News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-02-12

and be the mother of his children, none
of these rare beauties arose before him,
but instead a simple American face,
honest eyes that knew no arts of CO
quetry-Bessie's face, Bessie's eyes
none other
! AT least he thought he must see her
once again; he must Danish his illusion,
| if it was one; he must know what
| Bessie had become; and he went up to
| Prattsville very shortly and found the
| Beck homestead where it had been.
! No Becks were there, however. Mrs.
Beck had gone to live with a married
son somewhere west" A new man
had the store; he barely remembered
ST Hawkins, who had married and ''set
up in New York" Five years seemed
to have changed everything complete
| ly, and Ned returned to his studio con-
WINGED that it was Bessie whom Haw-
kins had married.
He mentioned his visit to nobody. A
sense of blight and disappointment lay
upon him for some days-a feeling that
he had lost life's best good Then he
shut the doors OF the past behind him
| and began life in earnest. And now
Aunt Penelope, still at the helm and
active as ever, began to steer his bark
toward the happy isles of matrimony.
1t is quite the thing nowadays for
astl4ctic heiresses to marry fashionable
young artists. For an elegant heiress
of this sort Aunt Penelope kept sharp
lookout, and soon deserted her in the
person of Miss Edna Vale. The spin
ster had not been quite free of self ac-
cusation in that matter of Ned's first
love AFFAIR She felt that she should
never a5solve herself entirely until she
saw him in love again, and she con-
stantly pointed out Miss Vale's perfec- |
tions-her classical features, her grace
full movements, her swanlike neck, |
her low voice, her costumes, now
Grecian, now Venetian. Ned could |
not refuse to acknowledge her beauti- |
full, and at last Aunt Penelope felt that |
her efforts had not been in vain.
The Wales had given q musicale. |
Ned and Edna had been together all |
the evening, and now she had spoken |
of rare flower that had just bloomed |
in the conservatory, and he had asked
her to let him see it.
''He will propose there, I am sure"
Miss Penelope thought, as they walked |
away. Il see it in his eye"
She was right. Ned had deliberately |
made up his mind to ask Miss Vale to !
be his wife, but no such happy thrills !
as those which had come to him when
he held Bessies little pink wrist and
taught her to paint her first daisy
moved him as he offered his arm to
Edna.
81 am no longer boy" he thought;
''that sort of thing is over. l suppose
it is with every man at 30 suppose it
ought to be-"
A soft opal light filed the conserva-
tory. The air was laden with perfume.
A sort of soft mist seemed to hover
over the plants, and in it he saw
vision-Bessie's face, her hand, daisy
between the fingers. He uttered an in
artiqulate exclamation, 1t was gOnel
II beg pardon" he said. Really,
is your conservatory haunted? !
thought 1 saw a ghost behind the
roses"
"Oh, that was only Bessiep' said
Miss Vale.
''Bessie!" he gasped, ''only Bessie"
'My little sisters maid, " said Edna.
''She is always gliding about in that
ghostly way. She comes here to smell
the flowers, and sometimes to get a
daisy to copy"
"a daisy2" he repeated, as if in a
dream.
Edna was familiar with the fact that !
a man on the verge of proposing often |
becomes semi-idiotic. Rather in order
to torment him than because she had
any interest in her sisters maid, she
went on:
"Oh, / assure you she is artisticl
When she has a holiday, instead of
going out in a green frock and n red
bonnet to enjoy herself, she shuts her
self up and paints daisies. Some one
some sign painter, Ipresume-taught
her to do it once upon time, and she
came from her native wilds to New
York with the view of becoming dec
orator, / believe The Church charity
found her starving in an empty hall
room and persuaded her to go out to
service, and mamma tried her in the
nursery. She is quite faithful, but
such an idiot. The butler wanted to
marry her, and mamma tried to talk
her into it. Such an opportunity for
the girl! But she said she had loved
once, and never could like any one
again Mamma feels sure that she
was thinking of the sign painter. OF
course she has read romanccs, and fan
cies herself heroine. Now do look at
this flower; is it not splendidp
Egbert muttered something unintelli-
gible.
Edna saw that he was staring at va
cancy across the roses.
Il wonder whether he will drop on
his knees. as Capt. McAllister did," she
asked herself as she hid a smile behind
her fan and waited for what she
thought was coming. But nothing
came, and in a moment it flashed upon
Edna that the gentleman had either
forgotten or repented of his purpose in
leading her to the conservatory. What
could pique woman more2 Her
heart was full of wrath, but she was
equal to the emergency. why, there
is Mrs Lester" she cried. Il must
speak to her!" and away she sped, fol
lowing n blue satin train that swept
past the conservatory door, and leav-
ing Egbert, as she hoped, to anger and
modification.
For his part, however, Ned felt no
such emotions Beyond the mass OF
foliage and blossom he saw an open
door, and in the passage beyond 1t he
fancied that u woman's figure fingered.
Another moment and he had entered
the passage A shadowy figure fled.
With two long strides he overlook 1t,
peered into its face and clasped it to
his heart; and all those sweet emo
tions those tender heart throbs, those
enchanting thrills that he thought dead
with his lost boyhood returned to him
as he whispered:
ooh, Bessie! l have found you at
last, and we must never part again P'-
Mary Kyle Dallas in Fireside Com
panion.
A Giant Lobster.
: In September, 1885, John ID. Barnes,
zoologist of Central Park museum,
New York city, caught the largest lob
ster known in the annals of natural
history. 1t was caught in a common
! ! ,fI