The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-05-17

wealth and power
Splendid conditions these, so easily i'm
agincd, fitting as smoothly to my should
ers as planned and adapted them, but,
ah, so laughably impossible of attainment,
And then, all at once, by chance no
! stranger, to be sure, than many a one |
was in the daily habit of recording, there
fell into my hands, not talent and beauty
and power indeed, as had demanded in
my boyish dreams, but wealth practically
unbounded, such wealth as l could never
of myself have earned or Won or found,
or in any least or faintest way deserved.
To he sure, l had been laying myself
out on the old fellow, as | should never
have dared to do had known him for a
a millionaire, but that was not from benev-
olence, but purely selfish appreciation Of
his fund of travel and experience. His
society was worth money to me besides
the pleasure of it, and therefore did court
him assidiously, with many an entertain
ment and excursion, which again were no
credit to my generosity, for had not the
interminable tickets and passes and the
duty of going to all these weary things a
duty much lightened by the society of the
lounging, invalied old gentleman, whom l
supposed no richer than myself.
told him my story, such as it was, and
am fain to think that some subtle sympa-
thy, some consciousness of similar ex-
perience in his own boyhood made him
take more of an interest than l then sus-
pected in this poor series of failures call
ed my life.
Then he died very suddenly andserene-
ly, leaving me some unbelieved millions,
and as no one but his solicitor knew that
he had any money, so no one knew that
had any, and behold me forthwith in exact
ly the position of my childish hearts desire.
What joy! What wild, free rapture of
plans, with occasional bursts of fancy
which even dismissed as quite untenable
For instance, had no longer any faintest
hope of marrying my Cousin Mary She
was quite taken up with another cousin,
| Fred by name, and would have married
| him long since no doubt had he been able
to support a family. But he was proud
| and would not marry until he could offer
something to his wife | knew that for
| he had told me so.
However, it was now my delicious fate
to be able to arrange matters for these two
so that they should be able to marry, Meth
er knowing how it had come about nor in
the least corner of their hearts suspecting
me- Then with what swelling pride I
look upon their happiness and know that
l had given it-I who so far had given on
ly trouble and modification to my family.
1t was an easy matter to make my moth
er's last years comfortable, and, ah! the
pleasure, the selfish pride took in remem-
bering small personal wishes and crafty
ing them bit by bit, while never suspected!
1t was an easy matter, too, through my
agent, to buy the very paper or which /
write, to slowly dismiss the men who were
disgrace to it, to promote and engage
men whose work made it great voice
soon, and through it slowly to win the
public confidence and work my will little
by little among the affairs of the city.
Such splendid game it was to arouse
public enthusiasm over some free baths or
children's playground scheme or other, to
start subscription lists and covertly head
them myself, to machinate safely and quiet
ly through my great pages, and all the
while having my copy refused half the
time, and the other fellows wondered how
l kept my place.
All this and much more was easy and
exciting, more of triumph and joy even
than had ever imagined it would be, but
my pet scheme of schemes hung fire lit
tie. Fred got his new position in per-
fectly natural manner. He was good
fellow and deserved it. Still there was no
sign of an engagement between him and |
my Cousin Mary. Then thought, being
an Independent girl, she might be waiting
to have something of her own, and after
as pretty bit of finesse as l ever saw in |
my life, if it was my own invention-and
small wonder, for had | not schemed at
such pleasant miracles, since | was 8 years |
old?-I managed to provide her with
IL.
result. So one day, when l was at home
i did not go often, for mother would al
ways lecture me on my habits, and some
how never could entirely get over the
hurt of it, big as was-I chanced to be
alone with my Cousin Mary for as much
of an evening as she would be willing to
bear my company.
l felt very happy to see how beautifully
she was dressed in these days, how her
hands were white already and grown
smooth again where the delicate fingers
used to be rough with countless needle
pricks. The house was a comfortable one
now, my mother was far easier in her mind
and therefore a sweeter companion.
Everything looked pleasant around
Mary, and told her how glad l was to
see it.
/ did not tell her how glad | was to see
her, how in all the rich and varied Joy of
my present position, as in all the unutter
able wearriness and dullness of my former
state, to see her was the keenest delight |
ever felt or ever hoped to feel. Calm,
strong beautiful woman that she was; per-
feet in lovelness of face and form and
character, mine would be poor triumph
after all, if | could not contrive to make
her happy.
sat watching her, and she watched The
leaping flames of the fire. and l wondered
clumsily in what possible way | could
force her into the happiness which should
be hers, when all at once she rose and
came to my side.
cousin Tom" she said in that delicious
voice of hers. ''Why don't you amount to
more, why don't you do yourself justice
in some way? Is it'-and heae she blush
ed beautifully, but the cousinship gave her
courage, and she went on-"is it for lack
of money to make a start with: Because,