San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-01-02
doctor" she said, land you wondered.

doctor" she said, land you wondered
Is it not sO?"
confessed that had felt little curl
ous to know its history. And here is
what the old woman told me:
The old gold ring had belonged to
Elsie's great-grandmother. 1t had once
been a thumb ring. Elsie looked upon
1t as a sort of heirloom, and had carried
it with her as a sort of talisman since
childhood. One day, after she had
known Mr.. Wilmington few months be-
fore they were engaged to be married,
the young man had laughingly pulled
from his pocket a penny through which
some foolish person had bored hole
Elsie was just about to appear in a new
character, so Horace, in fun, remarked,
Then take this penny and keep it for
luck; you will never fail in part SO
long as you keep it,"
Elsie entered into the spirit of the
the thing and said, Now, if | could
only get my own talisman split ! would
hang the penny onto it,"
That is easily done" said Horace. as
he took the ring in his hand and add
mired its chasing. II will take it to
Evans, in Sheffield, and have it split"
Accordingly he took the ring, and in
few days returned it with the penny
hanging to it. Elsie fastened ribbon
to it and wore it around her neck.
Alas! that ring and that penny were
the parallels of the characters of the two
persons to whom they had belonged.
The one pure gold, refined and chased
by master hand, destined to he broken
by the owner of the baser metal which
entered the golden heart and broke it in
two and left it.
When she went to London Wilmington
followed Elsie, and there, amid the fol-
lies and excitements of the great Baby
lon, he came out in his true colors, a
constituencies, lOveleSs scOundrel 1t
seems unnatural and untrue that Il man
could deliberately lay plans, and take
years to mature them, for the ruin of
young girls life. But so it was with
Wilmington and Elsie Underhill.
Plenty of people there are living yet
who remember the success of the young
actress ON the Princess boards. and who
remember with sorrow her sudden de-
parture and death.
Wellington succeeded in his designs,
then left her, as it was afterward known
he had left others, to droop and die or
to go from bad to worse He cared moth
ing.
Elsie's sensitive nature was too high
strung. She could not survive the dis |
grace, even though it was apparent only |
to herself. Her heart broke, and in the
early weeks of December, when the mar
row little Church street and the roofs of |
the neighboring cottages were covered !
with snow; when the timid robin had !,
become so tame as to fly to the windows |
of human babitatiOns for the food of |
charity; when the world was beginning |
to prepare its annual festival of peace |
and good will toward men, the poor
little actress, who was delicate flower
in the midst of a life of nettles and
brambles, withered and passed away, to
be transplanted in the garden that is
kept forever beautiful by those angels
whose duty it is to sOOthe and comfort
those poor waits of humanity who are
not strong enough to overcome human
ity's blows and buffets.
What became of Wellington? | have
never heard of him since. Somewhere,