The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1889-12-19


her money, and she sold her home, and
was sorely cheated-as she always was,
being very stupid old body-and she
took for home one little room up under
the caves and lived there oontentedly;
but she could not forget. And she heard
that he had married aswits iIsthe West,
quite late in life. And one day he
brought the wife and troop of chill
dren back to the old home; but 1t was
never the same Guy 70 Nellie. He had
forgotten, too-men do forget-and when
he met her one day he looked her in the
nee and turned awayand never knew.
This cut her to the heart; butwhen she
went back to her little room she looked
In the glass and saw that she was old.
And she used to love to sit in her
room and listen. to the little voices
laughing in the other house; or to sit in
her window and watch the fragile wife
going out to her carriage and, the flock
of little children frisking in and out; or
she would stop and speak to them, for
they were friendly little creatures, with
bright, beguiling eyes; and one day,
while she sat in her window, the funeral
carriages drew solemnly up to the
house and the wife was taken away for
the last time. And she longed to tell
not dare. And whenever Christmas
came she longed to tell him that the
fault had all been hers and beg him to
| forgive her; but she remembered that
he had forgotten 1t all and held her
peace"
Forgotten it all! forgotten it all! Yes,
men do forget, and no doubt he had
| forgotten; but noao-why did the hand
that pulled the white beard tremble
like the hand of an old, old man? And
what were those bright drops hltering
down among its silvery strands? Sure
ly it could not be this simple tale of a
boy named Guy and a girl named Nellie
that so moved and shook him!
my child" he said at last, quite
simply-as though he were really the
aged saint and she the youthful Nellie
of those days he had forgotten-''my
child, kneel down here where I can look
at you."
When she was kneeling in front of
him he took her face between his hands
and looked at it q long, long time in
silence, reading every lineament, every
line-and remembering.
''The same blue eyes," he said, finally;
and then he suddenly put her by, and
rising hurriedly, hobbled to the door.
put on your cloak and come home
with met" he commanded, almost grufiy,
from the doorway.
AS she fastened to obey, and slipped
on the shabby old sacque ''that was
plenty warm enough if you walked
FAST" and tied on the shabby bonnet
over her gray-streaked hair, he leaned
against the door:post and let his eye
rove round the little apartment.
Whether it was the meagerness of
furniture therein, or the make-shift
little economies, or the poor attempts
at something akin to beauty, or whether
it was the shabby little figure that
moved cheerfully about in its sorry en-
vironment, and came briskly toward
him with a bright smile under the old
bonnet, or whatever it was that touched
him, it is certain that as they halted
down the three flights of stairs arm-in-
arm together, the drops were glittering
again down the strands of the snowy
| beard. -
The nursery fire leaped up the throat
of the chimney; the nursery, basking in
its ruddy glow, was place of delicious
chaos; little three-year old was having a
bath in tiny tub right up by the
fender, and squirming and squealing
under the merciless hands of capped
and specialized old nurse, who held
tyrannical sway in this little kingdom,
but whose authority, like that of all
| tyrants, was flouted the moment her
back was turned; cat, punched up
snugly on the rug, was blinking and
watching this strange manner of ablu-
ton, so different from her own. Num-
berless little Holbrooks, in various
stages of undress, were kneeling and
hopping and sprawling and rolling about
on the nursery floor; some of the older
ones, in pinaforcs or short jackets and
knickerbockers of ridiculous dimensions,
sat demurely by the fire waiting for a
call from an old gentleman who is sup
posed to make his debut down the chin
ney; sufficient number of stockings
we're hung in conspicuous positions
about the room to persuade one that Mr..
Holbrook was the father to a family of
young centipedes; there was steamy
smell of soap and of scorching linen and
of evergreen in the air; and old Nurse
Piggins added the last touch of comfort
by grooming cozy, cheerful, canty
Christmas song through her nose.
And it was at the door of this room
that Miss Nellie stood with the white
bearded St. Nicholas, gazing in at the
homely scene with shining eyes; for the
little lonely woman thought she had
never looked on any thing more beauti-
full. And when they were discovered
lurking in the shadow, and when the
entire clan swooped down on them with
a cry of ''Santa Claus and Mrs. Santa
Claus! Hoorayr and when the little
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