The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-08-10

ioiSO " bho III ~ uuu WIlSbS. INo
tea was quite perfect without tho dear
little artists presence; no girl felt
quite satisfied IL she had 0 had q
chat with Miss Hopkins between the
dances, and ever the brOadshouldered,
fresh-Voiced boys liked to creep into
the softly shaded little studio to &C.
company its owner home at dusk. Her
Monday afternoons grew famous, and
the orphans on the corner had enough
new shoes and quilts and real buildings
for Sunday dinners to make them ever
lastingly grateful to the happy hearts
in the tiny brown house on the Q X
street.
Miss Hopkins always had the pref
tiest girl in town to pour on these oc-
cassious and generally some one with a
|! really good voice or an unusually skill
full touch on the violin could be found
to make music. Then, too, the
pictures themselves could pear re-
peated visits, for the poor, sweet old
man grew very dear to them all 0
that he was not there In flesh to
trouble them. Furthermore, it was
almost as good as going to confession
to creep up, Silly and gently, before
the last Of them all, where Miss Hop
| kins always kept a bunch OF fresh vio-
lets standing beneath the sweet little
canvass, with its live mOrning-glories
and its sleeping man.
And the best thing OF 1T all to little
Miss Hetty was the Major, the tall,
courtly Major, who was 80 attentive to
her and seemed to enjoy being with
her more than any man in all her life
had done. When u woman waits till
she is thirty-six before she loves, the
result is going to be terrible in its in
tensity. Mrs. Wilmarth saw 1t and
trembled, excepting for the fact that
her brother really seemed to see no
one else but Miss Hetty, except, Of
course, the girls-all that seasons buds
who nocked about the Maj"r because
he was so different from ordinary men.
Miss Hetty knew 1t and held her
breath. The boys and girls saw it and
smiled gleefully. In fact, everybody
seemed to recognize it except the man
himself, who went blindly on, heaping
poor, auttering Miss Hetty with com
pliments and making open love to all
the young girls who gave him his tea
and sat in open-eyed admiration as he
related his thrilling stories OF army
life on the Western plains.
But at last even the Major knew it,
and his great, manly, innocent heart
fell like lead. 1t vas one clustering
evening late in the winter and that
mighty military MAI was tramping
v~aliantly along the street on his way
to Mrs. Wilmarth's. But as he passed
the little brown cottage he noticed the
Light within and, turning up the un-
even board walk, he rang the old-fash-
Toned bell bravely; for the puzzled
Major had all at once made a mighty
resolve, and when he once decided to
do a thing he never refreshed, whether
it was to take an enemy's camp or to
bravo a woman.
Strange to say, he found Miss Hetty
alone there In the warm, rosy little
room, with its queer old china, glisten-
Ing silver, odd pictures and rich russell.
bound books. The tiny little hostess
saw the determination in her callers
face and sank into her deep chair,
knitting her thin, beautifully kept
fingers together in desperate hope and
fear.
The Major refused the proffered tea
almost gruf1ly, thrust his hands into
his pockets, tried another chair and
finally strobe across to the tiny low
window and, with his back bravely
turned toward her, he began:
MY dear-friend, I--er-I want to
ask you something tonight feel that
we have known each other well
enough for me not to be afraid now,
My lear Mlss-Miss Hetty," and he
wheeled about, facing her so abruptly
that she almost gasped, tell me
honestly, as though you were speaking
for yourself-tell me-, am 1 too old to
D marry?"
She had been hoping for t. for
months, but when it came she felt the
little BROW house rOck cruelty. The
open fire, against which her great,
handsome Major outlined like a magni.
= icent rock OF refuge, swan before her,
and her own voice seemed miles away
when 'she finally found courage to
answer:
I'VE love with our hearts, Major,
and hearts never grow old"
She saw the fine, strong face beam,
and he came to her, very close, 1t
seemed to her, although she could not
have put out her hand and touched
min, and the soft lamplight fell on his
beautiful silver hair like a holy bone
diction. Immediately her thoughts
went back to that far-off day Of long
ago, when this same hair was heavy
and brown and he had kissed her.
Then his voice recalled her to the
present, and she heard him say:
you can never know how glad YOU
have made me by saying that, for there
is no woman in the world whose opin.
Ion value more. Still in all my doubt
this winter have often feared that 1t
would be wrong for me to take unto
me a wife. | have maybe only a very
few years yet to ltve," he added, look
ing at her ap%pealingly. And again
she answered softly:
"We may hope that your years NAV
be many. Besides, ever the few years
will be very dear TOTO your wife,
He was standing back OF her chair
now, with one hand 80 near that she
felt its touch on her hair.
"Do you think" he pleaded almost
In a whisper, that she loves me?"
do you love her?' came the reply,
with a touch Of coquetry never absent
from the feminine heart.
Better than all eIse in the world"
came the brave rejoinder; "better, I
sometimes think, Than the world to
come"
Then" and she closed her eyes to
hide the happiness In them, then |
may confess hat she loves you, better,
far better than she ever before thought
1T possible for anyone to love-"
The Major sprank from his place be-
hind her and, selling her hands, DRIED
joyfully:
"Ot my dear Miss Hetty, how do
you y nowP Has she told you? When?
Tel Ae just what she said, SO that |
may be the happiest, proudest mar on
earth"
All the light burned out OF Miss
Hetty's face, leaving only tho ashes OF
hnpo1aas do,poi, Thn-h ..I..,