Middletown transcript., 1891-07-16

d fused two invitations, in the serene
|, confidence that he would ask her, te
4 fall back upon the escort of Joe
r Maltby.
Joe lived upon the adjoining farm
: and his pathway in life was darkly, il
ridiculously, shadowed by a broken
nose Joe's looks were grotesque
: and he was sensitive soul, and be
J had been dumbly in love with Lyddy
(who regarded him in much the same
light with Ponto, the lame old house.
. dog) almost ever since he could re-
member.
, Lyddy was, indeed, a little hurt by
this neglect of Brewster Benefits,
but the next time he came to see her
he looked sadly and reproachfnlly at
her, as if she were to blame, and
, Lyddy wondered if she had not
wounded his sensibilities in some way;
she was sure they were very acute
and delicate. And he hinted-only
hinted-that the world was all a
waste to him when be was not by her
side, and Lyddy's happiness was quite
restored.
Early in the winter Emma Mayo's :
city cousin came to visit her, and
Brewster Bennett grew so attentive to
her that people prophesied "it would
soon be match" But be still came
often to see Lyddy, and looked un-
utterable things. aud spoke with sighs
of painful necessities that separated
those who were born for each other,
and Lyddy pitied him until she all
most forgot her own trouble. She
longed to tell him, in defiance of
maiden modesty, that she would wait,
wait endlessly, and the mysterious
barrier might be removed If not in
this world, there was another--there
must be, because such love could not
] perish. How silly and weak it was
Her face famed as she looked at it In
1.-The mirror, while it all came back to,
her as she dressed.
:" There was never any mystery.
He cared nothing for me. Il was
flirting. If had been like the Penn
berton girls, ! should have known"
But she had not known, even when
Emma Mayo's city cousin was sue
ceeded by almost innumerable charm
ers in Cherrytield and adjoining
towns. He came back to her with
that mysterious meaning in his eyes,
and Lyddy believed that she was tie
only one who had touched his heart.
She believed it even after he had
ceased altogether to visit her. That ].
happened when be abandoned, al
most entirely, the practice ofthe law,
and assumed the editorship of the
Sentinel, and began 10 take an inter-
est in politics. After that his atten.
tions to ladies were confined to the
summer boarders. who took possession
of Cherryfeld from June until Sep
tember. But in church Lyddy could
feel his eyes fixed intently upon her
all through the sermon, and when
they chanced to meet he pressed her
hand, sighed, and hurried away as if
he dared not trust himself TO stay.
One day-but that was only d year
or two ago-she had overheard in the
post-ofice, his jesting reply to some
one who had rallied him upon his de-
votion to gay young widow who had
shed upon Cherryfeld q summer
glory, bewilderingly compounded of
white laces, golden tresses and bril- |
liant parasols.
A man has to have these little
episodes" he;said. g They're experi-
ence that pays"
"That feller,' said old Jerry Cook, |
the postmaster, asserting q bundle Of |
letters with much deliberation-" that |
feller jest twists folks round his little |
finger for his proft-men folks !; |
women folks expect he's more apt to
stick q pin through them and fasten1
them to a cork, as boy serves but
terdies, for his sport, or his experi- |
ence, as he says." M
Lyddy felt rs if her weak eyes had
been unbandaged in the binding
glare of a desert sum. She had been
to him an " episode :" he had studied
and played with her that he might
understand human nature, If she had
not been to silly to afford him any
more than laugh. She had preserv-
ed some womanly pride she had tried
1t was her one consolation now-to
that she had struggled des-
to meet him with careless
friendliness, and to keep her eyes
from being telltales. Nevertheless, he
was too acute not to know /; she had
always felt that he knew.
The best years of her life had gone
to build this baseless fabric of q
dream. Lover and friend had been
put far from her by her absorption in
it, and poverty had crept upon her
unheeded.
"I do not even know that he was
to blame," Lyddy said to herself.
" He never SAID anything. And II
might have known that l was only
one of many. 1t was only that / was
a fool. Was girl ever such a fool
before p
Folly has to oe paid for far more
surely than wickedness, so far as this
worlds wages 60. Lyddy was as un-
fittedto cope with the sharp realities
Of life as Mariana in the moated
and she must ask the lover
who had come not to help her to q
means of earning her bread
She walked with energy down the
main street of Cherryfeld to Harri-
mans block, where both the law office
Of Hartman 4 Bennett and ths Senti.
mel. Office were to be found She hesi-
lated only once that was to wonder
it would be wrong for her to
have the school, since Sarah aBoggs,
from the Pine Greek settlement, who
wanted it, would doubtless teach it so
much better. She had fortified her
self by determination to forget the
r,oot q ao.crd;po, 70 kha adx,soe sc 81 !