Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-08-19
A MISTAKE


was a boy and girl attachment. and a
very romantic one. The boy was tau,
blue eyed fellow. with small WAIST
and curly golden hair that SAy IN thick
little rings all over his head. He was ~
once very manly and very youthful IN
appearanee, and it would have been
hard for a girl not TO fall IN love wlsn
him if he had tined to make her. Cora
was little brunette with big black eyes
and a good color. and he thought ner
beautiful
He louged to offer her his hand and
heart and get her to engage herself 20
him before he left home; but he reflected
that he had no right TO bind her by any
promise until he was sure OF that Tor
tune he was going to seek. and when he
gave her little forget-me-not ring ne
only spoke-of it as token of friendship
However, when they parted she knew
as well as he did that he loved her, and
looked forward to the usual finale OF q
wedding.
Time passed on The young people
wrote at first once week, then once a
month, then occasionally. Absence
says the modern poss-''makes the
heart grow fonder of somebody else.
Young wadleigh went a good deal
into society abroad, and Cora had plenty
of admirers. He got into a conyivial
set, where they drank a good deal OF
wine and had liberal views. She be-
-a,ne very pious, and rather leaned to
prohibition. Their last letters We're
yery formal. and when fifteen years had
passed and Samuel Wadleigh found HIM
self coming home with the fortune he
had made after all, he scarcely remem-
bered Cora Eastman.
Certainly Cora did not know him.
The light haired youth had changed into
a man of 40. All his curls were gone,
and his head TO his ears WAS as smooth
and shiny as billiard ball. His waist
was gone, too. He had the proportions
of an alderman. However, he was still
what people call fine looking man. As
for Cora, she had all her black hair and
no wrinkles, and had kept her trim little
figure, but she had changed curiously.
He knew her at once, but she was not
the same. What does Time do to us:
When does he do it? How does he do 1t:
If we women could but find out.
There was nothing to sigh over IN
Miss Eastman's case. She was tight,
trim little woman of tive-and-thirty.
But where were Cora's smiles? the dim
pies that seemed about to appear when
She smiled? the soft brightness of the
eyes? the way of looking and moving.
All gone-vanished.
1t did not occur to Mr.. Wadleigh that
he had altered much more-it never does
occur to men. He told Miss Eastman
that he was delighted to see her once
more, and she said polite things to him,
wondering all the time whether this
could be the charming youth who used
to set her heart beating by touch or "A
glance-this very nice person, portly,
well to do, well hammered, but not i'll
the least interesting. She compared
him unfavorably with Mr.. Sweetsmile,
the charming new clergyman who had
inst had call To their church, and who
had taken both her hands in his only
Yesterday and said, What we should
do without you in the Sabbath school,
Miss Eastman | cannot imagine" He
was charming,
The course of events threw Samuel
Wadleigh great deal into the society
of his old love; the families We're con-
nected and moved in the same circle.
By degrees he met small nieces and
nephews who had been children when
he went away, and Were now young
ladies and gentlemen among them Il
certain little Cora, Miss Eastman $
niece. prettier than she had ever been,
and with all her witching ways, her
half-hidden dimples, her smiles and her
sweet side glances. She sat opposite
him at the dinner table. and he could
fancy all the years rolled away, and he
the boy who gave the girl he loved the
forget-me-not ring. He remembered
her a pudgy little child in white fur
walking with her maid in the park and
kissing her hand to auntie.
"What charming girl.' he said to
Miss Eastman. "You over again!' And
then Miss Eastman made the younger
Cora come and talk to ''her old friend,
Mr. Wadleigh.'
Cora had heard of him as the gentle
man who had been her aunt's admlrer
and lived single for her sake, and she
was very nice to him. She felt that he
had romantic history, and that Aunt
Cora ought to have been more constant,
and so she was, as we have said, very
nice.
And of all this Mr. Wadleigh never
dreamed, and little thrills went through
him, and he made up his mind that fate
had been very good to him. Here was a
lovely young reature-exactly the sort
of girl he Notwithstanding on him and
listening to all his compliments in way
that encouraged him to pay more.
1.-THE elder Cora is a very sensible wo-
man." he said to himself. "She has quite
forgotten old times; she has none of
those foolish little ways that some wo-
men would have of reminding me that we
were lovers. Really, some of those first
letters of mine were tantamount to pro-
posals; but it is all over; | am quite free.
I'm good match. No doubt little Cora
will see that at once, and after solemnly
celebrating the pros and cons for three
days and nights he began to take Cora
out to drive behind pair of very hand
some horses, to send her bouquets, and
to invite her to the opera. As she re-
sided with her Aunt Cora he naturally
invited the other lady as chaperon. He
did not say that, but plainly she under
stood it, for she left most of the talk to
the girl and was some times grave and
silent. Once or twice she even seemed
to try to excuse herself.
$50 very sensible" thought Mr.. Wad-
leigh, and at last, when he had, he fam
cied, spent time enough dancing attend
ance on this fair one, he seated himself
one evening at his desk and wrote an
offer of marriage Which" he added,
surely cannot surprise you-you must
know by my manner how feel"
This he addressed to Miss Cora East
man and carried to the house with his
own hands.
"For Miss Cora" he said to the serv-
ant. Don't make any mistake" .
Not /, sor," said old William 81
know right well which lady its for"
Now old William had been in the fam
lily many years He well remembered
those old days when this gentleman was
spoken of as Mr.. Samuel, Miss Cora's
sweetheart, in the kitchen. He had no
doubt whatever that the letter in his
hand was meant for his young lady.