Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-09-01

terror, had forgotten that, suddenly and
without warning, to bring the living into
the presence of the dead is not the wisest
or the kndest thing to do For. to the
living, more especially to the young, the
sight Of death Is horrible. Il is such 4
fearsome comment on their health and
strength Youth and strength are merry;
but who can be merry with yon dead thing
in the upper chamber3 Take it awayI
thrust it under groundi 1t is an insult to
us; 1t reminds US that we, too, die like
others. What business has its pallor to
show itself against our ruddy cheeks2
.1begyour pardon. whispered Augusta,
realizing something Of all this in a flash.
81 forgot; you do not know--you must be
shocked-forgive mel
WHO is its' he said. gasping to get
back his breath
My sister," she answered. 1T was to
try and save her life that | wanted the
money. When told her that could not
get 1t she gave up and died Your uncle
killed her. Comel"
Greatly shocked. he followed her back
into the sitting ioom. and then-as soon
as he got his ccmposure-apologize for
having intruded himself upon her in such
an hour of desolation.
II am glad to see you" she said, sim.
ply; II have seen nobody except the doc
tor once and the undertaken twice It is
dreadful to sit alone hour after hour face
to face with the irretrievable II had
not bsen so foolish as to enter into that
agreement with Messrs Meeson | could
have got the money by selling my new
book easily enough, and | should have
been able to take Jeannie abroad. and
believe that she would have lived-at least
] hoped so But now it Is finished and
cannot be helped"
81 wish had known" b.undered Eus-
tace. u could have lent yon the money;
have hundred and City pounds"
You are very good. she answered,
gently; but it Is no use talking about 1t
now. 1t is finished"
Then Eustace rose and went away, and
it was not till he found himself In the
street that he remembered that he had
never asked Augusta what her plans
were Indeed. the sight of poor Jeannie
had put everything else out Of his head
However. he consoled himself with the
reflection that he could call again week
or ten days after the funeral
Two days later Augusta followed the
remains of her dearly beloved sister to
their last resting place. and then came
home on foot. for she was the only
mourner, and sat in her black gown be-
fore the little fire and reelected upon her
position What was she to dol She
could not stay in these rooms 1t made
her heart ache every time that her eyes
fell upon the empty sofa opposite. dinted
as it was with the accustomed weight of
poor Jeannie's frame Where was she to
go, and what was she to dot She might
get literary employment, but then her
agreement with Messrs Meeson stared
her In the face That agreement was
very widely drawn. II bound her to offer
oil literary work Of any sort that might
come from her pen during the next five
gears to Messrs Meeson at the fixed rate
Of per cent on the published price. OBJ
viously, as it seemed to her, though per
haps enormously. this CLAUSE might be
stretched to include even a newspaper
article, and she knew the malignant nat
ure of Mr.. Meeson well enough to be
quite certain that, if possible. that would
be done II was true she might manage
to make bare living out of her work.
even at the beggarly pay Of per cent. !;
but Augusta was person OF spirit, and
she was determined that she would rather
starve than that Meeson should again
make huge profits out Of her labor. This
avenue being closed to her, she turned
her mind elsewhere; but. look where she
might, the prospect was equally dark.
Augustus remarkable literary success
had not teen one Of much practical ad-
vantage to her. for in this country literary
success does not mean so much as it does
in some others As q matter Of fact, in
deed. the average Briton has at heart q
considerable contempt. II not for litera-
ture. at least for those who produce it.
Literature. in his mind. is connected with
the idea of garrets and extreme poverty;
and, therefore. having the national respect
for money. he in secret. If not in public.
despises it.
Thus it was that. Notwithstanding her
success, Augusta had nowhere to turn in
her difficulty She had absolutely no lit
erary connection. Nobody had called
upon her or sought her out in consequence
of her book One or two authors in
London and a few unknown people from
different parts of the country and abroad
had written to her-that was all. Had
she lived in town it might have been
different: but. unfortunately for her. she
did not.
The more she thought the less clear did
her path become. until. at last. she got
an inspiration Why not leave England
altogether She had nothing to keep her
here. She had cousin--a clergyman
In New Zealand, whom she had never
seen, but who had read 'Jemims's Vow, "
and written her kind letter about It.
That was tho one delightful thing about
writing books-one made friends all over
the world Surely he would take her in
for awhile and put her in the way Of earn
ing o living where Aeeson would not be
able to molest her. Why should she not
go2 She had eco left. and her furniture,
which included an expensive invalid chair,
and her books would fetch another ESQ or
so-enough to pay for q second class
passage and leave o few pounds in her
pocket. At the worst it would be Q
change, and she could not go through
more there than she did here; SO that very
night she sat down and wrote to her
clergyman cousin
lfo Be coNrysuKDl
Ignorant Of French Law