Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-08-11

some lawyers have not; aside from
business, he WAS companionable fell
low, with lot of available knowledge
about almost everything; and such
fellows are too scarce, even in big
city, to be let pass by men who want
clever society after business hours and
are able to pay for the luxury. He was
bachelor, so his time out of court and
office was not monopolized by family.
He was thirty-fve years of age, and as
young-looking as any reasonable
maiden could ask.
1t must be admitted that Shotway
had no family Of his own to help him
make his way. He did not hesitate to
say that he was born in England of
poor parents, and that his father was
q northumberland q good one. Such
education as he had to start with he
had picked up" in the United States
then his record, from the time he had
entered law Office as clerk, WAS
known to many members of his pro-
fession, who held him in high esteem
as self made man who had made
himself too we'll to put on airs. A full
half of his acquaintance could find
mechanics in their own families only a
generation or two back, and they
weren't ashamed of them, either.
But why didn't the fellow marry?
This was the question which scores of
women, young and old, put to one an
other. 1t really was shame that
fellow who could make himself SO
agreeable, and who had tastes more
general and cultivated than most men,
should not do his duty toward society
by taking wife, making a home and
adding one to the small number of
people who were really competent to
entertain delightfully."-.
Among women who had decided
opinions on this subject was Miss
Edith Worling, clever and well-to-
do maiden of nearly thirty summers.
That she had not already married was
the fault of the dozen or more men
who had proposed to her; she knew
what manner of man she wanted as
husband, and had been willing to wait
until she found him. Shotway entire
ly met her requirements, but the fell
low did not propose, although she had
given him several opportunities, and
without being at all unmaidenly,
either; some women have tact enough
to do that sort of thing without being
suspected. She had met Shotway in
society and at the seaside and in pic
ture galleries and even in the course of
some philanthropic work in which she
was interested, and had found his
tastes, principles and knowledge very
like her own, which was the highest
praise she could give any one.
One of the tasks to which she brayely
herself was visiting the sick
women in q portion of the city where
most people lived from hand to mouth,
and where occasional misfortune caused
much suffering which she could in
some measure relieve. One day she
had the honor of saving the newly
made widow of house painter from
an exacting landlord, and of saying
some encouraging words to the poor
who was quite ill in one of the
better class tenement-houses. Walls
and doors in such buildings are not
very thick; through them Miss Wor-
ing had sometimes unwillingly heard
not intended for her ear,
md while she talked with the sick
woman she was startled by familiar
'oice saying:
You might do it for my sake, when
t is really for your own gain in every
way"
"Say no more about it, l command
'ou, came the reply, in heavy voice,
With broad accent. "Im too old to
'hange, and it's not to my taste, either.
More than that, l never WAS above nv
business, and l never will be-"
I'm not asking you to be above
'our business, but to be higher in it,"
Explained the first voice, which Miss
Norling recognized as Shotway's.
Between laying brick for the wall of
house and taking entire charge of
ne building of house there isn't
much difference, when you look at the
natter fairly. The business would be
he same, You would simply be at the
op instead of at the bottom, and you
now you always did have a pride in
icing as good man as could be found
It your trade"
"Ahi snarled the other vo;ce Uvou