Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-01-06
From the American Cultivator.1
THE ATTIC STUDY.

ILL al llO Ol ~ ~ Is
Miss Annie Lyster gave sigh of re-
lief as she placed the last sheet upon a
huge pile of papers, and pushed her
chair back from the study table. Her
eyes rested upon a grim suit OF mail
that stood in one corner with upright
lance. If in fancy she pictured the
warrior of the fifteenth century, who
once wore the armor and welded the
lance, who shall doubt that the image
took on the ruddy face and stalwart
form of one of the present day, to her,
if none else, a modern hero? Shelves
reaching from floor to ceiling, on all
sides of the room, were crowded with
boOks-ancient vellum-bound tones,
ponderous cyclop@dias, miscellaneous
volumes in green, blue and red. The
doctors table presented that liter
which literary men delight in, and
which no discreet housewife, however
fond of orderly array, would dare to
set to rights. Her own table looked
more tidy, though there were few
blotches Of ink on the pretty crimson
cover. The bright October sunshine was
streaming in through the sky-light,
diffusing a pleasant warmth, for the
morning had been frosty. Just then
the doctors slow step vas heard on
the stairs, and soon he entered his
attic study.
Miss Lyster was still staring at the
armor, in deep thought.
"There isn't man in it," said the
doctor.
''Nor a skeleton, either, " rejoined the
young woman with O. laugh.
"But if not a man in mail, there was
a letter in the mail" said the doctor,
who loved to tighten the gravity fage
with his little joke.
Every good, DOCTOR" said Miss
Lyster, with dutiful appreciation; "but
it would be better yet if the letter were
for me-"
cit is for yours truly as you will
no doubt find at the end of it; but no,
the writing is masculine, man in the
mail after all and probably something
rather more afectionate than the stiff
yours truly winds it up, eh ?" and he
handed her the letter, which she
FASTENED to unseal.
Meanwhile the doctor stepped into
an adjoining room and busted himself
with the contents of an old chest,
from which he presently removed q
large bundle OF papers and returned
to the study. The young woman had
finished her letter. There was a cloud
upon her face and suspicion of tears
in her dark eyes.
"Well, well! not bad news, hope"
said the DOCTOR
Eyes, [ am sorry to say, very bad
news. 1 ought to go home at once;
they are in great trouble there. Oh!
I don't know what to do. I cannot
leave my school, of course, until
Christmas week, and so there it isl
as it something you can tell me
about, my dear?" asked the doctor,
kindly. perhaps / can advise you,
but of course I don't wish to interfere
in your private affairs"
"You are very kind, DIR. Warlock
you are always kind. Yes, l will
tell you about it, though you have
enough to think of without being
bothered with the troubles of poor
me. You know my home is in Rock
boro'. Mother and I have little
farm there, and we have managed to
get along quite comfortably since faith
er's death, but the place is not ours
really, that is, it is mortgaged for
$500. Father died very suddenly and
his affairs were so involved that all we
had left was the farm. That seemed
to be secure, but all at once this mort
gage was produced, and that has been
a cloud hanging over us ever since. l
have managed to pay the interest and
the taxes by teaching, and everything
would go on as it has done, suppose,
If the man who holds the mortgage
would be content. But now he in
sists on having his money. We might
as we'll think of raising $5,OOO,O0 as
$500. Oh! don't know what to do.
Mother is an invalid, you know, and
it will kill her to lose her home, but it
must come to that, [ fear"
"You say the interest and taxes are
kept up; what rate of interest do you
pay?"
six per cent, and it has never run
behind. We have been very careful
about that"
Dear me, can't see why in these
times, when money is SO easy, a man
should want a better investment"
You don't know the man, doctor.
he is a sort of country speculatOr,
and though he is rich suppose he has
many schemes on hand and likes to
keep his capital moving But believe
if he chose he could let this investment
remain. He doesn't choose, however.
Besides, his father, and not he, adj
vanced the money, and it is part of
his patrimony."
"Young and married." queried the
doctor.