The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1898-09-01
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and strange to her. 4 stout, middle
aged man, in white, summer suit,
with broad-brimmed hat and cigar,
sat Oh the steps of the piazza, reading
newspaper. A fashionably dressed
lady, some years his junior, swung in
a hammock upon the lawn, lost in o
novel.
Several children, in broad trimmed
hats and brown holland blouses, were
making the lives of two nurses O
burden to them, further down the
lawn, among the elm trees, where a
swing had hung from time immemorial.
Getty" was stamped on every face
! and figure that she saw.
Had Maurice sold the place to some
retired merchant, who would over
ornament and disfgure it in the mod
ern villa style?
eff one could but live their lives
over after they grow older and are
taught by experience what is best for
them" thought Hester, in her sad
ness.
She would have gone up to the
house, and asked leave to rest and
look around, if it had remained in the
care of old Farmer Williams and his
wife-the tenants of the upper farm.
But she could not face these pros
porous, happy ''city people," who
would look at her with coldly curious
eyes, and wonder, almost audibly,
"what she could want" even if they
did not absolutely mistake her for a
tramp"
81 wish 1 could have gone through
the strawberry pasture once more, !"
she thought, as she turned back to-
ward the railway station, tired, hun
CRY and unrefreshed.
At the foot of the lane gentleman,
in summer suit of silver-gray, stood
leaning against the bars, with his straw
hat drawn down over his eyes so far
that he failed to see the strangers
silent approach.
"Will you let me pass, ifyou please?"
said Hester, at last, after waiting some
moment.
He wheeled round, as if she had
struck him, and stared doubtfully in
her face.
She uttered great cry.
Maurice! Maurice! I heard that
you had scld the farm, and gone to
Colorado"
''Hester, can this be you?" he
answered.
His eyes seemed to devour her.
Words rose to his lips, and were forced
back again. At last he asked:
els your husband here with you,
Hester??"
"My husband?"
"Yes I heard that you were mar
ried very soon after you went to the
city"
"You heard wrong, Maurice! I have
not been married. have never even
thought of s1ch thing"
"But why did you go, then, Hes
ter? Why did you leave Deepdene?
Why did you refuse to marry Lac, if
if there was no one else in the way?"
Poor Hester!
She thought of the hot city garret,
of the dream of fame that never had
been realized, of the unlucky book
that was lying in the black trunk, of
the little burial hoard, so hardly
earned and saved
Tears came quickly to her eyes, OBJ
scuring the honest, handsome face on
which she gazed.
Don't cry, Hester" said Maurice
Blessing, taking her hand. "And tell
me why you wouldn't marry me,
dear?"
because was fool" sobbed Hes
ter.
SIS the folly ended?" asked Maui
rice, hiding smile as he bent over
her, "Cannot you give me differ
ent answer now, Hester? If you can,
we will be just the happiesG pair on
earth, here or the dear old farm"
But you sold it, and went to Colo
rado," said Hester, wonderingly. cat
least, l heard so.
II was a fool, too, Hester; for I
went to Colorado, and I was quite
ready to sell. But my brother-in-law,
from the city, persuaded me to rent it
to him for one year, till I had time to
think the matter over. When 1 came
to my senses-although had not for
gotten you, dariing-I was very glad
that the poor old place was mine still,
and I came back six weeks ago, to see
it. My sister and her husband and
family go back to the city pext week,
stopping at the mountains on their way.
shall be left alone, with good Mrs.
Williams for my housekeeper, and her
husband as head hired man-just as J
was before. Hester, won't you take
pity on me, and come and share my
home? have never cared for any one
but you"
I do not know in what words Hester
answered him; but I see her daily in
the cream -colored farmhouse, the very
model of an active, bustling, good
tempered farmers wife.