Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-01-11
4 Happy Mistake.

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Day by day I had seen the lines of
care Deepen round my fathers mouth
and forehead and watched my moth
er's pale and anxious geze rest upon
him.
Night after night did Maude and
lay side by side and spend the hours
when sleep, they tell us, lends us
! beauty in wondering what trouble was
lowering over u.s..
But the knowledge came all too
soop. My father had lent money
W hich he supposed he could call in at
any time. The time arrived, but the
money was not forthcoming. His
health was rapidly failing him, fact
his business an1ieties In no way
helped, and We soon knew he must
mortgage heavily tie farm and that if
his health continued to fail he might
soon be unable even to pay the inter-
est.
Then Maude and began to hold
our whispered conversations to better
purpose Ito decide that we are strong
and young and healthy and that such
gifts we're given to us to be madeu
of. And so it ended in our sending
off mysterious. letter to the old
school teacher and waiting and watch
:Yg days for a reply, which came at
last to tell us she had succeeded in
finding situation as. goyerness at q
competency which to us seemed
wealth.
The lady was willing to take anyone.
on her recommendation, and either OF
us, she felt assured, would ill the
role. So she left it for us to decide
-one must go and one must stay.
At last Maude said 1t must be she
who would go and wrote and appointed
day for her coming.
The intervening time passs;l rapidly
away in busy preparation, and at last
the one Sunday left us rose bright
!, and clear. Maude looked so lovely
that morning in her pretty hat, with
its long Sdraoping feather, that i did
sTSonder the eSEs>cs streug 5r in
q ~. ~. - y s1l'l1,. ssn,ss.ess =
he was a tall handsome pans
with the Leonaru..,. y name whict,
our, village represented Its aristocracss
and wealth.
There were gentlemen from London
visiting there constantly, but their
gaze did not often wander from the
! stylish, elegant Misses Leonard to
seek any other attractions.
/ saw them glance round once or
twice, as if to discover what else in
the church could possibly distract at
tention from themselves, and I fear
felt more pride in Maude's beauty
than was quite consistent with the
sacred place in which we were.
My father grew rapidly worse in
stead of better, and it was hard work
so to word my letters to Maude that
she should not know Of the skeleton
in our home-the shadow of coming
deathv
Her letters were bright and CHEEKY,
and when at last told her that our
father grew no better she answered
she had met DR.. Melrose, who was
relative of the lady whose children she
taught, and asked him to go down and
see father and that she would defray
the necessary expenses.
I almost gasped when read the
name-Dr. Melrose. His fame had
reached even our ears. I wondered
how she could have approached him
with such request; but said noth,5
ing to father of her desire, and one
morning, about a week later, his card
was put into my hands.
With quick, trembling limbs has
tened down to meet him and opened
the parlor door to find myself face to
face with the stranger who, weeks
before, had sat in the Leonards' pew.
Ny face grew red and pale as I rec
ognized him; but he came forward very
quietly and, taking my hands, said:
"Come, we will have little talk
first, and then you shall take me to
see your father"
Then when he left me to visit my
father found myself awaiting his re-
turn with calm assurance that, could
mortal aid avail him, he would find it
in DIR. Melrose's healing touch.
A half-hour passed before his re-
turn, and when heSentered the room I
knew I might hope.
SIT is not SO bad as I feared" he
SO d. "Time and careful nursing will
soon restore him. The latter I shall
intrust to you.
Then he gave me his directions SO
clearly that I could not misunderstood
them, and when he bade me good bye,
holding both my hands for moment
in his own, aud said: 'sYou must take
care of yourself as well and not give
me two patients instead of one," he
smiled SO kindly that I felt my heart
leap as I thought:
tIt's for Maude's sake he has done
this thing. He loves her,
So the winter passed. Two or three
times the doctor came to relieve the
monotony. We looked to him almost
as our deliverer, for fathers health
and vigor were atslast restored; but
when he asked him for his bill he
laughingly replied:
That was a private matter with
Miss Maude. She is to settle that"
My father looked amazed; but I
could appreciate the payment he
would accept, and imagined their sur
prise when he should demand it at
their hanGs.>
The summer was rapidly approach
ing. The time for Maude's home
coming sat hand.
had reason to be happy, for Maude
was coming to home over which hung |
no shadow of debt The mortgage
had been paid. What she had saved