Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-07-28

Happy at Last
oooooooooooooooooooooooo

assurediy, judging from the sharp. bitte
remarks which often passed her lips. ont
| would not imagine that she found tb'
world full of sweetness and light. Th.
Kingstown people would have opened
their eyes wide could they have seen tbs
old maid one winter evening, when, hav
ing returned from a walk, she threw her
self on her couch and shed flood o1
tears.
Can never forget him OF learn to de
spise the man VINO spurned my love-:
she murmured. 'Ab, Dick, Dick | new
er will cease 30 love you.
Her story was one not uncommon IL
New England village life When prepa
rations were going on for her marriage Il
| Richard Waldron. Hebecca's mother. VIII,
was Il widow, fell ill. Richard Waldron
who had been waiting Il long time fol
Rebecca, insisted upon the marriage be
ing performed without delar, for, as theil
new home would be within sight of the
Stoner place. Rebecca could still be witt
! her mother and oversee nurse But the
mother selishl. objected. She knew
that Rebecca would not be the same tC
her after marriage. No one else could
nurse her as well. and she wouldn't be il
soon as she was called up higher, etc.
So Rebecca, sick at heart, but not dar-
| ing. raised as she had been, to resist pa
rental authority, offered Dick his free
| dom.
He stormed angrily at first, hut, seeing
her pain and distress, at last said to her
"Rebecca, you are spelling two lives,
fear, by your mistaken notion of youl
duty but | must submit But when you
are free you have only 10 write to me
for cannot stay here-and call me back
Whenever you send. Will come. for
will never love any woman but you and
will be faithful to you always
All might have gene well had it moi
been that Mrs. Stoner again selhshiy in
| terfered. Hebecca and Dick must not
write to each other. 1t would only keep
Rebecca's mind in tumult, and she
would not stand in their way long. She
was ready to go to heaven ut any time
she had never harmed living creature,
she would gladly free them of her pres
ence, and more canting talk like this,
which did nothing to heal Rebecca's sore
heart.
As a matter of fact. the old lady held on
to life with a tenacious grasp and lived
five more years of helpless invalidism,
selfish to the last.
When at last Rebecca was free, she
hesitated about recalling Dick. whom she
still fondly loved. What if he had mar
ried since he had left her? Men were in
constant by nature, she argued. Yet the
remembrance of Dicks face and his
words as he bade her goodby forced her
TO believe in his constaEcy Another
doubt assailed bef. She had changed dur
ing i've years attendance in the sick
room and had lost much of her girlish
charm. Perhaps he would not care for
her.
Finally her love conquered, and she
wrote him letter which would have
brought him. a happy, eager lover, to her
side. But in some unaccountable way
the letter was lost in transit. Dick never
received the message calling him back to
Rebecca, and she supposed. as he did not
return, that he spurned the love she Of
fered. Naturally she was almost heart
broken, lost her faith in man and never
wrote again. He, on his part. receiving
no word after the death of Mrs. Stoner.
supposed Rebecca's love had cooled and
rallied at the Inconsistency of woman. But
ue never NEOit. even W upDiulu Htl.
Years passed. and he finally returned to
live in his old home: but, though he and
Rebecca passed each other daily, there
was never speech between them. They
were now middle aged, and each lived
alone.
One night Rebecca in restless mood
started out for n walk. She had gone as
far as Dick Waldron's cottage when she
thought she heard a groan. She stopped
then, with fast beating heart, ran up to
the door and listened. The groan was
repeated, and, hesitating no longer, she
pushed open the door and entered. AL
most on the threshold she stumbled over
his PROSTATE form. In moment she
was on her knees and lifted his head
upon her breast.
'Dick, my darling, are you hurt?" she
whispered, passionately kissing his closed
eyes and rubbing his cold hands. Aroused
by her words he struggled to rise, but fell
back. But he knew her. "Ah, Rebecca,
you have been cruel to me-" he murmur-
ed Then. almost under his breath, he
said:
When pain and anguish wiring the
brow, ministering angel thou"
II fell and broke my leg and crawled
to the door for help" he began to ex-
plain, but tainted away.
When Richard Waldron recovered con-
sciousness, he found the doctor beside
him instead of Rebecca. Miss Stoner
saved your life, firmly believe" the doc
tor said.
81 know she did," echoed Dick But
he meant something the doctor could not
understand.
The next day Rebecca received an ur-
gent note from her old lover begging her
to come to him. She could not refuse,
for, as she told herself, he might be dy-
ing When she saw him. pale and suf-
fering, but smiling gladly because she
had come, the sharp eyes softened and
the hard lines about her mouth seemed
to disappear. and her heart beat with a
wild hope that after all a new day of
happiness was about TO dawn for her.
All that had seemed so incomprehensi-
bic to them was now cleared up, although
the missing letter was never traced, and
the village people were shocked the next
day to learn that Rebecca had married
Dick Waldron when he was sick in bed.
"Took advantage of his helpless situa-
hon." some openly declared. Others de-
rided. but some sympathiZed.
Rebecca heard this statement. but she
did not care. Dick had begged her to
marry him at once, and she felt she
owed it to him-as we'll as to herself-to
comply. and so she nursed him back TO
life and the happiness they came so near
missing, and it was still sweet, although
it came so late.-Chicago Times Herald.