The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-04-23

CURED to her to suppose that he did,
seeing that she had refused him. In
| the same way she had notquestionedh her
own feelings; it was so natural to her
now to live alone, so natural to look
upon love as a thing of the past, that
! she had ceased to think of it.
another woman - young and a
pretty one!"
How strangely those words insinu-
ated themselves into her thoughts!
What terrible aching loneliness filled
her tonight, in her quiet little home!
She had no heart for music. The old
piano stood unopened. Jane Herring
usually so busy and so serene, paced to
and fro between the fireplace and the
door, up and down, up and down upon
her well-scrubbed boards.
Proud! all! proud of what "a lone
| ly, selfish life, little knowledge, and a
few possessions
She stopped before the mirror that
hung above the mantel shelf, and stood
| looking at the reflection of her face A
melancholy face it was-the face of a
woman who had let life go by without
taking the best that life offered; the
face of woman whom loneliness had
wasted; a love-hungry, disappointed
! face
Was she jealous of this unknown
woman, this young and pretty girl for
whom Phineas Balm might we'll recall
his love and his youth? Surely not.
| Yet what was this strange emotion, this
pain about her heart. this sick restless
ness, such as she had never before
| known? 1t seemed incredible that the
idea of his loving another woman
should rekindle in her a desire to have
Phineas for herself Yet, she expe-
rienced an intense wish to come again
under his notice, TO know his feelings,
to have part in his interests.
1t had come upon her so suddenly in
the midst of her staid, contented life.
At the very mention of this stranger by
the gossip of the place, there had leaped
up within her an emotion which she had
with difficulty repressed until she was
alone. Looking round her home, so
perfect i'll all the details of order and
thrift, yet withal 50 barren and cheer
less, she wondered more and more at
her folly of having thrown away the one
thing needful for her happiness. She
had loved the man after all-had loved
him passively for Il score of years, and
she loved him still. The pride that had
caused her to refuse him, the conscious
ness of social superiority-wherew We're
they now? What did they amount to
under the calm scrutiny of siX-and-
thirty? An income sufficient for her
humble needs had bred in her a some
what selfish independence; and she
was bound to confess that this had not
been without its influence in the mat
ter. 1t was long after her usual early
hour for going to bed when she at last
put out her lamp, and the conclusion
she had come to when she left the lone
illness below stairs for the loneliness
above was that Mrs. Freeman was not
far wrong, after all, in saying that lit
was the piano"
\ terrible sense of uneasiness OPP
pressed her in the days which followed.
In vain she tried to occupy her thoughts
as usual, and to enjoy the bright inf1u-
ence of the perfect winter weather. Her
heart was sick within her; the frost
chilled instead of invigorating her, and
she found the short January days too
long. She was jealous-oh! how bit
terly, how increasingly jealous!-o
Mrs. Letters new prentice, whom she
had never seen. Her heart ached to
meet Phineas Balm. but as luck would
have it, he seemed to have disappeared
from the place. Seek him she would
not, forget him she could not; ana all
the time she was telling herself over
and over again, that she was no better
than a fool to think of such things.
More than one person in the village
wondered what allied Miss Herring. AS
she went about, quiet. unobtrusive as
ever, there was something forlorn
about her tall, spare figure, something
pitiful in the expression of her grave
face, the lines of which seemed sudden
ly to have deepened. She answered all
inquiries, however, with the invariablc
assurance that she was perfectly we'll.
With all her efforts, she had been
unable to regain her habitual state of
mind, when another event befell of
which she had had no premonition.
She had been, in spite OF her protesta-
tons, very ailing for some days. The
unusual excitement and emotion under
which she labored were beginning to
tell upon her, and the maintenance of
her little home had become almost irk-
some.
Coming downstairs after a somewhat
restless night, she was fastening to
kindle her fire, when knock at her
door startled her. She was greatly sur
prised at receiving letter, an event
which rarely occurred to her. and the
sight of the one the postman put into
her hand caused her an understandable
uneasiness. She opened it hastily,
standing beside the newly lit fire, and
then she stood with her gaze fixed on
the paper, and a terrible sense of chill
creeping over her.
There had come to her the worst news
narha tbnt q, 81. IL