Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-04-08


of Joy. Just a business matter, Jug
money, just repentance to the amount
of five hundred year out of an erst-
while urforgiving uncle. But 6 500 q
year to little governess, to waiting
lovcrl It was ecstasy.
The schoolroom was as paradise that
morning; tho voices Of the children as
angels songs. For the waiting, the
drudgery, the anxiety were over. Bliss
lay within q blue envelope; Joy was in
scribed in straight lines of copper
plate caligraphy. But the girl uttered
no word of happiness; it seemed too
wonderful, and she wanted to realize it,
and think.
A deed of gift. An anonymous deed
of gift-that would be the thing, the
girl decided. She would not keep one
penny Of it back. There seemed some
thing calculating and mercenary in set
ting aside part for herself; besides, it
would be all the same in the end. a
deed of gift Of SC 500 year to BERTHE!
1t was worth all the waiting and the
pain and the work. This was her re-
ward.
So the girl carried out her secret
plans with light heart and a happy
brow, and the joyful message went
across the sea to the man, In the copper
plate caligraphy of the lawyers clerks
while the girl herself-n the willful-
ness Of near bliss-scnt over the sea
also just a scrappy little letter, the
most matter-of-fact she had ever sent,
cheerful and friendly, telling Of outside
pleasures and daily trifcs, of little
picnic in the wood and Il village concert
"a little letter which would bring back
q loving remonstrance in the midst Of
the tale OF good fortune, and which
would be joke against her afterward
when the happy secret was known to
the full. And she smiled as she sealed
and sent it on its way. And then she
waited
There wero four and twenty days Of
the waiting, and the girl never forgot
thcm-neverq quite lived down the strain
Of the painful JOY, the rapturous an
guish, rs she pictured her lovers pleas
ure and endured al the minutes which
were bound to pass before she would
receive q sign.
"What will he say? VIII it be Won
der? VIII it be only happiness7 viii
it be-himself?"
At last it came-thc first sign Of her
sacrifice. It was letter, rather short,
because written in a hurry by busy
man; md the girl was able to read it in
the ten minutes which were hers before
morning lessons:
Dearest Ursula: This letter will be only
q scrap, I'm afraid, but I know that you
VIII forgive that, and I will make 1t up
next time. Truth 10 tell, am dreadfully
pressed for time. I've had little wlndfan
left me in rather an odd way. and I've &C
cepted it. Some one has taken q fancy t5
me- I suppose. (You can understand that
can't you0 So am going off on good
long tour, to see all the places I've wanted
so long to see-Italy, Greece, and l don't
know where else. It's Jolly to have
little money at last Rather large party
of US are going-the Gleesons, the mother
and daughter I've written about sometimes
and some friends of theirs I know fairly
we'll; so I expect we shall enjoy ourselves.
So glad you are having such a good time,
my dear. Picnics and concerts are pleas
ures which seldom come my way. I will
write again as soon as can, but an TN
certain when and where We halt. Yours,
In haste, BERTHE.
az little windfau!" "And I have ac-
cepted It'll"
The woman's limbs shook and her
face became awful as she read. Then
she shivered; and then the children
came in to lessons.
One moro letter crossed the sea from
the woman to the man on his wander
ings. The word "good-by" was writ
ten across a bare sheet Of paper, and
the man considered that he had been
uncivilly treated, and he felt very sor-
ry for himself; but he never looked or
the womans face again.
The silly tale leaked out in time,
and the world laughed at the comedy
of it. But the woman failed to see the
humor, and it was the traged which
lay at the back of her eyes in all the
long years till she died.-Thc Sketch.