The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1897-09-03

. FERN xxx !
/ COTTAGE. !
BY ANNA SHIELDS.
BY ANNA SHIELDS.

oring fashion plates for "a magazine
there"
This was the last statement my law
yer made upon the lOng-wiHded recital
OF the state of my affairs when | re
turned from Seven-years' absence To
take up my abode in my own home.
lie had by my directions renovated and
put into good order the large. hand
some house that was my Inheritance
from father, grandfather and great
grandfather. passing in each generation
through a course of modernizing that
still left the stately, oId-fashioncd walls
and extensive grounds intact. We Hi
tons were very fond of Hilton place
and had ample means wherewiIh to
maintain its beauty.
But beside my own home | also pos
seSSed several houses in the village of
Craw ford and one cottage lust at the
boundary line of my garden. il pretty
place that my mother had christened
Fern Cottage. from the number of rare
ferns that nestled in the little garden
under fanciful miniature grottos and
piles of rock placed there.
1t was after twilight on a warm April
evening that, passing the cottage. | saw
through open windows my new tenant.
She WAS bending over small table. ap-
parently drawing. while the circle of
light from student lamp fell fun upon
her. | had fancied vulgar. common
place woman. This was " hat | saw:
y figure slender and graceful. with
hands white and perfect as if carved
in marble. y face purely oval. colorlesS
and fair, with regular features and
shaded by hair of midnight black
Twice while | looked she lifted her eyes.
arge. lustrous and dark, full of sup
pressed pain. \ face that covered a
heart full of bitter anguish, a brain sen
s;tive and cultiv9tcsI.
am physician. though have prac-
ticed little. preferring to write for the
use of younger students; but | love my
profession, and cannot quite keep its in
stincts quiet when | study new face
And all these instincts warned me that
here was a woman burning a candle al
ready flickering at both ends.
| had quite forgotten that mine was
not a strictly honorable position. thus
spying on a solitary woman's privacy,
when an elderly woman, seemingly an
upper servant of better days. came into
the room.
''Will you never cease wOrking?" she
said, fretfully. when the daylight iS
gone, and you cannot sort your colors,
YOU take up that drawing that is ruin
ing your eyes. Rest. child"
Then the voice | knew must belong to
that face, full, rich, melodious. but
freighted with sadness. answered her:
Rest, You know / cannot rest"
Play. then. Do anything but strain
your eyes any longer over that fine
work"
The widow rose then. sweeping her
heavy. black draperies across the room
To the piano, where she played. Surely,
if this was recreation. it was pitiful
mockery. Wailiug, minor music full of
s"bbing pain. Heavy chords melting
into sad refrains. \ master touch. a
rare power in the long, slender fingers
only called out strains of heart
breaking pathos.
y soft rain drove me home. but |
unused long and deeply over my tenant.
called several times, and received cour-
teOUS welcome. was entertained by
strictly conventional conversation
heard the piano in some fashionable,
showy music and found the surface so
ciety of Mrs. RavnOr, gentle, refined
lady, attractive and agreeable-no more.
might have accepted this for the real
woman, hut | had habit of lingering
about my garden. and as the drawing
room of Fern Cottage commanded no
other view. my neighbor seldom closed
the windows as the spring crept into
summer. Paler. more shadowy, with
added sadness in the great. dark eyes.
Mrs. RaVnor became almost ethereal as
the warm weather stole sonnet hing each
day from her strength, and | Was not
surprised one morning to see old Susan
coming hastily into my hallway.
'.Oh. DR.. Wilton" she said, she has
tainted over those horrid pictures! Will
you Gomez"
| went at once, finding my patient
prostrated at last, and gently submis-
sive to all my commands but one. the
most imperative.
Il must work" she said, las long as
| can hold Il brush"
But YOU will die" said, bluntly. ''if
you do not take a few weeks of entire
rest
Die" she said, quietly, not as if there
was my terror in the thought. but as if
it was a new possibility in some prob
lem of life. No. | must not die vet"
Then you must obey mel" | an
SNvercd. Il will send Il carriage every
afternoon. with careful driver, and
YOU must go with Susan for a drive
You must he outdoors as much as pos
sible. excepting during the heat of the
day, and then, if possible, sleep
Her dreary smile confirmed my opin-
ion that SleeD WAS a rare, visitor nj her
pillow. but she did not say so. Indeed.
she made no complaint, evidently allow
ing my visits solely out of regard for
Susan.
And to Susan | turned at last for
counsel. She had come to my house
for some medicine | had brought from
PaTis-an opiate not yet in use in this
country. And | pointed to a seat, say
ing: Susan, | am past 90 years old,
crippled. as You see, seldom leaving nay
home except for foreign traveI-no Cos
sip. If YOU think you can trust me with
Mrs Ravnor's secret trouble, | may be
able to cure her
The wc'r'Hn looked startled for n mo-
ment, and then, bursting into tears, she
said:
''Oh, sir, it's awful trouble. and we
don't want ii to be known about here
IN not betray YOU" l said, gently.
''You see. sir. she is not a widow after
thinking herself one for four years!
lie. Mr. EaNnor, sir. for she's never hid
ier name. is a bad man. man who
early killed her with his drinking and
ambIing and bad company. He spent