San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-07-16
JOHN SMITH, JUNIOR.
By E. j. ,CLAYDEN.
"

your old mother Ican't bear to see you
looking like that. Tell me, dearie'
father and will do anything we can to
make it all right"
He went and knelt down beside her,
putting his arms around her substantial
waist and laying his head on her kind.
motherly bosom, just AS If he were a,
boy again coming to the mother for COM
fort and consolation.
"Yes, dear old mamsy.," he said, 81
am in gpeat trouble, butIno one can help
me: / must bear it alone. i will tell
Won, mother. because want to go away
again. can't stay here-and you ought
to know the reason. You will make it
all right with my father, know. I've,
fallen in love, mother. fallen in love.
like a goose, and been cruelty disap-
pointed
'sYou mean the DOCTORS pretty daugh-
ter, don't you, Johnny? Why, father
and j were SO pleased, we thought"
Don't speak of her, mother" he
broke in hoarsely. Il can't bear it.
She despises us-a proud, ,disdainful CO.
.quette. How can 1 tell you the truth:
She thought was Josselyn; it was the
man of birth and family, the scholar.
she cared for, not me, the diapers son.
She scorned the idea OF being Mrs. John
Smith, Juniorr If You had only heard
her say the words! So 4 am going
away. Don't distress yourself, dear old
mother. | shall soon get oyer it. You
know the old song:
If she be not fair for me,
What care how fair she be2
am as much mistaken in her as she
in me. Never fear that am going to
break my heart over creature who,
only existed in my own imagination.
And fancied her SO sweet, so pretty! j
knew she was proud. and that her dainty
head was full of false ideas about men
and women, and their true worth, but ]
thought she loved me, and that love
would open her heart and make her see
more clearly what is really lovable."
And, my dearie, my own lad, she
does love you, am sure of it. Ah-rve
seen the color rush into her bonny face
and the ligh fash into her dark eyes
at the sound Of your voice or your foot
step. No, no. Johnny, be patient, it
will come all right. How could she
mistake you for your friendg
81 can't in igine; nothing was. farther
from my thoughts. 1t came upon me
like clap OF thunder"
Little mo explanation was needed,
and the ne night saw the despised
wooer on board the steamer swiftly
crossing that strip of blue which sepa-
rates us from other nations.
Meanwhile dire calamity had fallen
upon the Lisles. in which poor Frances
own lesser trouble became swallowed up
and mnoticed. DR.. Lisle caught severe
cold, which he neglected persistently for
several days, until suddenly pneumonia
set in, and in few hours he lay hover
ing between life and death. His poor
wife was in an agony of grief and anxi-
~ ETY., which reached the pitch of despair
when, after one short week of desperate
fighting for life, death won the victory
and she found herself a widow.
The grief which completely broke the
delicate, feeble mother down gave Fran
ces new strength. She took the whole
burden on her young shoulders, made
all the necessary arrangements for the
funeral, and then faced the lawyer and
the anxious question, what was to come
next? TWAS discovered that very scanty
provision had been made for them all
DR.. Lisle was man in the prime of life
He had hoped to see all his girls well edu-
Gated, married or otherwise put out in the
world, and to save enough to retire upon
in a modest way. But these hopes were
nipped by his early death almost in their
beginning, and poor Mrs. Lisle was LETT
with an income of about two hundred
pounds year and eight children, only
one of whom, Frances, could be said to
have completed her education.
Frances felt that she must manage to
earn money somehow or other at once to
assist her mother and sisters. But howl
Few questions, alas, more difficult
After everything in turn had been duly
considered there seemed nothing she was
really fitted for. She did not even know
enough to continue the education of he1
younger sisters. She had no special tai
ent, and If earn she must had yet tc
learn how to earn. In this dilemma one
solution only offered itself. Mr.. Fitz
hardy generously came forward with
the proposal which her changed manner
had prevented him from making before
Frances could not help being deeply
touched by the way in which the offe,
was made. The mother of his wife
should never pinch or starve he said; hi
would undertake to double the small
means already at her disposal, and be
sides this E 18th should have that two
ears abroad which her father had prom
ed her.