The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-18
IS, by Robert Buchanan.


You've a kind heart Miss Esther"
SAID the captain, "a kind feeling heart.
Inc little 'uns II miss you when YOU go
away" 'N 80
don't know that I'm going away at
an, Capt. SYNDICATE" replied Esther.
But the business is for sale, I hear.
ana Jack Belairs told me 'tother night
that he thought of living in London
Nothing is settled" said Esther quiet
ly, with a blush
We'll, good luck and fair weather go
with you, Miss, wherever you go!" cried
the mariner. i knew you when you was
little pale-faced girl, and / knew your
Iather and mother-aye, and your aunt
100 who brought you up arter they was
dead and gone"
Esther nodded.
And believe me- the captain continued,
i never thought that you would marry
When I first heard the news you could
| nave knocked me down with a feather!
ana to Jack Belairs, too! Handsome
JACK as they call him. 'Wen,' 1 said to
myself, wonders viii never ceaser''
At this fresh reminder of the general
! feeling concerning her, Esther looked
somewhat annoyed. but in a moment her
race frightened again, and she said, cheer
| fully:
Everybody seems to feel as you do,
Capt Sandgate. Everybody seems to have
decided that I ought to have remained
single. I'm sure" she added, laughing.
i ask everybody's pardon!'
And when is it to be-" demanded the
captain.
oh, some day. Very soon. perhapsr
The sooner the better Miss Esther.
II your minds made up. don't believe
IN long courtships. Mind you, you let me
know in good time, for I'm going to send
you wedding present"
So saying, he extended his hand, took
Esther's hand in 1t, and shook 1t warmly,
ana walked from the shop. No other
customer presenting himself for the mo-
ment, Esther retired into the back room.
a large comfortably furnished parlor, with
old library books arranged all round on
shelves on the walls, and sat down by the
ire. The flush of peaceful happiness had
not faded from her face, her eyes were
full of thoughtful light, as she folded
her little hands on her knees, and sank
into brown study.
Her thoughts went back to the time
when, little orphan girl of g. she was
left to the care of her maiden aunt, Re
becca, who then presided over the library
and fancy emporium. Rebecca Birching-
ton was a severe yet kindly woman of
strong evangelical tendencies, and had
first thriven In her business through the
excellence of her religious connections
Armed in piety and virtue, she had kept
a careful eye over the morals of her GUS
toners. No works of doubtful teaching
were ever sold over her counter or circu-
lated among the subscribers. AS time
went on the business had grown, and She
had saved a considera BILE sum of money;
and when she died, about year before
the opening of our tale, she had left all
she possessed to her niece and faithful
assistant, Esther.
Brought up under the aunt's care, Es-
Their had lived a life of hard work and
comparative seclusion. From morning to
night she was at work in the little en-
porium and her early madenhood was
Illuminated by no girlish romance what
ever. Up to the age of maturity she had
never even had a sweetheart True, like
all young girls, she had her day dreams.
but she kept them to herself, and lived
unnoticed by wooers of any age.
Shortly before her aunt died, however,
she had a surprise. One Mr.. Matthew
Grover, a younger partner in the firm of
Williams & Grover. solicitors, appeared in
the shop one day, and actually made an
offer for her hand. This same younger
partner was nearer so than 40 years of
age, stern person of strongly pious
leanings and quite apart from his age
not at all the person to captiate the heart
of a young girl.
The aunt favored his suit. but to his
surprise and Indignation Esther positive
iy refused him, alleging as her excuse
that she never intended to marry. Short
ly after her aunt passed away, Grover
again appeared on the scene, only to be
again rejected
By this time it was common talk that
Esther would never marry, but would die.
like her aunt, a maiden, in single hearted
control of her library and emporium which
she inherited. For the young men of the
locality she appeared to possess no charm,
and indeed her manner toward them was
invariably cold and even forbidding
During the summer following her aunt's
decease, however, a stranger had appeared
upon the scene-a young and apparently
well-to-do gentleman from London. who
took rooms az the Green Dragon" and had
an extensive acquaintance among the re-
tired sea captains of the district Jack
Bellairs was only five-and-twenty. we'll
educated, well-connected and altogether
charming. He had not been long in the
little town when all the maria geable girls
were running after him. He laughed and
hirted with them all, but made serious ad-
vances to none; possibly. as the unchari-
table surmised, because their worldly pos
sessions did not equal their worldly at
knew, and no one was able to guess. but
before many weeks had passed handsome
Jack was walking OUT with Miss Es-
Their Birchngton, of the library, and be-
fore the winter fairly set in, it was ru-
mored on every side that the two were
engaged"
Naturally, thcre was no little local indig-
nation. For poor Esther to be engaged at
all was an impertiuence; but for her to
be engaged to an absolute Prince Charm
ing from London, at whom the prettest
girl in Deal would have jumped was a
positive outrage. OF course, the charita-
bic assumption was that her personal
charms were no factor whatever in the
affair The man was mercenary, It was
whispered, and merely wanted to possess
her money. For money she had. close
upon a thousand pounds in hard cash.
besides the business of "Birchington's
Library"
Whether or not the cruel whisper was
correct, it never reached the ear of Es-
Their, and even had it done so, she would
have disdained to listen to 1t, for Bellairs