Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-07-24
Edna Farleigh's Temptation.

stopped TO arrange Tue SHAWL apoub
her shoulders, and half suppressed
sigh stirred the folds Of her mourn
ing wrapper.
81 know, mother; but it is, at
times, so difficult to realize it.
Heaven and its sweet glory seem so
very far away. But I will hope al.
ways for the best. If the worst does
come, l think | can manage to keep
US comfortable. You know Mr..
Jameson gives me little more for
my work, and l could have some
shoes to bind from Barley's."
"My poor Edna !"
NAY, mother, am l not happy in
toiling for you? 1t is we'll to have
something for which to labor. And
now, good morning I'll not be gone
long, it is so very pleasant I can 60
across the fields. 1t lessons the dis
tanca full half a mile"
Edna Farleigh put on her faded
shawl, and tied the meagre ribbons
of her hat with a rebelling heart.
She could not remember when she
felt SO very hard and stubborn.
There was no spirit of resignation,
no steady faith, no hopeful trust, in
the tense lines Of the white face that
looked at her out of the glass. She
scarcely recognized herself.
Life had not been beautiful to her
for many years. Do you know what
it is to be filled with a fervid appre-
citation of all the rich, rare lowell.
ness of earths fair things, to hear
continually within the dumb cry Of
the hungry soul for the tender beau
ty we know life sometime holds to
worship all the perfect gorgeousness
of the sunset skies, yet never dare
to reveal in their splendor ? to
shrink from the melting touch of the
south wind, because to drink in it's
ripe breath might hinder the toll
that is necessary to keep life in the
pulses OF one you love more than
your own happiness
-Four years Edna had spent in this
way. A daily struggle with the
world for bread-bread for herself
and her feeble mother. Early and
late she toiled at the coarse gar.
ments given her to make from the
great clothing establishment at the
village-poorly recompensed, some.
times scolded for mistakes and err
rors with which she had nothing to
do. But this morning she felt more
keenly than usual. And why? The
twenty-fourth of June would see the
Fairleighs homeless, and that fateful
day was only distant another sun !!
A few words will explain whatever
of their little history the reader will
care to learn.
Arthur Fairleigh, Edna's father
now four years dead-had been a
gardener on the estate Of Ralph
Wilmot, the misery master at the
hall. Fairleigh had once been wealthy
himself, but by series of misfor-
tunes he was reduced to peuury. and
was glad to accept the toler-
ably lucrative situation offered him
by Mr.. Wilmot. Oak Cottage, the
present residence of his widow aud
daughter, Was then vacant; and
there Mr.. Fairleigh took up his
abode, with the understanding that
IL should be his when he had paid
the proprietor certain sum Of mon.
ey agreed upon.
Failing to show receipts for the
full amount-so ran the bond of
agreement-the estate of Oak Cot
tage should, on the Gath of June,
belong to Ralph Wilmot, provided
he still survived but in the event
of his death before the said oath,
the whole property should revert to
Arthur Fairleigh and his heirs for
ever.
Mr.. Fairleigh had been to make
his last payment, when he was seiz-
ed with paralysis while yet in the
presence of Mr.. Wilmot and three
days afterward he expired at the
ball, remaining speechlcss and mo.
tionless to the last.
After the funeral obsequies were
over, Mrs. Fairleigh, searching
among her late husbands papers,
found Mr.. Wilmot's receipts up to
the last payment. The final receipt
In full was not among them. She
applied for it to Mr.. Wilmot, but
the misery man disclaimed all
knowledge of the reception of the
money, and coolly told her that he
should abide by his agreement. She
need expect nothing more at his
hands.
Four years longer Oak Cottage
was hers, and the only chance of her
getting justice lay in the very un-
certain prospect of Mr.. Wilmot's
death before the expiration of the
time mentioned in the bond. These
years had passed now, and, with
each succeeding week, Mrs. Fair