Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1890-11-22
leave of Mrs. Smith at the door, while
the old man walked with Us to the gate.
As we parted with him, he slipped a
morocco case into Mary's hand

LAG oio i1au walked with Us to the gate.
As we parted with him, he slipped
morocco case into Marys hand.
''lt IS Nina's picture" be said; skeep |
i. | have another, and anyhow shall |
be gone soon. Only promise me that the
day after my funeral you will carefully |
take it out OF its case and have it newly |
framed
Mary promised and We went our way.
Mary Foster was my cousin, and the next
six months spent with her at her faith
er's house in New York city.
So pleasantly did the time pass, that
al the end of that time he had nearly
forgotten Nina and her troubles, when
one morning, at the breakfast table, We
received one of her we'll known epistles.
1t was addressed to Mary
DEAR MARY-Come to me, my darling
| am at home, and in sorrow Ny dear father
died to-day, at two O'Clock III the afternoon.
while the church bells were ringing. His
last request was that should send for YOU
that you should attend his funeral and spend
as much time with me afterward as you pos
sibly could Bring jane, if she is with you
My poor father, whom l loved So is 'safel;
anchored in heavens land-locked harbor,' as
he used so often to express his idea Of eternal
rest. His life for the last two years, harassed
as he by that woman has not been
pleasant l trust he is now united to his be-
loved wife, my angel mother, in brighter
sphere. Come to me. Mary! Your loving
NINA"
Mary and myself started for Lenox the
other day, and only arrived there in time
for the funeral.
After the services were over, and the
good old sea captain had been laidto rest
beside his wife in the little churchyard,
the will was read in the parlor, where
were congregatea the immediate friends
and relatives.
There was the hush of surprise, and al
most horror, when the will had been read
and it was found that the widow had
come in for the Lenox homestead and
money lu bank, and that the poor orphan
had been left penniless.
1t was hard blow for Nina
''Shc can live with me-" said Mrs.
Smith, ''that is, if she will conform to
MY ways
Nina refused to be slave where she
had once been mistress; so, with our help,
she packed her trunks, ready to start
home with US, to recruit her shattered
health, and determe on her future.
As we three girls sat around the fire in
our cozy chamber that night, Mary be-
thought her Of the miniature the Captain
visit to his house.
She took it from her bureau, and we
mournfully compared the rosy, laughing
face with that Of the pale and sorrowful
one Of the original
''I'll take it out of this numbering
morocco case, said Mary, ''fo- ! prom.
ised the Captain to have it newly framed
the day after his funeral
"Dear father said Nina, I thought
he loved me too well to leave me beg.
par:'' and she laid her head down on the
wi Il
break.
>.What is thisl' said Mary, as she un-
folde d sheet of thin tissue paper that
was neatly folded in the back of the large
morocco case. 1t was closely written
| over, and ran thus
November 1lth, 1884.
Il, Jonas Smith. hereby bequeath to my
| beloved daughter, Nina independent of the
| disposal of any other property hereafter) my
| estate in Bordeaux, France. and ten thousand
| pounds deposited to my credit in the Bank Of
| England
,'(Signedp. JONAS SMITH.
'Witnesses-John Linwood.
| Charles James.
November II. 1884 "
Good, noble Captain" :" saidI.
"Happy Nina" cried Mary.
| GLOW could | have doubted him9'
,nurmured tht. contrite Nina, sinking on
| her knees
suffice tito say that the two happiest
years OF her life fafter heg orphanage)
were spent on her estate in sunny France.
After that. she sold her property, re-
turned to America, married, aud is now
the happy mother Of three olive branches.
50 much for the Captains cret.-Asa
YorA Weekty.