The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-09-04

an afternoon Gull on her successful rival
She left her pretty airs and graces at
home with her gay ribbons that morning
and wns sad enough figure when hei
hostess ushered her into the parlor-tht
same little parlor though Miss Mans
Hnother was living then, and 1t was bright
er to her than It was In after years. Lizzi,
Minks told her story well and wept bitter
tears over IL too She told how Silas had
wooed her and won her and had promised
to marry her, and how the day had been
named, and how he had kept up tho cruel
deception even after he had met Miss Nan
khersolf, and how heartlessly he had final
ily thrown her over and laughed at her
Then when she saw that the girl at her
side appeared sorely troubled she became
remorseful and vowed that she ought not
to have told her Then she grew hyster
ical and rallied against all men and de
spised herself for an idiot to have ever
trusted one of them. Her auditor was very
quiet through 1t ALL but Lizzie Minks
knew that her shaft had been straight
one and went home exulting, After she
had gone, Miss Nan did what many an
other girl in her place would have done,
She had hard cry. She did not tell her
mother She could not have told any one.
She hated to think that even Lizzie Minks
knew the man she loved in such an altered
light. But the mere fact Of thinking Of
him softcned her, and she hopcd-eye, in
the loyalty of her heart, she trusted that
Silas had been misunderstood. There
should DO no misunderstanding between
them. She. determined to tell him that
evening, when he called, all that she had
heard. But tangled through her troube
was soro feeling Of disappointment that
6ilas could have even carelcssly trilcd with
another woman and q feeling, too, Of un.
conscious jealousy in the thought that
no had prolonged the farce after he had
begun tho wooing of herself. 1t was a
feeling akin to resentment against him. in
Justice to her own worth
When he entered the parlor q few hours
later, he knew at once that something
him long in doubt. She told him the
whole story, only Withholding the name
,of her informant She kept back her tears,
too, and the effort made her voice hard
She waited for him to speak when she had
finished, and il they had been sitting near
or to each other would hayo touched his
hand, / said that Silas Grantley was
proud, and II ever proud man was hui
inflated that man was himself No 9th
err proof than her own voice could have
made him think that this woman could
have believed for n moment such o bast
falsehood against his manhood. The feel
ing of deep Injury and indignation was
uppcrmost In his mind. Without WORD
he rose and turned to GO At the door he
paused an instant to look at her but only
for an instant, There was n quick, firm
step on the gravel walk tho cato shut
noislly, and he was gono, From that might
Miss Nan never saw Silas Grantley again
Never saw him agnn2 Never saw him
hgainS How many times she saw him II
that doorway wheh the feline family wer,
lpurring contcntedly md the little carthcn
ware teapot was singing chcorfully on the
hearth, only Miss Nan knew. How many
times that last reproachfuA glance looket
in upon her on the lonely nights Of the
long years that followed, when the Who'll,
bitter truth was before her only Miss MAI
knew. How utterly drcary the tidy littl,
parlor was ut times during the long, long
hours, when the thought Of that las
night came back to her, how often tn,
soft gray eyes wspt bitterly when sh,
thought Of tho wrong that she had dom
him, and that she never could undo now
And that was the story of her romance
A late train west bound carried Sila!
Grantloy away that night-carricd hin
away SO completely that Tifin neither saw
nor heard of him again and soon forgo
him. She lived her life as best she could
and before her little world the thorns IL
her path were trodden unflinchingly
Wherever q woman's hand was needed
there was Miss Nan; wherever charitabl,
duties were the hardest, In the harlcs
winters, among tho hardest class of pco
pie, there was Miss Nan, and though he
purse was not large one 1t was opcr
constantly. l think 1t was this constan
doing Of good, this constant healing o
minds and hearts and bodies, that KEEP
the hard lines off her face, oven when tn,
early gray strands glistcned in her brown
hair. Ii there was one weakness for which
she had no compassion, 1t was the weak
ness of drunkenness. If there were an,
mondicants who left her door empty hand
ed, they were those who went there witt
the fumes of alcohol on their breath. Tru
ly tho drunkard in her eyes was detestablc
And so tho Summers passed and thu
winters passed until the time when my
story opens, and Miss Nan had become al
old nsaid beyond question or dispute
New lives came into the littlo town, ant
old lives went out. Girls in pinuforcs AMI
small boys in short trousers grew to b,
men and women, married aud set up fol
themselves and had children of their own
but to Miss Nan one year was but rcpe
tition of another, and 1t sometimes seem
cd to her that she was continually going
around in n circle that had long since be
come monotonous. II Miss Nan cveI
thought that she might have made hel
life happier, she guarded the thought well
md II the smiling matrons over occasion
ed the slightest envy in her breast they
could rs easily have learned 1t from the
leXtCrior of the neat cottage us from Its
prim mistress
Ono wintry March morning she started
out with u basket on her arm to visit Il
sick fanily, when she noticed n small
crowd of men and boys short distance
from her gate Tho gibes that reached her
ears and the incohcrent profanity that fol
lowed them told her that a drunken man
was the center Of the group. Sho know
she would be obliged to pass them, but
with the determination not to be deferred
from her purpose by such an unworthy
cause sho held her head trile higher,
involuntarily drew her skirts closer about
b
group she saw that the man was reeling.
lie was wrctchcd looking creature, with
long tangled hair dirty beard, batter.
ed remnant of hat and ragged clothes
that hung loosely on the thin shivering
figure. She took one glance at him, and
tho basket cropped from her arm. She
walked straight up to him, laid her hand
on his frayed sleeve and led him to her own
gate and up the gravel walk and into the
. neat little cottage and into the tidicst par
lor in all THIN. How she took on over
him, and cried over him, and buthcd his
face with cold cologne water, and had old
Mrs Young, her ancient mnid of all work,
cook him tho dnintlcst breakfast imagi.
nablcl Who would have thought it Of Miss
Nam And what would Tiffin sayH Little
cared Miss Nan what THIN would say.
For all her tears, there was not lighter
heart In tho world that day thnn Miss
Mans, If thoro had been one bright spot
In her lonely life 1t had been the hone of