The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1890-12-05

fortune, which I supposed TO be mine
only because he had no direct heirs or
near relatives. He had never spoken but
once of his family, and then said briefly
that he was a widower and had lost his
only child.
~ had enjoyed my inheritance for
more than nine years when | fell in love.
l, who had never cared for female So
ciety before, became deeply attached to
the mother of n 81 my patients, a lady
nearly my age, the widow of an
artist, who died in Rome some four or
five years before l met her. She had
sent for me to see her boy, an only child,
slowly dying with an incurable disease
of the spine.
"Mrs. Eastwell knew before she saw
me that there was no hope of saving the
chid's life, but she thought l could ease
the pain and restlessness from which he
suffered. She was herself an artist,
working in water colors for the large
stores that dealt in fancy goods, and EN-
bordering most exquisitely. But her
child claimed much of her time and at
t%ention, and l knew she workedSn hours
when she should have shared the boys
slumbers.
"Patient, self sacrificing, gentle and
refined, she filled my ideal of pure wom-
anhood, and I loved her with all the
strength of the first love of years. 1 gave
her a mans devotion, not a boys infatu-
alton. But l knew that it was useless
for me to speak while the child lived.
She would have thought it a sacrilege to
give my love consideration while the
mother love in her heart was the ruling
spirit. Love making while her child
was dying! / could see how she would
shrink from the mere suggestion.
$50 I tried to be content with winning
the place of trusted friend, delicately
trying to make my presence a comfort
and a help to her, and doing all that 1
could to make smoother the hard path
the childish feet were pressing.
zone afternoon she came to my office
to ask some questions about the little
boy, and, as the waiting room was full,
1 took her through the parlor to the
front door. AS we passed by the mantle
piece of the front room she suddenly
gave a cry of pain and surprise, stopping
short before a lifesize portrait of Mr..
Fanshawe. Her face was white, her
whole form trembling, and before /
could catch her she gave one cry of
'Father!' and dropped in a dead faint.
SIT was the old story, Tom. She had
loved her husband better than her IA
ther, and eloped with him, never win.
ming forgiveness. The home she had
left was broken up, and Mr.. Fanshawe
removed to another city, so that fol-
years she had not known where to find
him, and had never heard of his death
Her husband had taken her abroad soor
after their marriage, and she did not
know whether her father had ever tried
to trace or follow them.
"You may imagine how like a thief
felt when I could calmly consider this
story and think of my inheritance
living in luxury and she toiling fol
bread! And the money was hers by
every claim of humanity.
"At once I commenced to arrange fol
restoring the property to her, and know.
ing her pressing needs instructed my
lawyer to supply her with ready money
and inform her that as soon as it could
be legally done her fathers fortune
would be restored to her.
"Tom, she fatty refused to take it.
She had offended her father and had &C
copied her punishment, and she would
not listen to any proposal to accept his
money. In vain I urged the justice of
her cause, the burden that money so
wrongfully willed away from her would
be to me. She threatened to leave the
city and return if I persisted.
"While nothing was settled her child
died. She grieved as only the mother of
an only child can grieve, and yet I think
1 comforted her. I dropped all question
of the dispute inheritance in those long
months, when her loneliness led her to
turn to me, her true, loving friend.
"And SO, Tom, when a year had pass
ed, and the little life was a sacred mem
DRY, no longer a passionate pain to re-
member, [ asked her once more to &C
cept her fathers fortune and Lis heir
with it.
"We needed no lawyer then to make
the transfer, for I won my wife without
losing my Inheritance"
"And there goes that COMPOUNDED Of
flee bell" said Tom rising; $50 I am
f ."-Anna Shields in New York Ledger.