Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1897-03-03

ish disposition.
Weeks passed into months, and
Madeline had planted herself firmly in
the house; Hannah could not turn her
out, and she never suggested going,
and never made any serious attempt to
get work. Her orphan and penniless
condition served her as useful means
of appealing to the sympathy of the
'selderly party" AS time went on,
Hannah saw less and less Of her lodger,
her cousin appropriated as her charge
his study and laboratory, and it was
bitterness and gall to Hannah to see
Ter administer to him all the little at
tentions which she had been wont to
perform, and the last straw was that
Madeline talked as if she gave enough
help to fully repay Hannah for her
room and keep.
Hannah. with her heart smarting at
the bitter injustice OF things, could
not tell her that she was day by day
robblng her of all that made life bear
able. Madeline had taken to using
the "elderly party's" study as her sit
ting room; it was more attractive
than the prim parlor downstairs; and
when Hannah was hard at work dur
ing the hot August days-days that
made her look paler and palmer than
ever, her cousin would sit reading a
7Rffiflh 7aRffsE her feet up on the i rings 81 an.
other-a rretty picture of ease and
comfort. She never forgot to look up
at intervals, with cgt.like something
in her blue eyes and in her soft, pur-
ring voice, and say to her companion,
Don't you wish that Hannah would
stop fussing and come and sit down"
And as, when woman is particu.
larly busy, man generally does think
she is "fussing" and choosing to do
something totally unnecessary, the
'selderly party" came to look upon it
as quite natural that Madeline should
be his hourly companion, and that
she should sit in an easy chair while
Hannah, hot and weary in mind and
body, should toll and strive for them
both.
After Madeline had been with them
three months Hannah's lodger came
into O fortune. 1t was not a large
one, but it would enable him to live
in ease and comfort for the rest of his
life. When Hannah heard the good
news, what she dreaded most did not
bennen He did not suggest moving
into more luxurious lodgings; he
seemed to consider himself fixture in
the old wainscoted room with its cot
tage window and old oak floor; but he
bought more pretty plants and fresh
hot house flowers, which Madeline now
accepted with blush and prettiness
that sent his blood coursing through
his veins.
She knew that she had appealed at
first sight to the human passion latent
in the scholar, as Hannah had never
done. Intellectually she was nothing
to him, but for that she did not grieve.
AS an intellectual companion only, q
woman has no actual power over q
mans heart; but as beautiful woman
she can use him as it best suits hel
purpose. Hannah's lodger paid his
money in advance now, and she felt as
mother feels when her son grows In
to manhood and passes out OF her care
There was no need now to substitute
new skirts for old ones, and the
"elderly party" was conferring favor
on her by remaining in his humble
lodgings. Her self-sacrifces for hel
beloved teacher were useless now.
She comforted herself with the thought
that he never treated Madeline as an
intellectual companion, but she knew
that he was more man and less of
scholar when Madeline's blue eyes ano
blight head were lighting up the cor
ner of his dark study.
One morning when Hannah wa
ironing, with the table piled high i!
we'll bleached linen, the "elderly par
ty" came into the kitchen with Made
Iiue. He walked straight up to wher'
Hannah stood, with her hot face ben
over the steaming shirt, and drew
Ma feline forward.
"Hannah, your cousin has promises
to marry me. She is young and beau
tiful, and I am only plain scholar
but will do my best to make her
good husband"
AS if it had been thrust through he
body with the point of a bayonet eacl
word went to Hannah's heart, /
ceased beating. Madeline, of course
knew why her cousin had SO suddenl
tainted, and tho poor little bit G
triumph made her heart beat quicker
but when she looked up at her love
has face was pale with fear. She sa
look of agony in his eyes as he turne
them to her for help, which told he
that she did not possess the heart {
the scholar SO completely as eh
thought, and the. vixen in her We
roused.
ooh, you need not be go alarmed
she has tainted through sheer Jea
ousy."
For one moment he stood transfixed
all that he mad been blind to for year
!. was made PLAIN to him now, and
that moment he recognized the hear
lessness OF the woman he had propose
to only ten minutes ago.