Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-12-31

but when she saw Louise in her funereal /
garments driving by in Squire Fanshawe's |
carriage, she wondered il Betty were not I
far more miserable. Betty herself won 4
dered why she did not die in that bitter /
season Of despair. There seemed 10 be /
nothing to detain her here life had come .
10 a stand still. II was not that Aleck had .
died she could have borne that, perhaps, .
and sorrowed bravely, and yet have lived .
ON. Tint would have been grief enough, /
TO be sure, for one heart to bear but she |
would still have possessed the tender assur /
ance Of his love 10 compensate her. She |
would not have lost him utterly she could |
have lived on, with the certainty of meet |
ing him unchanged at last, just as she had |
existed through her tedious work -a-days, |
sure of his companionship at their close |
the one brightness in all her sombre days, |
the hours that were never absent from her .
thoughts, the hope that had carried her |
through all difficulties uncomplainingly. |
Now there was nothing left for her to live |
for or TO die for. IL seemed 10 her that the |
bloom was stripped from the world. She |
could not reconcile herself TO her changed |
condition, nor adjust herself to the belief |
that Aleck cared nothing for her through /
all the years that had been TO her like heav- |
en- ON earth-that he had been merely pass
ing the time She felt as if the solid earth |
had failed beneath her feet and her life |
stretched out before her in dreary and bar |
rem perspective If she could only be al |
lowed TO preserve the illusion that he loved |
her, wherever he might be, that would |
have sufiiced for happiness, would have |
gilded all the empty years she must spend |
on earth without the sun of his presence. |
But people do not die when they have moth /.
ing to live for Betty's aunt trusted TO |
time to mitigate the blow she remembered /
that she herself once had lover who de |.
serted her, that she had cried her eyes out, /
and had given away all her iewelry, and |
believed she was done with everything bat |
ten years later he passed her window daily, |
bald, equity man from whom the glamour |
had fed. But she bad forgotten that he |
had robbed her of the power of loving any
one else, and that other lovers had sighed
in vain. When Betty first went out, and
began to resume her ordinary life as if
nothing had happened, the Squire's family
had gone abroad. and had taken Louise
Turner with them to tighten the shadow of
their grief and stone in the Squire's lot
in the cemetery recorded the fact that Aleck
Fanshawe had lived and died It would
have been melancholy comfort to Betty
to hang wreaths upon the great white stone
that confronted her like a ghost among the
shrubbery, TO plant flowers about it. But
how could she lavish such loving trihes in
memory Of the man who had deprived her
Of the poor privilege of weeping for him
She sometimes -elt as if she would like to
leave Haven forever: every road and stie
and bit of wood reminded her Of Aleck.
1t was here he met her ON her daily walk
from school it was in the wood they gath
cred the autumn leaves, and came home
laden with spoils on this river the moon
light had found them: ON this wild bank
Aleck had sat and sketched the scene for
her beneath this tree he had read to her
from the poets. The very air of the places
they had frequented together seemed filled
with the words he had spoken. Could it be
that he had not cared Why, then, had he
spent his last evening ashore with her He
had left early to be sure, saying he must
pack and be off by daybreak Had he
gone from her 10 Louise The bough of
scarlet berries he had given her that night
had hung in her room ever since, where
her eyes would see it on waking. The first
time she was able to walk across her room
after her illness she took it down and threw
it upon the open fire indeed, she took out
all Of his letters for the same purpose but
put them back again, not strong enough
to abandon them all at once.
1t was summer at Haven, but it was not
summer in Betty lie Bretons heart. think
she remembered other Junes whose flowers
were no sweeter, whose woods were no
greener-Junes that had borrowed some
thing of their charm from her own happi-
ness, that like the moon shone with Dor
rowed light. She was trying to sing one of
the old songs at her piano one twilight
songs she had sung with Aleck in their
they had loved TO linger but the sobs
choked her, and the tears crowded and
jostled each other in her eyes and sudden
", when the last vibration of the notes had
ceased, a voice outside took up the strain
and sang it through.
1T is Aleck, she cried, hurrying toward
the piazza like one in dream. Then she
walked, turned back, and sat down Sup
posing it was Aleck, he belonged to Louise
OF course it was a mistake 1t was because
she had been thinking about him Aleck
was dead and she had no right to think Of
him. She never would think of him again
never she would forget him, as he had
forgotten her. Dead or alive, he could be
nothing TO her-nothing, nothing He had
broken her heart could one love with "a
broken heart
Somebody was coming into the room with
a lighted lamp, preceded by excited voices
1t was Miss lie Breton. followed by Mrs
Ames
isn't it marvellous Z" she was saying
Such shock, too, for the Squire's family,
just as they were getting used to the idea of
his death -
But is it true = asked Miss lie Breton
Betty had shrunken into the dark corner
of the long room (Which one lamp only illu-
minated in patches) in order to hide the
tears upon her eyelids.
True as preaching. | was Just getting
into the train for Haven this afternoon--l
had been up to town for trifle of shop
ping-and heard familiar voice saying,
Allow me to carry your bundle, Mrs. Ames.
1t made me shiver and my blood curdle, l
looked over my shoulder expecting to see a
ghost-a railway stations a queer place for
ghost, though, isn't it Well there stood
Aleck Fanshawe, | shant be any more
surprised at the day of judgment
"Whdt "a change ~ cried Miss lie Breton;
'and they all in mourning and the stone up
in the cemetery, and the estate administer
ed upon | wonder where Betty is =
YES, seems as though they'd been to a
mortal lot of expense for nothing
"And what a happy day for Louise Turn
er ~ sighed Miss lie Breton. II suppose
he has cabled TO his father =
Mrs, Ames answered with hearty laugh.
That's the oldest part of it. He asked
about all the folks, coming down ON the
train he didn't know they'd gone to Eu
rope. And he asked first of all after your
Betty-upon my word And don't you
want TO know about Louise Z said l. Lou
Use who said he why, Louise Turner,
Of course, What about her Is she mar
ried or dead : Married = l cried why,
Aleck Fanshawe, are you mad or making
believe Didn't you expect that Louise
Turuer would confess her engagement to
you, you sly old dog after the news of your
death Confess her engagement to me,
he repeated and he looked like thunder
bolt l was frightened. You don't mean
to say You weren't engaged to her Z | said.
Now she's Just like one of the family
wears widows weeds for you, and went to
church on the Squire's arm when your
funeral sermon was preached Engaged
to me = he cried 4 never thought of it,
am engaged to Betty lie Breton, and
never loved any one else l thought I'd
run over and prepare your mind, pursued
Mrs. Ames, "for fear of the shock. Where's
Betty I"
Squire Fanshawe's family returned in
season for Betty's wedding, and she took
her wedding tour through the White Noun
tains, after all. But Louise Turner never