Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-19

julia began to hesitate. If | put that
on. it will be for life
Yes. it viii" said Percy.
Then give me a moment TO Think
After due consideration she sad what
she had made up her mind to say long
before.
Percy, you're a man of honor. III
be YOURS upon one solemn condition
that from this hour till death parts us.
you promise to give your faith where
you give your love-"
IN give my faith where / give nv
love" sad Percy, solemnly.
Next month they were married, and
he gave his confidence where he gave
his love, and he never had reason to re-
greet it.
4John Baker"
"Sir."
You had better mind what you are
about. or you'll get fonder of her than
of Walter himself"
Never. Colonel, never! And so will
YOU"
Then. after a moments reflection,
John Baker inquired how they were to
help it. Look here, Colonel" said he.
"a mans a man. but a Woman'S a WO-
man. 1t isn't likely as Master Walter
viii always be putting his hand round
your neck and kissing of YOU when
you're good, and pick a white hair off
your coat if he do but see one when
you're going out, and shine upon you
indoors more than the sun does on you
out-of-doors; and faint to be supposed
as Mr.. alter viii never meet me on
the stairs without breaking out into a
smile to cheer an old fellOw'Sheart. and
showing $4,000 worth of ivory all at one
time; and If I've a cold or a bit of a
headache he won't send his lady's maid
to see after me and tell me what | am
to do, and threaten to come and nurse
me himself if [ don't mend"
well" said the Colonel, there's
something in all this"
For all that" said John Baker, IAN
dldly. Il shall make you my confession,
sir. | said to Walter myself, said l,
Here's a pretty business said L; I've
known and loved you from a child, and
Mrs. Walter has only been here six
months, and now I'm afraid she umake
me love her more than / do You.'"
why of course she Will" said Mr..
Walter. why, Ilove her better than
| do myself, and you've got to follow
suit or else III murder you"
So that question was settled.
The five hundred guineas reward
ranked in the minds of those detectives,
and after a few months, with the assis-
lance of the ordinary police in all the
northern towns, they got upon d cold
scent, and then upon a warm scent, and
at last they suspected their bird, under
the ALIAS of C%arruthers. So they came
to the house TO get sight of him, and
make sure before applying for a war
rant. They got there just in time for
his funeral. Middleton was there and
saw them, and asked them to attend it,
and to speak to him after the reading
of the will.
proceedings are stayed" said he;
"but, perhaps, having acted against me,
you might like to see whether it would
not pay better to act with me-"
and no mistake" said one of them;
so they were Toasted with the rest, for
it was a magnificent funeral, and after
that Middleton squared them with ESQ
apiece to hold their tongues-and mor
to divert all suspicion from the house
and the beautiful woman who now held
it as only trustee for her son.
Remembering that he had left the
estate to another mans child, Monck-
ton, one fine day, bequeathed his per-
SOnal estate on half a sheet Of note-pa-
per to Lucy. This and the large allow
ance Middleton obtained from the Court
lOl y us VI lId SdCl Olh W bjO
heir, made her q rich woman. She was
a German, sober, notable, and provi-
dent; she kept her sheep, and became a
sort of squire. She wrote to her huS-
band in the States, and by the advice of
Middleton, told him the exact truth in
stead of a pack of fibs, which she GER
tainIy would have done had she been
left to herself. Poverty had pinched
Jonathan Braham by this time; and as
! 10 co-y lu thu +orn 81 hn,~ 1a44o. che III
not care one straw whether he accepted
the situation Or not, he accepted it
eagerly. and had to court her as a stran-
ger, and to marry her, and wear the
crown of matrimOnial; for Middleton
drew the settlements, and neither Bra
ham nor his creditors could touch a
half-penny. And then came out the
better part of this Indifferent woman.
Braham had been a good friend to her
in time of need, and she was a good and
faithful friend to him now. She was
generally admired and respected: kind
TO the poor; bOuntiful. but not lavish;
an excellent manager, but not Stingy.
In Vain shall we endeavOr. with
small insight into the D0SOmS or men
and women, to divide them into the
good and the bad. There are mediocre
intellects: there are mediocre morals.
This woman was always more inclined
| to good than evil, yet at times tempta-
ton conquered. She was virtuOus till
she succumbed to a seducer whom she
loved. Under his control she deceived
Walter Clifford, and attempted an act
of downright %villainy; that control re-
moved, she returned to virtuouS and in
duStriOuS habits. After many years,
solitude, WEAKNESS. anda gloomy future
unhinged her conscience again; comfort
and affection offered themselves, and
she committed bigamy. Deserted by
Braham, and once more fascinated by
the only man she had ever greatly low
ed, she joined him in an abOminable
fraud. broke down in the middle of it
by a sudden impulse of conscience, and
soon after settled down into a faithful
nurse. She is now a faithful wife, a
tender mother, a kind mistress, and
nearly everything that is good in a me-
dunn way; and so, in all human proba-
bility, will pass the remainder Of her
days, which. as she is healthy and sober
in eating and drinking. will perhaps be
the longer period of her little life.
Vel may we all pray against great
temptations; only choice spirits resist
them, except when they are great temp
tatiOns to somebody else, and somehow
not to the person tempted.
1t has lately been objected to the
writer's of fction-especially those few
who are d%ramatists- as well as novelists
that they neglect what Shakespeare
calls "the middle of humanity, and deal
in eccentric characters above Dr. below
the people one really meets.
For Our part we Will never place Fic-
ton, which was the parent of History,
below it's child. Our hearts are with
those superior men and women who,
whether in History or Fiction, make
life hpan+ifuI 1p1 raico tho cfan6ord 0f