The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-06-19

III.
ana mad consented He wrote a long and
loving letter to the judge, in which he told
MN more OF what he felt than he had ever
uttered before, and after that his name was
read In the papers by his fellow townsmen
now aud then, and they were proud of him.
ana llked TO tell strangers he was born there.
face. "'
And many changes took place besides
those that time must make.
War fell upon the land. Men who had
peen rich became poor. There was no
longer luxury anywhere, and often biting
poverty entered the once happy homesteads.
lessy hao returned to her grandfathers
nome an orphan. She was Miss Teresa
now.
The judge was an old man, with hair like
snow, who waited on the margin of the dark
river.
Chloe had as many wrinkles as walnut in
her face, but was otherwise unchanged. She
was the only one left of all the many SER
| wants OF the house, and 1t was not easy,
| sometimes, to serve the judge and Miss
| Tessy with pone, and broiled chicken and
coffee
Crops were poor, and they were robbed of
their fruit by swarms of ever-hungry little
| darkies. Neither the old gentleman nor the
young lady guessed at all their faithful
| Chloe's devices to procure the wherewithal
to keep the pot and frying-pan in use.
just sixteen years from that autumn III
which her Aunt Teresa died. Tessy, older
than she was then, and her living image, sat
at Chloe's feet on the old porch.
The house had become shabby, and the
mating in the hall was worn. 1t could not
| be helped. But Tessy was used to that
| that was not what troubled her.
The Denveigh's were about to give party,
| and they had asked her, of course.
And l can't go, Chloe" she said, half
| crying. Il haven't solitary thing to
wear"
Chloe shook her head.
Times Is changed" she said "Times is
changed, sartinly."
Her mind went back to years of plenty and
elegance, and suddenly an idea seized her.
"Dere seems to be providence in it." she
with rheumatic wouldn't dare to do it. but
sence it's the will of the Lord, rej'ice that
II should hev happened jest now.'
What are you talking about?'
>, The. 1edge's rheumatic in his knee, Miss
Iessy, replied Chloe, "ef he wus about, |
dino, Miss Tessy, as L burst, but dere am a
dress one of de ladies wore jes' once, up gar
ret, ef de rats amt got at it, guess you
could wear dat. Pow'ful harnsome it used
TO be, remember"
Tessy had never been told how her aunt
died, nor did she remember her clearly.
Many ladies had married and gone away
from that old mansion. She did not think at
all of the former wearer. A vision of silk,
that might be remodelled flashed across her
mind.
'Oh, come and see If it is possible" she
cried. "Come, show me where it ISL and
she flew up the stairs, followed more slowly
by Chloe. At the entrance to the garnet she
paused. but what had that to do with
grandpa" she asked.
Chloe was always ready with fib when
one seemed needful.
"Miss Jessie, dom you. know the jedgeis
pow full proud?" she asked. He'd be sort
O. Tended fur to hey Miss Jessie make over
old clothes. like she couldn't afford to buy
new ones
Tessie laughed 'It is not likely grandpa
would remember girls gown" she said.
But Chloe knew more than her young mis-
tress.
The garnet was long and broad. The dis
carded furniture and garments of genera
lions hung there. Old boxes and bundles,
punches of herbs, half used bottles of med-
cine, a rusty sword or two, cracked mirrors,
broken china, filled 1t to overlooking.
Old Chloe crossed its length, in her loose,
Tapping slippers, and stopped before high
clOtheS-press.
"Miss Tessy," she said. 81 is mighty
heavy. Have to ask Miss Tessy fur to climb
onto dat old table and git down dat old box
up a top dere."
A moment more, and Tessy had the box in
her arms, and had jumped lightly to the
floor. She pulled off the cover. The blue
satin dress of which we know lay before
her.
"Ohl Chloer' she cried, ecstatically.
.'How lovely how utterly lovely" She
a
though" she said.
"Law, yes,'' said Chloe. "Why, now | re-
member, Miss Tessy, dat ar dress must hev
done gone got some wine split on it, dat's
why dey sent it up garrett Pow'ful proud, all
my young ladies was; wouldn't wear nothin'
mended. But I'll jess cut off a bit of dat sash
and patch it, soft Miss Tessey wouldn't
know: No use bein' too top-lofty desc times"
And so it came about that Tessy, quite I'M
aware Of what she did, decided to go to the
Denviegh party, in the dress her aunt had
donned, sixteen years before, for the same
purpose. 1t was certainly old-fashioned, but
pretty girl in a beautiful dress only looks
quaint, If it be cut in the bygone style, and
things did not move as rapidly in that south
ern place as they do in New York or Paris.
She had dressed and gone down into the
parlor, to look at herself in the long mirror.
She wore the same roses in her belt that her
aunt had worn The old rose bush, or the
new one from its roots, still bore bountifully.
The whole costume was the same, except the
pearls. They had gone, with other things of
value, in time of hardship.
One ancient horse was being harnessed in
an old gig, to take the girl upon her way, and
she had stepped into the hall to look at the
tall clock, impatient of times lingering foot
steps, as a man came up the long path from
the gate and paused upon the Threshold. 1t
was Roderick Clifford, returning to his native
town after fifteen years of absence.
Years had changed his old love story into a
sweet, sad memory.
I16 uau LTdVclleu lar anu uOn6 mucn. lie
was IS years old now, man of strong mind
and physique. But at that moment it seemed
to him that he saw Teresa before him. The
intervening time shrunk to nothing-he was
p again. :, -,
The girl turned. Still the illusion re-
manned. de stood looking at her, and she
stood looking at him, strange thrills running
through her frame. 1t was a moment she
never forgot in all her life.
The nQYt instant hQ KnaW tho frrtt Ha
advanced, gravely and quietly, holding out
his hand, man of the world again.
II beg your pardon, Miss Teresa" he said.
You were child when / went away, and
naturally you do not remember me as [ do
you. Perhaps Judge Shandon may have
spoken of Roderick Gifford?"
The girls eyes sparkled.
Everybody speaks OF such famous per-
sonage," she said. II am SO glad to meet
you. Poor grandpa is in bed to-day, not real
ly i'll, but not able to come down. Will you
20 up to see him? He will be so pleased"
She would have conducted him, but Chloe
interposed.
.'Stay here" she said "Stay here, Miss
Tessy; mind what | told you. Oh, Marse
Roderick, you ant change none to speak of
for de time. Come long to de jedge."
But on the stairs she whispered:
II see you know dat dress; don't tell de
is mighty poor. Miss Teresa, she wouldn't
hey said no, eff | could done gone up dar to
ask her."
''What do such things matter, my good
Chloe?" said Roderick, giving the old wo-
man his hand.
But after his interview with her GRANDPA
Their, when he found himself riding beside
the little vehicle which boy had been hired
to drive TO the Denviegh's, 1t all seemed like
dream again,
He was the lion of the evening Well used
to that sort of thing. he bore his social hon.
ors calmly, at every opportunity returning
to Teresa. He danced with her in the Vir-
ginia reel; he took her down to supper.
The girl, to whom he was a hero, was de-
lighted. She liked him as she had never
liked any one before
As she prattled to him, many things she
said were what the other Teresa might have
spoken. Yet now he felt, rather than saw,
wide difference between the two He rode
home beside her under the moonlight, quite
himself again.
The girl was tlattered and delighted. She
was radiant as she entered the house, and
sent Chloe to bed at once, declaring she
would undress herself She threw the blue
silk across the bed, and draped in white, re-
garded it critically.
sit is too full" she said. "Tll have it al
tered in the skirt. Why, there is pocket.
/ did not know 1t had one, it lies so fiat"
She thrust her hand into the little puff Of