| seamy cheeks smooth and rosy, when she
would put on that magnificent black silk
| or that dainty girlish muslin and sit in the
parlor with Mr.. Lennox, and have the
| covers off the chairs and the mantel-piece
| blooming with flowers. So the child and
the woman lived happily with their beau
| tiful chimera. until gradually he vanished
I into thin air for one of them.
Lily could not have told when the con-
viction first seized her that Mr.. Lennox
would never write, would never come; that
Aunt Fidelia's gray hair would never turn
gold, nor her faded cheeks be rosy that
her nodding head would mold until she
was dead 1t was hardly until she was
woman herself, and had lover of her own.
1t is possible that he gave the final over
throw to her faith, that it had not entirely
vanished before, She told him all about
MIR. Lennox. She scarcely looked upon it
as secrett to be kept now. She had ascer
tanned that many people were acquainted
with Fidelia Almy's poor romance, except
in its minor details.
So Lilly told her lover. "Good Lord ~
he said GLOW long is it since he went2"
"Forty years now" said Lily. They were
walking home from meeting one Sunday
night.
"Forty years. Why there amt any more
chance of bearing any thing from him
Did he have any folks here!"
mo. He was clerk in a store here. He
fell in love with Aunt Fidelia, and went off
to California to get some more money be-
fore he got married"
Didn't anybody ever hear any thing
from him."
"Aunt Fidelia always said not; but Aunt
Sally told me once that she knew well
enough that he got married out there right
after he went away; she said she heard it
pretty straight. She never had any pa
thence with Aunt Fidelia. If she'd known
half the things Poor Aunt Fidelia She's
getting worse lately. She goes to the post
Office Sundays. | can't stop her. Every
single Sunday, before meeting down she
goes"
"Why, she can't get i'm
Il know it, She just tries the door and
comes back again"
"Why, dear, she's crazy, amt she?"
mo, she amt crazy; she's rational
enough about every thing else. All the
way can put it is, she's just been pointed
one way all her life. and going one way,
and now she's getting nearer the end of
the road she's pointed sharper and she's
going faster. Sues had hard time. I'm
going to do all can for her, anyhow. Pll
help her get ready for Mr.. Lennox as long
as she lives'
Fidelia took great delight in Lily's love
affair. All that seemed to trouble her was
the suspicion that the young man might
leave town and the pair be brought to
letter writing.
You mind Lily" she would say; 'don't
you let Valentine settle anywhere else be
fore you're married. If you do, you'll
have to come to writin' letters, an letters
amt to be depended on. There's Slips
You'd git sick of waitin' the way have
l amt minded it much; but you're young
an it would be different"
When Valentine Rowe did find employ
ment in a town fifty miles away, poor
Fidelia seemed to have taken on herself a
double burden of suspense. In those days
she was much too early for the mails, and
waited, breathless, in the Office for hours
When she got letter for Lily she went
home radiant; she seemed to forget her
own disappointmeut. Lily's letters came
regularly for long time. Valentine came
to see her occasionally, too. Then, one
day, when Lily expected letter, it did not
come. Her aunt dragged herself home
feebly.
st amt come, Lily" said she. "The
troubles begun. You poor child, how air
you goin through with itan ID.
Lily laughed. why, Aunt Fidelia %
said she, what are you worrying fora l
haven't missed letter before. Something
happened SO Valentine couldn't write Sun
day, that's all. 1t don't trouble me mite"
However, even Lily was troubled at
length. Weeks went by and no letter
came from Valentine Rowe Fidelia tot
tered home dsspou lent day after day.
The girl had brave heart but she began
to shudder, watching her. She felt as if
she were looking into her own destiny.
''Pm going to write to Valentine" she
said su11anlv ona 1oU affair nilalia bo a