Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-07-16
a TRIAL OF FAITH.

"What I consider the essential element
of happiness in any love affairs is the su-
preme faith and perfect trust of the one
in the other,'' said the heroine, in voice
that in a moderately pretty girl would have
seemed authoritative, but not in splen-
did creature as tall and stately as Tenny-
sons Maud, with red-brown hair, dark
violet eyes, and a mouth shaped like Gu
pid's bow. mo matter what appearances
are against bin, no matter if time or dis
lance or malicious tongues separate, the
woman should trust. Since I have become
engaged"
Engaged to do what, Florence?" asked
Jacks sister, with her irreverent giggle.-
But what could you expect of little un-
dersized creature with turned-up nose,
and pair of green eyes as inquisitive as
an interrogation point? "When I think
that you and Jack are really to be mar
ried, it does seem too ridiculous; he has
just gone into the Senior at Yale. and you
just out of school last June. And then
such lot of sweethearts as he has had i
There were Emily Hazen and Marie de
Brese, and last year Prof. Peters daIgh-
ter-the youngest one. with the big black
eyes, that giggled. And to hear you, the
veriest spitfire in school, when you get
jealous, talking about love and trust and
faith. Now, my lady, don't get vexed; it IS
badinage and persifage, " as the woman of
society would say, Pm only watching the
miracle of love-"
II am eighteen years of age, Susie Lane,
and your brother is-ah, twenty-one; we
are neither of US children: and besides, I'm
not going to have you making fun of me
this way, and ridiculing everything. I
! shall never tell you anything as long as 1
live. thought you sympathized-"
ooh, Florence, don't cry.' cried the
scoffer, melted and distressed in turn" Do
let's sit down on this log, and tell us all
about it. BERTHE is dying to hear, and has
been pinching me black and blue ever
since we started. Don't mind me; you
know BERTHE and are nothing but misera-
BILE school girls in scrubby clothes, and
know nothing but chemistry and moral
and mental philosophy, and French and
German and the sciences, and English lit
erature and Art; don't be bashful before
u.s."
"Oh, hush, Sue,'' cried BERTHE; tive are
tired of you and your nonsense. I want to
have real sensible, sentimental time
Let's sit right her. I wish had my sketch
book. How deep the wood is, and how
soft the meadows. and that bank of ferns,
ens See the waterfall yonder, and that
half-charred log. All, this is the very for
est of Arden. Come, dear, tell us all about
it''
SWELL" said the heroine, sit happened
as this very spot. yesterday afternoon, just
before he left on the p. m. train. Indeed
I can't tell you the very words, girls, be-
cause it's kind of sacred; but he vowed he
had meyer cared one straw for Emily Ha-
zen or Marie De Brese, and as for that Pc
tiers girl, he positively scorned her. 1
looked very uninterested and dignlfed, and
said really didn't know why he should
make me bis confidante, though I was
Sues friend and staying in his house, and
all that. and he pumped right down there
where you are sitting. BERTHE, and kissed
my hand, and told me-. No, I just
won't; but he talked perfectly beautifully
about trust and faith, and how must be-
lieve in him, even though he were far, far
away at Yale, and here in Pennsylvania.
And he said we must re.nember we were
together in heart though the hills lie be-
tween"
'He got that out of my scrap-book,'
said Sue, conscientiously. "But 1t came
in very well. Jack is very tidy boy, and
I really believe he is in love this time, and
I hope you will trust him. Florence. Let's
20 home and get into his top drawers, and
turn out the mementoes of the past. Do
you know that the other day 1 stepped in
while you and he were discussing constan-
cy on the veranda, and I found twenty
different locks of hair in one corner of the
bureau-everv color of the rainbow except
gray--and all mixed up, so that they look
ed like Joseph's coat or a rag carpet"
"Don't mind Sue, Florie, dear" said
little Berthe. comfortingly. II saw them
and there wasn't strand of red-auburn,
l mean-in the lot"
II do not mind either of you, 'sad Miss
Maxwell, with dignity. 81 love and-I
trust"
''Sue! where is Sue?" called Mrs. Lane
one morning about three weeks after this
conversation. Come into the library; your
papa wishes to see you"
81 wonder what mamma wantsp" said
Sue, putting down her linen doilies, on
which she was working Rosina Emmett
tea party. "When they 60 into the libra
ry, and shut the door, and call me some
thing has happened to Jack, By .the-way,
you havn't had letter for a week, have
you. Florence?"
mot for two weeks" said Florence,
bravely, though the telltale color dyed her
cheek for an instant with crimson wave.
II don't believe you care one bit about
poetry, BERTHE. I've been reading this
lovely Absence for half an hour. and you
keep on drawing as if it were 'Havens'
Philosophy
"'What shall do with all the days, and hours
That must be counted ere see thy faces? "
"I'd make caramels some of the time,"