Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-10-03
grieving if you stay away longer
CHAPTER VII.

| WITH the LelghS, that same night /.
2 started for London: from thence h
g.. purposed making his way to Bou
f logne, where at least he would be fire
; from the grasp Of enraged creditors
Then Lefty set herself to face her lif
Dravely, as it was her nature to do.
One of the least of the many peas
ant things this loss OF fortune brough
. Lefty, was the loss of Mrs. Atherton
That lady's salary could no longer be
paid for, and she was not one to sta
a single hour for nothing; she even
grunbled and lamented as though
this loss was her own personal griev.
ance, and so, indeed, it was in one
way. She made no pretense of sym
pabhy beyond a few commonplace 20
litenesses, that were worth less than
the puff of breath that gave them sub
stance. She commenced without any
delay to get her properties together,
and they had increased vastly during
her stay in that house; and then,
when she had al her preparations
completed, she kissed Lefty on the
cheek and drove off to the station,
Mr., Leigh escorting her
| That was the last journey the
pretty little trap ever went while Mr.
Leigh was it's owner, for three days
| after he sold it, and the gray mare
! that drew it. The cottage he had
bought, and he would neither dispose
of it, nor Of any article Of furniture
however costly, however out Of place
and useless it might be; and so father
and daughter went back to their
former humble way Of living, their one
servant, and the thousand and one
petty troubles that genteel poverty is
heir to.
Gladly would poor Lefty have
worked to procure money, but work
there was none for her to do. She
could not toll meanly, for she was u
gentleWoman; teacuIns, t1nt la
source of destitute responsibility, was
barred to her, for she had none OF the
Snowy accomplishments that the gov
eineSseS of the present day are eX-
pected ID possess and transmit to their
pupils with proper zeal for the munifi-
cent stipend of, say, twenty pounds
per annum.
In the first bleak days of the early
March Mr.. Leigh could not leave his
room; he seemed to shrivel up and
fade as the days grew longer and
brighter, and before the May bios
SONS Whitened the trees, he lay under
the green sOds of the little churcnyard
on the hill. Then Lefty stood alone
in the world, with but a very small
annuity to keep actual want from her
door.
The greater part of Mr.. LeighS in
come died with him, and on the scanty
remainder Lefty had to learn to live. |
\ proud girl would have gone in her
poverty away from the place, and
from the people who had known her
in different circumstances. But
Lefty was more loving than proud, !
and she chung tenaciously to the spot |
that had seen the dawn and the dark !
ening of her brief l0ve-dream.
The sultry summer had ripened into /
autumn, the corn stood high in the |
meadows stretching round Letty's +
ferns were in full luXuriance. The |
first rending pain of her loss was over,
but the weary void of her heart was !
untitled, and often, sitting in the !
warm haze Of the August days, look !
ing out on the shifting sea. she would /
think with a half sigh that perhaps !
she was wrong. after all. in casting !
L Il
ily. And yet she felt she could not do !
otherwise, were he to come and offer !;
it again. Of the one love that would |
have been so precious to her, she had
given up all hope; and any other,
however true, however tender, could
be but an empty name to her after
that.
The weary days craWlad away till
springtime came again. Lefty, stand
ing in the churchyard by her fathers
grave, looked down, through binding
tears, on the green sods that had been
laid there so smoothly just one little
year before.
1t was a fair April day, made up OF
more smiles tnan showers, and the
treble notes of the birds mingled,
shrilly sweet with the rush and the
roar Of the incoming tide. The mar
row strip of sand left bare by it was
sparkling and cleaning like molten
gold in the sunshine; and as Lefty
turned away from that lonely grave,
the warm glitter caught her eye and
drew her toward it, almost unawares.
The happy past Lefty had left so far
behind seemed nearer to her as the
great, green waves rolled up to her
feet, and the fresh wind brushed Le-
face. On that narrow strip of sand,
q few years back, she had first met
Paul Leonard. Up and down it she
had walked once afterward with Paul
Lennard's young wife, trying to amuse
her, striving to love her, if only be-
cause Of the great, tender heart in !
which she was Shrined, like, as the
girl in her clearSighted truth could !
not but own, a glitter glass bauble in !
casket of purest gold. Out there, |
where the great, gray powders rose
dark against the foam of the strong !
sea that was breaking over and round |
it, she had stood and listened to the
first few, barren words in which Ell
nest Devcreux told his love: which |
was at that time just as cold and !
scant itself as they were, though she |
did not know t. and he would not !
have owned il even to himself In !
that tiOV crock now slowly fi11iOu with |