Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1896-05-04
CHAPTER XIX.
OLD SCENES AND FACES.

Ten years work great changes. We
have seen how it has made OF the tim
i'd, shrinking littlegirl, stringlng pearls
in Mrs. Stocker's first floor, a public
star, the admired of thousands,
sought after and fattered by the
wealthy and DESIGNING
The printers boy OF Shuter's-close,
whose curly pate was troubled by no
heavier cares than those of his birds,
or the queries OF his little companion
Ida, has become sturdy man, to
whom Fortune has not been kind, and
with whom care and recklessness have,
in turn, played sad havoc.
Good Mrs Grejous, the bustling
landlady, those ten years have laid in
the earth to an interval of rest, and 1T
has gone hard with her son to settle
her debts, and leave her good name
untarnished. out of the poor pittance
he has been able at most times to
command; and then, when Fortune
did incline to smile, she showed her
kindness in a dark way, by offering
him a post which must take him away
from his friends, and Danish him, per-
haps for years, from the spot he was
OCSl1llll1lS ~ lCCl, SOlIlCIlOW3 ACUO DO-
culiar attraction for him. | doubt
Toms prudence, unassisted, would
scarcely have gained the day; but
Nelly, and, alas! Ida, urged SO
strongly upon him the wisdom
of the course, that, in a fit OF
impatience at what he deemed her
unkindness, he accepted it, and left
London for Yorkshire.
And there the news of Ida s increas-
ing progress reached him; the news,
too, from other sources, OF her
beauty, and the admiration she ex-
cited; and, unable longer to endure it,
he left his post, and again came to
London, to find his once familiar lit
tie playmate q reserved and stately
woman;eto see, with his own eyes the
sensation that even in her retired life
she failed not to create wherever she
went; to find, in short, that he had
INDUCED dream which he must now
awake from At least, this is what
he said to himself, with many impre-
cations on his folly, no doubt; by way
OF penance, deciding at once to re-
main in London and starve upon q
pittance rather than to return to
Yorkshire, where he was already in a
fair way to good business.
To no single creature he told his
hidden regrets or disappointment,
but was content to pass for an un-
settled, reckless kind of fellow, un-
equalled as a workman, but not in
any way to be relied on; and all be-
cause the beautiful girl of nineteen,
wrapped up in the pursuit of a
profession she loved-looking forward
anxiously to the great event of her
life-to whom each day was opening
up some new experience Of the world,
so novel to her-becanse she failed to
greet him quite so Familiarity as of old,
when she was wont to stroke his face,
and hail him as 'good, dear Tom"
But can we all plead mot guilty. to
such charges Of absurdity? Do not
laugh at poor Tom, my dear reader,
till you have asked yourself the
question.
The house at Kensington was a
speculation of the signor's, whose
connection had wonderfully increased.
The ten years had favored him so
far; and Nellie had relinquished the
box-making trade for the post of
housekeeper to the little man and his
pupils. OF which limited number
resided at his house-Ida assisting in
their instruction; her services and
those Of her mother affording them a
no me, and something more.
But their situation would now be
changed; the signor's brightest antici-
pations were fulfilled; his pearl among
pupils would reward all the care that
had been bestowed upon her.
TO BE CONTINUED.