The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-01-22
THURSDAY EVENING, JAN. %. 1891
appeared and left me the golden sun.

or ashade too light And when 1t seemed
exactly right removed 1t carefully and
put 1t in u da.'; p'l,,, all laid another
piece of freshly IN ned paper upon the
negative, Then ! put the printing frame
ont agail on I9y N-'nlo'y sill aad begca
to fuss vita aaother negative,
How it happened never knew, hut
there was u crash--and when | turned
to the wihi"w the printing frame WIS
gone,
Ipicked it I'M on tins sidewalk forty
Seet below-with my preeiar, negative
shivered into thuu.an pieces,
All my hops now center, i q, the one
print which fortunately had secured
And oh, the oyory anxiety that went
through in the toans, mounting and
furnishing of iA,t one priceless print
But it was safely flashed at last and
perfect in ev2ry way beautiful, artistic,
beyond question the lest piece Of photo
graphic wor,; that lad ever done.
So, in spite a. the irreparable loss of
the negative, felt almost happy, for
with this would surely accomplish my
double purpose, 1t could not fail to win
the prize-a small tribute to pay 10 my
unknown darling's beauty. And it
would also be the means of bringing us
face to face, For the picture must GER
tainly find its way into the hands of
some of her family or friends, and sic
would hear Of it, soc it. be II little indig-
naut perhaps. Dat her father or brother
or guardian woul he certain to resent
the supposed liberty. and might even
write 10 the successful amateur 10 take
him to task fGr his presumption; that
was my most ardent dcsira--the very
clew wanted Once | knew where to
find her, and then could manage all The
rest.
was radiant with satisfaction, and
was now only keeping the finished pict-
ure Until should have chance to take
a copy of 1t for myself; for could not
make up my mind to part with it alto
gether until had found the original.
was coming up town the next after
noon, my mind full of the beauty and
winsome grace of my fair unknown,
when ran across my old chum Fred.
1t was the first time l had seen him
since his marriage, and we each had
much to say.
81 want you to meet my wife, Tom;
know you'll like each other. She was
as disappointed as l was that your i'll
ness kept you from coming to our wed.
ding. Are you all right again now:
You look well. Can't you drop in upon
us tonight? We are stopping at the
Buckingham until our house is ready"
Il shall be most happy to-" answer.
ed. And accordingly I presented myself
that evening at the door of their private
parlor.
Fred welcomed me cordially, and his
young wife dropped the roses she was
arranging as | entered, turned and came
forward smiling and with outstretched
hand.
| staggered backward-I believe
should have fallen if Fred had moi
caught me by the arIn-for the beauti-
full unknown in my prize picture with
whom | had fallen so desperately in
love was no other than Fred's wife!
What is the matter? You are illr' she
cried, while she hastily brought me q
glass of wine
1T is nothing-nothing, l stammered.
Il believe I'm not yet quite strong.
beg your pardon for being such fool"
The Wine restored me somewhat, and
stayed long enough to remove the feel
ing of embarrassment that naturally fol
lowed after this awkward scene.
When at last got back to my room ]
looked at my picture eagerly. The same
beyond the shadow of doubt. And
then began to realize the full extent OF
my double loss. impossible to continue
my alteration of the fair unknown
since now knew her to be the wife OF
my friend, and impossible to send the
stolen picture of another mans wife into
a public competition.
l turned the picture to the wall, and
sat for d long time lost in thought Their
seized pen and wrote:
DEAR FaED-Truth is stranger than fiction. Will
this send you the photograph of a fair stranger
who deliberately and unconsciousy walked into
my picture when was off on n photogra phine
| trip two weeks ago This will also explain my
peculiar collapse this evening. 1t takes smaller
thing than such queer coincidence to uEssst fcl
low wien he is still below par. know you vii
prize the picture, for it is the only one in exist
ence, and the negative unfortunately is broken
With respectful remenbrances to your wife, you
| old friend Tom.
AS sealed my note the word ks
| ! l.,
dark wax. tied up the photograph and
sent it off by u messenger before l haG
time to reconsider my decision.
"Good-by to my tlreams-and to my
prize picture" said sadly, as the mes
senger pursued his way down the darl
and silent street.
1t was gore, and already repented Of
my haste. Then, as sudden thought
struck me, Iexclaiinel:
| / nj l.,