The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-09-26
Seletteo Storm.
HeliOtrOpe.


miles from my destination-an obscure
little town, off the line of the railroad,
and reached by way of tage-coach. AS
| stood on the platform of the bare lit
tie station, watching the receding train,
/ became aware that / was the only
passenger set down at this point. This
did not trouble me in the least, how
ever, as | am an Independent old maid
and not at all given to timidty.
/ next looked around for the stage,
and found it waiting at the other side
of the station. quickly chose the seat
beside the driver on top of the coach,
as | wished to enjoy to the utmost the
beautiful September afternoon. The
driver was a tall, broad-shouldered
fair-hared young fellow, with refined
face, and no bravado in his manner.
Not at all like the traditional stage
driver" was my thought. He an
swered my question concerning the
stage with respectful eyes, ma am"
helped me carefully to my seat, climbed
to his own and we started on the long
ride.
For the first mile or two the horses
went briskly, and the driver and l ex-
changed few desultory remarks about
the weather, country and like topics,
and then relapsed into silence, my COM
panion occasionally whistling softly
and gazing off toward the distant hills
with smile on his handsome face as if
his thoughts pleased him. Presently
we came to belt of woods, and the
horses instinctively slackened their
pace to enjoy the shade. The GOODNESS
was delicious. The driver took off his
broad hat with an air of relief, and l
took my handkerchief from my satchel.
to remove some of the dust of travel
from my face. l have always liked
delicate perfumes, and, on a journey
especially, make point of always hav-
ing a drop of some dainty extract in
my handkerchief, as an antidote for the
nauseous smell of car-smOke. AS /
wiped my dusty face, the driver turned
suddenly, and asked somewhat bash
fully, Isn't that heliotrope perfumery
you have there, ma amp" =
| assented, rather surprised, and he
said apologetically, l suppose you think
it's queer that / should know it, but
bit of that did good deal for me once"
l saw that he felt communicative
(the young folks always seem to think
that Pm their friend, bless themD, so
l said, "Tell me about it,"
{" don't suppose it'll seem much to
YOU" he said, the color Frightening the
tan on his cheek, " but it was day in
my life that 1 won't forget soon.
:" l amt native westerner. | used
to live in Massachusetts. My own folks
died when l was little chap, and l
lived with my uncle. I had tirst-rate
home, but I'd read so much about the
West, and how easy you could get rich,
and all that, that l thought there was
more of a chance for me here than at
home. Then" his color deepened,
''after l was engaged to Alice, of
course, wanted more than ever to do
well and make a good home for her."
"Of course" l said.
eyes, ma'am. And Alice is worth
what any one could do for her. She
well, she isn't acting pious and goody
all the time, but a fellow can't know
her and be mean or sneaky. l can't
Just explain it, but she makes you feel
as though you wanted to be just as
square as you could without saying any
thing about it. Then she's just as in
dependent and encouraging and cheer
full as she can be, too; tell you, it pays
to have girl like her think well of
you!
Well, Alice always had some of
that perfumery about her when / was
there, so l got to know it pretty well,
and one day just before l left, l asked
her what it was, and she said hello
trope.' I've always remembered it.
"When | got here, of course | didn't
find things as easy as | expected. |
went to Denver and stayed about a
week looking for work and couldn't
find any. Then my money began to
give out and | got low-spirited. / got
a letter from Alice that cheered me
some, but it didn't bring work. One
day some one told me to try for a
stage-driver's place; it was nice work
through the summer and | could be
looking up something better at the
same time.
81 was used to horses, and thought
it was good plan, so | went to the
stage-oflice down at B, to see the
boss about it. He was sharp-looking
man, and asked lots of questions. l
was pretty sure he didn't want me, but
some one called him out while we were
talking and he left me alone moment.
l looked around the Office and the first
thing l saw was big roll of greenbacks
lying on the desk. There was win
dow open right behind the desk, and a
train due at the station in five minutes.
| knew l could take that money and
get safely away before he came back.
OF course l wouldn't have thought OF
it if I'd been myself, but was hungry
and tired and discouraged, and it was
too much for me. Quick as wink
was over by the desk, picked up the
bills and opened my coat to slip them
in my vest-pocket, when all of a sud
den got just a Whit of heliotrope-
and dropped those bills as if I'd beer
shot. 1t was from Alice's letter in my
pocket and l felt as if she'd been right
there and seen me. felt like a regu
lar scoundrel, and l sneaked back to
my chair and sat down, wondering how
I'd ever got low enough to want to
steal, and fairly seeing the hurt lool
that would be in Alice's eyes II she
Epaw Drattv Soon the man came hacl