Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-04-16

- - HCiC uOWH Oh your
~ luck luck 4, and a,t turned
he'd set himself to find oIt the cause of
your depression aud contrive to tighten
your heart before bidding you good
night. There are men whom YOU can
never address by their Christian name.
1t was just as impossible to call him Mr..
Furnival after few days acquaintance.
People who didn't know him set him
down for a fool; those who did know
him declared that he was simply the most
generous, lovable old bachelor living.
of course be was victimized over and
over again. What good mau can
escape being imposed upon2 He would
have enjoyed an INDEPENDENCE and been
a rich man with little selfshness in his
disposition. Having none, he had to
work hard to pay the taxes levied on his
generosity. A good half dozen old
women kept themselves alive through his
philanthropy, and the children who called
him godfather and came down upon him
at all seasons for material support were
legion. .-...s
One morning he received letter from
Boston. It ran thus:
DEAR jack am about.to pay the great
debt of nature. Unhappily tits the only one
which will remain unpaid You lent M
$500 long ago. I,have never forgotten yoi,r
kindness TO me-a comparative stranger.
The only testimony of affectionate remefn.
brance can give is to appoint you sole
guardian of my child, vino will come on 10
you as soon as | am under the sod. Adltu
forever, dear Jack Your friend, -.
ROBERT HALLEcK.,
This letter did not surprise Jack
Furnival-he was so accustomed to find
ing himself executor to men who could
rely on no Que else to put their affairs
in order and settle up their arrears.
But it did embarrass him when some
three weeks later tall young woman Of
eighteen or Whereabouts walked into. his
chambers and announced herself. as the
child of Robert Halleck, aud his ward.
What was ne to do with his ward?
That question perplexed Jack Furnival
exceedingly while the young lady. wss
eating the biscuit and slipping the coffee
which he had instinctively put before
her. She was too old to send to school,
and she was not old enough to put in an
almshouse. As her guardian it was his
first duty to see that she didn't get into
trouble, and how could he rest secure il
he sent such bright, fresh, innocent
attractive young creature AS she out oil
his sightl --.-5
He solved the difficulty at length in
this way There was flat above his own
to let; he took, the rooms, had them
furnished and installed Miss Haileck in
them with an old woman to wait upon
her and be a companion, who was rec
commended by half a dozen respectable
people. %
But it was as impossible to keep Miss
Haltecl1 in her room as to retain "a bird
IN cage when the door is left open.
When Jack came out of his dressing
room in the morning he found her in his
sitting room, and he couldn't get her out
of it until it was absolutely necessary 70
go to bed. But for alt that she was not
troublesome. When he had work TO do
she became so still and silent that he
wouldn't have known that she was in
the room but for glimpse of her bright
head over the back of a big chair, where
she sat reading a book selected at his
recommendation, and never stirred tiff
he signi6ed that the work was done.
Then it was as if pack of children had
suddenly been set free from school. She
filed the place with life aud sound sic
was all over the room at once with
laughte", snatches of song and scraps of
nonsense, all so fresh and delightful to,
Jacks somewhat blase senses that it
seemed to carry him into new world OF
which he had had no conception. He
found time to take her out and about a
good deal-at first for her own sake.
fearing his quiet mode Of living would
weary her, and then for his own, finding
his greatest Happiness arose from watching
her delight in the new experiences Of
London life. ..-....
The old woman upstairs did not muir
muir. She was pious and sleepy and
loved nothing better than to doze into
forgetfuiness over volume OF Blair's
Sermons, which she certainly would not
have been able to do had Miss Halleck
been in her rooms. .----..
Gradually the girl altered. She be-,
came less careless and boisterous. She
ceased to tease Furnival and was still
and mouse-like when there was no ne.
cessity-so far as his work was concerned.
Then she ceased to come down to his
rooms unasked. He tried to treat that
as joke, and sent an ironically formal
letter asking to have the pleasure of her
company to tea. She took the note in
all seriousness aud came sharp to the
time he had appointed, looking pale and
a little frightened, as though she ex-
pected to be charged with some fault,
and it needed rather embarrassing ex.
PLANTATION to make her understand that
the formallty was joke.
All this troubled JACK not little,
and he tried to get at the reason of her
altered manners and ways. Had she
received bad news from Canadal No.
Was she getting homesick3 No. Did
she sigh to see her Old friends again?
No; she bad no-old friends, aud the city
was the dearest plae in all the world to
her.
Failing to get any satisfactory expla-
nation from tie old woman, Fnrnival
tried the old woman when Miss Halleck
had gone out for a walk-latterly she
had fallen into the habit of walking out
alone, without limiting at the object of
her walk.