, 1889-07-31

fOACS anu oAAiii III DSALul1c u int IN
let's she always wore, and after a while
her daily visit was what he lived for and
looked forward to. When it grew
warmer he began to sit up by the win
dow in an easy chair she had sent from
her OWN home, and she would come and
sit on a stool at his feet and talk with
him about herself and her daily life until
she made him her abject slave and he
loved her with a love that only such
people have who ave never loved before.
She was the light of his life and he
forgot that he was poor and homely, a
thing that he had never forgotten before,
that she was as high above him as the
heavens are above the earth. When he
held her little jeweled hand in his, as
she sometimes allowed him to do, he
would have been willing to have died
for her a thousand times over.
Rachel was entirely forgotten. She
would come in sometimes to sec him, but
he would always be sleepy or watching
for Helen and would not talk to her.
One day Mary saw her eyes filed with
tears, and she put her arm around her.
Don't cry, Rachel; he will see the light
by and by" she said, and Rachel broke
down and sobbed, 81 used to think he
cared for me, but he don't now"
One day Mary said to him, willie, l
don't think you treat Rachel just right"
but he never heard her. Willie was a
long time getting well. Another man
had taken his car, but the superintendent
said he was at liberty to go bach any
time when he was able. The policeman,
too, was in a hurry for Willie to get
well. Mary had promised him that the
friendship begun last year over the onion
beds should terminate in a happy we'd
ding, and he had been scanning intently
the house hunters directory for a suit
able place to put his bride just as soon
as she would consent to become his.
One day Willie made up his mind to
tell Helen When she came again Just
how much he loved her, and when she
came in and sat down at his feet and
looked at him with her great liquid dark
eyes, full of tender solicitude, and asked
him how he was, he took her hand and
attempted to speak, but could not.
"You are weak yet, aren't you, Mr..
Lee? How angry you ought to be with
me for having been the cause of all your
trouble. But you'll hurry up and get
well by Easter, won't your" And she
childishly laid her cheek against the
hand she held. do you know, 1 am
going to be married on Easter Monday,
and 1 want you to net to my wedding"
$50 to her weddingl Go to her we'd
dingi" He said it over to himself, then
the room grew dark and everything
seemed uncertain, and he tainted.
at is warm and he is still so weak,
and l suppose / talked him to DEATH"
she said to Mary, who came in answer
to her alarmed calling.
Mary was quick witted and she knew
pretty nearly what had happened, and
she told ''Teddie" all about it that even
ing and said she loved Willie, of course,
but she thought he had treated Rachel
badly, and may be this would be n les
son to him.
For several days Willie was too weak
to sit up again in the easy chair. he
seemed helpless and unconcerned as to
whether he got we'll or not. Helen had
not been to see him since the night he
fainted. She was busy with her we'd
ding preparations and just stopped at
the gate one day to ask if he was better
and wondered if Mary thought he could
come to her wedding.
mo, 1 do not think he can CO." Mary
said, and she said it coldly, and Helen
did not come again.
1t was the day of Helen's wedding.
Willie heard the carriages roll past on
the pavement and he turned his face to
the wall and the tears came into his eyes,
that had been strangers to tears for
years. Rachel had brought in a bouquet
of Easter flowers and placed them On his
table. There were violets among them;
everything to remind him of her. Just
in the dusk of evening Rachel herself
came in. She paused a moment at the
door to see if he was asleep, and as his
eyes were closed she concluded that he
was. She sat down on the low stool
and as her face was partially turned
away from him Willie opened his eyes
and looked at her slyly.
He never thought Rachel pretty be-
fore. In fact, he had never thought
much about her, but now as she sat be-
tween him and the fading light he noted
the roundness of her cheek, her white
throat, and the pretty curls of brown
hair around her face and neck.
81 wonder if she would do Just as
Helen did had she been in her place" he
said to himself. Would she have come
here and made me low her and then
have cruelty told me she was going to be
married? Yes, 1 suppose she would. wo-
men are all alike, coquettes, every one
of them"
Rachel was thinking over her life, and
by some strange, unexplainable mes
meric sympathy Willie's mind went back
over the past too. What a friend she
had always been to him and Mary, and
how bravely she had fought her own
battle of life thus far. "She is a noble
little woman" he said to himself, ''and
| wish | was worthy of her" Then the
clock struck, and Rachel started up. She
drew a half signing breath, paused a
moment, then stopped over him and
lightly touched his lips with hers. Be-
fore he was aware what he was doing he
had passed his arm around her neck and
pressed her head to his breast. ''Do you
then love me, little RACHEL"
They say love is eloquent by whomever