The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-12-25

Lillian put her hands tenderiy on
Bertha's shoulder.
II would take care of Encle Bob, said
she, teven if you were gone"
ssDo you suppose l wouldn't look after
dear old Uncle Bob!" Indignantly struck
in Lofty, who was barely fourteen. "If
both of you want to 60 and get married,
I am old enough to keep house for Uncle
Bob. Look at that carpet! changed the
breadths, so that the worn spots should
not show. See the wallpaper! l pasted
on the fresh piece to hide the cracks, so
that no one would know it wasn't new.
And Uncle Bob's coat-did you see how
I had worked over all the button holes.
and mended the freyed elbows"
''Dear little Lofty" said Lillian, kissing
the flushed cheeks of the baby of the
family. "You are a perfect fairy, but
you are such mite of thing, after all. {"
Gillian is right" asserted sage Bertha.
"You are so little, Lofty. And Lillian is
absent at her bonnet-f frame making all
day long. Uncle Bob grows feeble as he
grows older. He must not be left. Oh,
can't be married this year."
But Bertha never told her sisters how
Allan Hapgood's last impetuous words
had contained yelled hint that this was
the last time of asking; if She --Bertha-
did not care for him, other girls might.
His neatly furnished fat, and his salary
raised to thousand dollars year, need
not 60 begging long!
The words had struck like barbed
arrows to her heart, but they had not
SHAKEN her allegiance to poor Uncle Bob.
Il won't leave him now, Of all times, !"
said Bertha, to herself. "He loved me
and cared for mc-for us all, indeed
wher l was nothing but q trouble and an
expense. He brought us all up, and
spent his substance on us, and I shall be
ungrateful indeed to desert him when he
is old and poor and feeble. 1 can earn
something here at home, and be COM
panion for him still. Allan is young and
brave-hearted. He will soon get over
this disappointment. But Uncle Bob
takes every little thing to heart. Oh,
no, can't leave Uncle Bob."
And so Bertha Bloom settled herself
down to the unlovely prospect of single
blessedness, and all for Uncle Bob's
sake.
Uncle Bob was lawyers clerk. He
had been a lawyer himself once, in
Colorado; but his health had failed, his
small investments had taken to them
selves wings, and he had gradually come
down to the low estate of clerks desk
and clerks salary.
Without his niece Lilian's wages and
his niece Bertha's careful administration
OF the slender household funds, he must
certainly have gone into bankruptcy.
: But he kept his hat carefully brushed,
wore flower in his buttonhole when it
was obtainable, and staunchly adhered
to the traditions of his gentlemanhood.
He still read the few lines daily in his
Greek Testament that kept up the memo
ries of his college days; he looked in at
the windows Of the book stores, and pom
dercd wistfully on the books he would
buy, if only he could afford it.
And, most piteous of all, he still pre-
served curl of bright-browu hair in
his pocket book, and mused at times on
what might have been, if Nell Sandiford
had not flung away his love, twenty odd
years ago.
Il think I did right" thought Uncle
Bob, reverently kissing the curl, and re-
placing it in the worn compartment of
the pocket hook. SIT seemed hard at
the time, but I've always felt that I did
right"