The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1892-03-02


And thus hopefully they parted. Philip
went back to Philadelphia by night
train, and Mabel returned to her fathers
house. But the deacon gave her a very
bad half-hour after supper. He said
Philip was nothing better than beggar,
dependent upon his uncle's bounty; that
he was a mean fellow, and too dull to
succeed at any bar except a marble
topped one with bottles behind it, and
somebody with him before it to pay his
reckoning. He said many other things
about her lover that Mabel, being high
spirited girl, could not stand at all. She
went to her room when she could restrain
her tears no longer, aud when she had
locked her door, and relieved her heart
with such tears as she had not shed since
her mother died, twelve years before, she
decided that she could never again have
homo until Philip made one for her.
She had promised her lover that she
would never marry any other man; but
she had also promised her father that she
would not wed without his consent.
The situation was rather conflicting, and
only one thing was quite clear. to her;
that was that neither Philip nor the
deacon should have an opportunity to
urge her to break either pledge. She
trusted her lover, and she trusted herself;
and above all, she had higher trust that
her dead mother had taught her. So
when she packed up few articles of
clothing in small handbag, counted
her savings, which amounted to about
seventv-five dollars, and stole away with
the dawn unobserved by any one in the
house except the tooth tortured servant,
she felt lonely, and perhaps little fright
ened, but not at all the guilty conscience
stricken creature that the deacon and
most of the pious people of Sqnalacket
felt assured that she must be as soon as
her flight was discovered.
Deacon Stone was not, any time, a
man of many ideas. He had only room
for one now, and that his wsyward and
rebellious daughter had gone to Phila-
delphia to join Philip. He hastened
there as fast as steam could carry him,
and went at once to the law students
one dingy room in Arch Street. He
found its occupant wrestling manfully
with the Revised Statutes of Pennsylva-
MIA, and the earnestness with which he
assured his visitor that he was quite ig-
norant of Mebel's movements as we'll as
his own distress as he heard of her flight,
would have convinced an unprejudiced
person that he spoke the truth. But the
deacon was a man of very fixed opinions.
He called the Objectionable quality that
usually won for him his own way SIDE.
termination" His fellow church members
referred to it as "pig-headedness," but
that was only wheG there was no chance
of his hearing of the term so applied.
He now openly refused to credit Philips
declaration. But the young man listened
to mis- rambling, vehemently told story,
and then with the same GOODNESS and
deliberation that afterward greatly helped
him in the case of Colly VS.. West, he
pretty thoroughly cross-examined him.
He learned enough about the scene in
the Iarlor the night preceding Mabel's
flight to give him tolerably clear in
sight as to the actual state of affairs, and
his knowledge of the proud, self-reliant
character of the girl assured him that
wien she returned it would be of her
own free-will.. Whatever efforts he made
to find her l1st be advanced with the
utmost delicacy, for he knew that any
thing like publicity would deeply offend
her. 1t was with great difficulty that he
finally persuaded the deacon to refrain
from taking the police into his conf
dence; and the old man departed finally,
vowing that if his daughter were not
back in Squalacket before the end of the
week he would obtain warrant for
Philips arrest, and raise such a hue and
cry after Mabel as would lead to her dis
covery if ehe were still above ground.
Other and more important matters must
have claimed his attention, for, so far as
Philip could ascertain, he made no fur
ther attempt to find the fugitive.
And so the dreary- weeks heightened
into months. Mabels retreat was nearly
as much mystery as ever-not as much,
for Philip received one short letter from
her, which relieved his anxiety. She
was in New York, aud was SAFE and well.
She refused to tell him her address, but
promised to write &C him again when
events justified such course-say, when
the Philadelphia newspapers announced
that Colly had won his suit against West.
With this assurance he was obliged to be
contented; and in the early days of
December Philip was called to the bar.
Bat while one man may lead horse
to the water, twenty men cannot make
him drink; and Philip soon found that
it is easier to become barrister than to
find clients. The case of Colly VS.. West
went over until the next term of the
court. The parsimonious uncle had
stopped supplies, and if the brieaess
young lawyer had not succeeded in OBJ
tanning a little literary work as book
reviewer for a newspaper, the room in
Arch street might have wanted fire.
IL was warm aud comfortable enough,
however, when he hurried into it out of
the biting air one evening; aud, lighting
the lamp, he saw that two sealed enve-
lopes lay upon the table. The one he
opened first contained a circular from a
New York land syndicate, setting forth
the great opportunities offered to obtain
prairie homes where the wilderness would
soon be made to blossom like rose.
Tho address on the second envelope was
in wrihng that was strange to him. 1t
enclosed a letter from lawyer, an =
nouncing the sudden death of his uncle,
and his accession to a reasonably large
fortune.
Aud now where was Mabell She