Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-01-23
MEADOWS WARNING.

young fellow, in much better posi-
tion than l, but never envied him that
or anything else till he came between
me and pretty Lizzie Meadows She
was an orphan and lived with her grand
father, Luke Meadows, the oldest fisher
man in the village. Had she wished it
she might have had all the lads in the
place at her feet, but even in her child
ish days, when her companions fought
for the privilege of buying toys or sweets
for her or of carrying her books when
she trotted to school, she would give
them no reward but smile or glance
from her dark eyes. Her childish kisses
were reserved for me. To me only she
told her childish secrets and brought
her childish troubles.
But now she was a woman grown and
no longer lavish of her favor She was
quiet and shy. And old Luke, being
naturally very careful of his treasure,
guarded her so jealousy that it became
each day more and more difficult to OBJ
tain speech with her 1t was but seldom
now that | was allowed to look in at the
cottage Of Sunday evening, as l had
been in the habit of doing regularly
from boy. But that troubled me the
less inasmuch as the permission was
not granted to any one else
At length, however, it began to be
whispered about that Ben Holding went
very frequently to Meadows cottage
and was doubtless paying attention to
his granddaughter. This was the more
surprising, as the young man had till
very recently been working at place
some 20 miles to the north, and, to my
certain knowledge, there was nothing
between the two when he first went
there. His work must have brought him
in good round sum, for he went fish
ing now in boat of his own and had
taken cottage all to himself, instead
of living in a single room or boarding in
a family, as was the custom with the
young fishermen round about.
However, | gave little heed to such
gossip. Lizzie always greeted me with
a smile when we met, and Meadows
was, if anything, rather more friendly
than he had been for some time More
over, if by chance did spend an even
ing at the cottage, | never came across
Ben Holding He used to go by on Sun
days on his way to the meetings of the
Plymouth Brethren, where he was a con-
stant attendant, but he never staid to
chat moro than five or ten minutes, and
what he said to the girl all the world
might hear
| went down to Meadows place one
Sunday afternoon with the intention of
telling Lizzie how it was with me and
of asking her to be my wife 1t would
be the best way, | thought, of putting
an end to the talk of the village, which
did not please me, though it caused me
no anxiety. had lately had raise in
my wages and was promised further
increase at the end of the year, SO /
hoped to satisfy Meadows as to my pros
poets.
cannot tell if he suspected my in
tention. but it was in vain sought for
an opportunity of speaking to Lizzie
that evening. Meadows talked without
ceasing, and Lizzie herself seemed more
occupied than usual Instead of sitting
still she fitted around the kitchen,
doing one thing or another, now reach
ing down plates from the topmost shelf
of the dresser, then bending over the fire
where, contrary to her custom on Sun
day, she had two or three pots to attend
to. | was SO absorbed in watching her
movements that | fear | made but an
Indifferent listener to Meadows old
time yarns 1t was delight to me to
note the graceful turn of her figure, to
watch the color deepening on her cheek
till her delicate ear looked like rose
leaf as it lay amid the clustering rings
of her dark hair Lizzie laughingly
turned US out at last, saying she wanted
to set the kitchen to rights and we were
in the way | offered to help her, but
the old man would not hear of my do
ing anything and carried me off to the
porch to smoke pipe with him.
We had not sat there long before Tsaw
Ben Holding in the distance, evidently
making his way toward u.s. So little did
fear him that was actually glad to
see him, thinking he would take off
Meadows attention and give me a
chance of word with Lizzie. But /
soon saw that was not to be- After shak-
ing hands with US Ben strobe into the
kitchen, and, though we followed him
Immediately, he had found time to give
her little note, for | saw her hide it
in her dress as | came in.
| soon discovered he had been invited
to supper, and the dishes Lizzie had
been taking so much pains with were
prepared in his honor. When we sat
down to table. the talk turned on mat
ters of which knew nothing aud could
take no part in. Lizzie asked question
after question about Holdings cottage
and displayed such an intimate knowl-
edge of its arrangements that it was
clear to me the subject had been often
discussed between them. What could
this mean but that the house was fur
nished for her as Holding wife? Mead
ows smiled placedly and looked on
with an air of approval that well nigh
maddened me. | turned cold and sick,
but though l never spoke and hardly
touched q morsel OH my plate they paid
no heed, but continued to laugh and joke
over their own affairs. At last | could
stand it no longer, and rising from the
table abruptly said it was time tc go
home Then for the first time LIzzle
seemed to perceive my agitation, Tor
she blushod and looked confused.
"Are you going out tomorrow,
George?'' Meadows asked as bale him
good night.
''Of course" ! said briefly. why