The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-12-16

4 NC uau tile SdllSLdcltOl "a hhO"iA0 sAAe& y
he was Miss Letty's accepted lover.
He plunged ruthlessly into more debt
the very next morning to the amount Of
$500, to bay a solitaire diamond ring to
deck the fat forefnger OF his afianced.
1T viii be mere drop in the bucket"
he said to himself. when | come to
handle her cash. hope the old gentle
man means to place it entirely at her
disposal, and I'll see to the rest"
And Maj. MonthiIl contracted for a
pair of cream colored horses, a yacht
and cottage at Newport for the sum-
mer season. on the strength of his known
engagement to old Zadoc Prices grand
daughter.
Just at this time-life, we all know, is
proverbially uncertain-Mr. Zadoc Price
took it into his venerable head to have a
stroke of apoplexv, and depart this exist
ence without the ceremonial of more
than two days illness.
''The most sensible thing the old fudge
could possibly have DONE" thought his
dutiful grandson-in-law elect. "Letty'll
come into her fortune now without any
difficulty, and 1 shall be made indi-
vidualr'
He stopped at hat store to get his hat
draped in suitable mourning weed, and
thought it very becoming. The third
day after the funeral he called on Letitia.
Miss Price received him in her new
black suit, her nose swelled with much
weeping, and her eyelids as pink as If
they had been painted all round with a
red lead pencil.
"Dear Lefty" murmured the major,
his voice attuned to the tenderest SYM
pathy, "do not mourn too deeply! We
must all die-and our departed friend
had lived out the threescore and ten
years allotted to mans life here below"
Il know itr shifted Lefty, taking out
her black bordered pocket handkerchief.
you are not bearing your grief all
alone? he asked.
No; Cousin Bethuah jenkins and her
husband have been here for week."
Lefty lugubriously answered.
Maj. Monthill pricked up his ears.
Cousin Bethuah Jenkins? He had not
hitherto been aware that his Letitia had
any relatives save her grandsire. How
ever, the $500, 900 would well bear few
reversionary legacies, and this Cousin
Bethuah was doubtless an attached rela-
tive whom it would be scarcely credita-
BILE for the old gentleman to omit entirely
from his will
1.-THE only thing that l regret in this
sudden and unlocked for dispensation of
Providence, dearest Lefty" went on our
smooth tongued major, sis that it makes
an heiress of you-and l believed that l
have before expressed to you my horror
of the imputation of wedding a rich
wife"
Don't let that trouble you, Marmy,
dear!" cried Lefty Historically. IL
meant to have told you all about it be-
fore, but somehow there never was real
good opportunity"
"Told me all about what, Letitia?"
asked the major, in some surprise.
about my quarrel with grandpapa
last month. He said you were a fortune
hunting miscreant-you dear Marina
duke!-and 1 never should have cent
from him if l married you. And then l
repeated to him the noble words you had
spoken, and he grandpapa always
had an inelegant way of expressing him.
self-'that he'd settle your hash for
your And he called me fool, and we
had an awful quarrel, and he made new
will, and left all his money to Cousin
Bethuah Jenkins: but I don't care,
Nanny, darling, for | knew" cried the
disinherited damsel, with fresh burst
of tears, that you loved me for myself
alone, and not for mere filthy lucre!"
And so speaking, Lefty Price flung her
1877 solid pounds of dumpy humanity
fondly into the majors arms.
Marmaduke Monthill felt like the man
in the old tale who has sold his soul for
forty pieces of gold, and finds the treas
ure changed into dead leaves. He had
got Lefty Price, but not Lefty Prices
fortune
He went home. promising to call early
the next morning. The next morning
came, but not Maj. Monthill.
Miss Lefty Price is living, a disap-
pointed damsel, with her Cousin Bethuah,
who is good natured soul, and does not
grudge the "bite and the sup" to the
poor girl whom she really thinks has
been used very i'll both by her grand
father and the major. As for the gallant
Marmaduke, nobody knows what has be-
come of him. not even his Jewish credi-
tors, who would certainly be the ones to
find out, if any one could. The diamond
solitaire is not vet paid for, and some
body else is living in the cottage at New
port this season.
But, after all, it is only one more illus
tration of the daily lesson we all read
the mutability of human affairs. Helen
Forrest Graves in New York Weekly.