The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-08-27
Ten Minutes TO Twelve.
lContinne.i from Elrs; Page.


eye could reach. line Oh Ena. IN close,
compact RANKS; in companies. n rngi
ments, IN tattaliovns- 80 mary, SO many,
There sssrnad niSes on mics Of Their,
The tiny, plain. pitsfui white s.oacs, neat.
precise and infinitely pathetic, Solo me
mentOes OF thousands Of gallant hearts
that struggled and bled and broke fu- a
politicians quarrel.
Later. a. they "a. on the poEtioo. With
the spen Of the place upon them. and
watched the fow Of tho river, the pass-
ing Of craft of vsrioos kinds, and the
lazy fapEsng of the great flag against
it's staff. Phyllis began talking Of her
old home beyUid tho mountains and of
the woman who bad reared her.
'-Sbe was very good to NE always"
the girl s.id. But after my sight be-
gan to fail she Was tenderness itseH-
eyes to the blind and strength and oosrr-
age To the weary and hope2e>s. No one
but myself can realize her soodnax.
She Was ali iInpariuns WOMAN, and .il1zl
her own way, snd people oftea mis-
understood her. Poor Aunt Anne."
Royal MaSe no comment, being far
too happy 10 cherish resentment against
the living x tho dead. As for that III
consequent va ne vas mons Tran rec
oaciled to n he actually blessed the
te,statary vagzx8ee which had operasittR
way TO his happiness S1ll, he could
not bat wonder over 10 as he beRsens-d
TO his wtfes encuanfuus.
Mex to me, her heart WAS al on
Jokn," Phyllis proceeded. eft wasnf
Only THAI he was her nepheHa, and good
and cteg2-that was a source Of prfsa,
OF course-but think her love wsut~out
to him specially because Of his heading
her ioE9s name. She used to fancy she
saw resemblance between my cnrstn
and John Hart. It was beautifui the
way Amt Anne ciung to tbs aad fo-
nance : s.,
Every beautiful" Royal assented;, bis
eyes we1e On d steam tug frrsins IN the
stream below, and he was only half at
tending .
Doesn't it seem strange that should
have married John Harris nephew IN
stead Of Aunt Anns'ss And bearing his
name, too. just like o fairystor Aunt
Anne would have liked Il, am sure.
She wanted to Knit her past to nay fll-
tupe, poor dear, and s,la has done SO by
ways she never dreamed of I wish she
.wae here to seer
Royal coufd not find il In his heart TO
echo the wish. The return of spirit
from the beyond, even on an anlicahle
opraral 81 10. -
der. He kep* his reflection to himself,
however.
Here is more fairy story" Phyllis
laughed, and took from her pocket the
envelope there hidden you are going
to have to cast ashes on your head and
abuse yourself generally. You have
been judging Aunt Anne yes. you
have, all of yool-the people at home
and Nina and everyt,ody-saying that
shedid not love me, nor care what should
become Of mo if her plan for marrying
me to John should fab through, and all
sorts of horrd thinga All because OF
that ridiculous win she made so long
ago. OF course abe wanted Us TO have
the proisertyl She had quarreled with
our parents about it, and this wogfh be
a way TO square the matter without sac
rifce of her own pride. And then she
liked the property Itself, and wansed to
keep It together" - ~
Royal laughed. ~. b,
my dear wife, don't excite yourself or
go into FURY of defense I'm not com
planning That will, to me, is most sat
6factoFy. It's given me the desire Of
my heart, and will eventually pot u
penny or two in my pocket besides.
You forget that Pm resid9ary legatee
in the second degree" 10y
You'll notget n penny piece!" laag1.ed
Phyiis-'-neather you nor any of the
rest of the chan; 80 don't count your
chickens before they are hatched.T
She tnros. the envelope into his hand
Whats thisw demanded Royal.
'eHead for yourself" she gleefui,y an
sW-ered, 'and prepare to make oheisance
unto me. ! am very important per
sonaga"
Royal the paper from its envelope
and slowly unfolded it. AS he caught
its import he gave vent to a whistle OF
astonhShne1t 1t bore date of 8 few
months previous to Miss Royals death,
and was very concise and simple 1t
was codic1 to the former will, and pro-
vided that IN event OF the death OF her
nephew John Hart Royal previous to his
marriage with his cousin Phyllis Royal
the property should pass to the girl en-
tire, and further provided that, should
Phyllis blindness continue, the property,
duly placed IN the hands OF trustees,
should be charged with her maintenance
during the term Of her natural life; at
ter which 1t was to be distributed ao-
ccrdlng to the terms of the original will.
Royal drew long breath as be PIT the
paper back into its envelope.
''How long have you had thisr :.
Since before Aunt Anne died. She
gave It to me one day and told me 10
keep it IN my desk until after my wed
ding day. II anything unforeseen should
happen, l was to give II to Mr.. Brandon
or Nina"
Royal pondered.
Il wonder what could have suggested
the idea that John Royal night deg he
observed thoughtfuily. =
~tS fcts nervous
more than year before her death, :"
Phyllis explained THAT paper was
drawn up the spring We We're here first
about my eyes. There had been terri
bic epidemic IN Vienna, where John was
"a sort Of p}ague< the papers were full
Of 1t, and John. being physician, was
Of course all the time exposed to the. IN
fection. Aunt Anne was terribly uneasy
| about him.
"And You have known the contents of
this paper-how long?
Ever since Nina told me of Johns
death. never thought of it at all be-
fore. There was no reason why l should.
Nina and I opened it then, but I
wouldn't let her say anything about It
to you, nor would I tell you myself.
This question of money had bsen 80
large, 50 disastrous a factor In the plans
for my Inaufage to John, that wanted
| our decision to be unfnt1uercs.d t,y II IN