Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-10-31


IKE: SAfJR Didn't I,
SEas 81 I thought" said Miss
eItsNyN|, ~ Drusilla Beames.
SANyMlI 81 waited at the
eI1z.A---- train, just a-pur-
pose. The idea OF Squire Brownell
marrying such slip of thing as
that! Hardly more than sixteen, with
hair flying down her back exactly like
a child's; and he past fortyl 1 call it
ridiculous.
And Miss Drusilla, who had not
been without hopes of capturing the
well-to-do widower herself, turned
away, with the frosty tip OF her nose
elevated superciliously in the air.
But while the villagers Of Grange
field were thus freely expressing their
minds, Hetty Brownell, the bride, was
skipping from room to room of the
picturesque little cottage which was to
be her summer home.
ooh, what lovely pale blue car
petl" aied she. ''And white muslin
curtains, looped with blue ribbon, and
a mirror that one can see ones whole
self in. But the dining room is deal
too dark and gloomy. 1 shall get
Cecil to have it reupholstered in rose
color or pale buff. And such lot of
horrid old twisted chairs and spider
legged tablesl"
She was as fresh and pretty as a
rosebud, with her baby-clear COM
plexion, coral lips and innocent blue
eyes-this young wife of the sage law
yer's.
He had fallen in love with her as
suddenly and inextricably as if he had
been schoolboy instead of widower
of forty.
She was the niece of the old man
who officiated as janitor in the great
marble-fronted building on Cedar
street, where lawyers, brokers and
insurance agents .congregated, like
human bees, in huge, swarming
hive.
Old Hopkins was stupid and litter
ate enough, but Hetty was like a
delicate wayside flower, and Cecil
Brownell lost his heart to her at
once. She had some education, for
she was training for a district school
teacher, and she had an innocent win
ming way, which the lawyer could not
resist.
So he married her, and dreamed
away happy month on the breezy
heights of the White Mountains, be-
fore he returned to the beaten tracks
of everyday life.
AnI r,nuy Hattr hoI 4 ann, ln G,o~-o
field, where two staid old family SER
wants, who had belonged to the first
Mrs. Brownell, were waiting to
welcome her; and Mr.. Brownell was
to follow, as soon MS he had adjusted
his accumulated arrears of business.
"Why, she amt nothing but a
,hild," said Dorcas, as she founced
back into her kitchen. "I axed her
what was her orders for breakfast,
and she says-says she, 4 don't
know. Just what you please says
she."
'No more like the first missis than
chalk is like cheese" retorted Mary
Ann. "We might as well have big
wax doll about the place. If you'll
|
on the floor now, a-playin' with the
catl'
But Hetty Brownell was presently
aroused from her frolic with the kitten
by the nasal and insinuating accents
of peddler, who had come clear up
on the veranda, and IVES putting his
head through the lace draperies Of the
windows.
"China, ma'am?" said he, with n
bow and scrape. ELEGANT vases?
Gift cups an sa-aacers? Mantle tier
ornaments? In exchange for second
hand clothes, or any old truck you've
got about the house, ma'am."
Hetty looked at the contents of the
well-piled basket with sparkling eyes.
She had all tae admiration for gaudy,
snowy things that belongs to a savage
or a child.
"How pretty" said she picking ont
q gilded vase, painted all over with
sprawling roses. "But 1 haven't any
old clothes"
ooh, L ain't noways particular,
ma'am," said the man. ''Any old
stick of furniture'll do--platedware,
picfers, anything under the sun as
you're tired Of"
Hetty looked around. In her secret
mind she had already established the
gift vase on the top of an antique
cabinet opposite, and filed it with the
honeysuckle sprays that were twining
so luxuriantly around the piazza col
umns; and she took an ancient and
varnished-looking porcelain ornament
from the sideboard "a dragon, with
dim green eyes, and shifting peacock
tints Of emerald and pearl.
. mat is all I care to give away"
sail Hetty. "What is the price Of
your vase?"