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

! hlIcnen, ana p1lnG bessie cleaning
spoons, or Bessie pairing apples, or
Bessie beating eggs.
One day by accident he placed one
of these sketches in the parcel he regu-
larly sent home for his fathers inspec-
ton. The mill board had slipped I'M
der the stretcher of a large canvas.
When the box was opened his Aunt
Penelope pounced on it in q second,
and her eyes sparl1led as she said:
'fAh, ha!'
ga figure piece" said old Egbert
And by Jovc, the best of the bunch"
'From nature evidently" said Miss
Penelope, and q very pretty girl"
After few moments inspection she
added, t.Brother, think you might as
well let Ned go to Europe this winter"
eyes. yes; 1 think l will, answered
the old gentleman, regarding the girl
making pies with great satisfaction.
The next evening but one Miss Pencil
ope alighted from the Prattsville stage
at Mrs. Beck's door. She had travelled
many hours, as on a matter of life and
death. Indeed it seemed to her to be
one. Her heart was full Of anxiety,
but she was woman who knew how
to control the expression of her feel
ings
She beamed upon the farmers wife;
she beamed upon her nephew; she
beanod upon Bessie, who was decorat-
ing a pie plate with daisies by the light
of a kerosene lamp.
Il know you will put me somewhere
for the night" she said to Mrs. Beck,
'and | am going to carry Ned away
with me tomorrow. Your father was
so delighted with your sketches, espe-
cially the figure piece, that he thinks
you might as well &c. to Europe at once.
Mr.. Brush is going and will introduce
you to the proper people Really l
think figures are your forte. THIS young
lady must have been yosIr original for
the pie bakec"
Bessie blushed violently.
"Quite an artist herself" said Miss
Penelope, putting up her eyeglass to
inspect the pie plate. Daisies! How
pretty! Now, tell me you are delight
ed, Ned, to be so near Euro &c"
But Ned could not speak cheerfully
He was miserable ct the thought of be-
ing sent away from Bessie-of being
divided from her by the ocean. Fears
that Si Hawkins, the dapper clerk at
! the ''store, " would cut him out troubled
! him.
He could scarcely have hoped to
/ ~; i
of her forever; but Aunt Penelope's ar
rival and the news she gave him came
like the shock of an earthquake.
1t was quite impossible, however, for
him to do anything about it. He was
swept away by the early stage, with no
opportunity to bid Bessie any adieu
more tender than might be offered
amid the assembled family in the front
hall
| His eyes were full of tears; so were
! Bessie's. What! not one whisper, not
one ziss-to tell tho truth it would not
| be the first that he had stolen-no, not
even one long pressure of the hand. He
was in the stage; they were away.
! Aunt Penelope was talking of art, and
he was wishing that he dared cover his
face and cry.
'sBessie!' his heart cried out, ''Bes-
sien' but his lips dared not utter
word. And still, when he had reached
home and Mr. Brush had been asked
to dine with them, and all the talk
was of Europe and great painters, and
the old masters, and his future pros
l.. 70 rrID OCroiy with tho
old hopes-to dream of the great pict-
ures he would paint. But he did not
carry out his resolution of telling his
father that he would go in for business
in order that he might remain near
Bessie, but he sat down and wrote
the girl letter-a long, tender letter
telling her that wherever he should go
her image would go with him, and ask
ing her to be his wife one day, and
giving her his address in Paris where
he would go first, begging her to write
soon.
''And until get your answer 1 shall
know no peace" he wrote; Though l
hope you do not care for Silas Haw-
kins."
And he drew a little daisy in the cor
ner, and told her that he had kissed
it, and begged her to put her lips to it
also.
1t was a foolish boys foolish letter,
if you will; but he felt very near heav-
en- when he wrote it. Just as he had
sealed it his Aunt Penelope popped
into the ROOM Perhaps she had peeped
in before.
81 am going to post my letters" she
said. "Shall take any for you"
Aunt Penelope had beamed so sweet
ly upon Bessie that the boy had per-
suaded himself that she secretly sym
patIlzed with his love affair. Now she
gave him a little arch look, and he
returned a grateful glance, and as she
opened her reticule dropped his mis-
sive into its NAV and heard the crisp
snap with which it swallowed it up
without a misgiving.
Miss Penelope loved her nephew
truly, and when she burned the letter
in the kitchen range she said to her
self:
81 know what is for the poor boys
good far better than he knows himself.
That girl is no mate for him, and I've
, no doubt she will be much happier
with Silas Hawkins"
You see, she had read the letter
before she consigned it to the flames.
} Shortly after Ned Egbert left Am
8 erica in company with Mr.. Brush, and
through the winter evenings Bessie sat
painting daisies and thinking of Ned,
but no word came to her.
On Sundays Silas Hawkins came and
t made himself as agreeable as possible
but Ned had no reason to be jealou:
of him, for when he offered his hanC
and heart and a prospective grocery
business Bessie gently but decisively
declined them.
She began to think that the young
man had forgotten her, but she knew
that she should never forget him
Meanwhile he, with all the novelty o
Paris occupying his mind, with hi
studies, with all Europe before him
still remembered. Nothing could make
him forget-not modern art, nor thu
: old masters, nor the bright eyes tha
often beamed upon him. In time IN
came to believe that the love had al
been on his side, but he should neve
J find any one like Bessie, he said to HIM
: self, in all the world.
2 When he came home a full fledge'
painter, and opened a studio and haC