Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-03-15
4 HEART MON BY LOVE.

heart Of every IaSSIe for. reasons as
varied as the make Of the gowns Of the
sweet girl graduates. as full of promise
as the early spring with myriads of
blooms and blossoming fruit.
1t was an ideal day upon which Oc-
Cured the graduation of twenty young
women in Nine. Fishers select boarding
school. 1t was not large, this institution
OF learning and polished manners, but it
was very, very select.
When Ruth Kennerly entered the
school three years ago her father was
one of the most prominent railroad men
in the East. Her mother had been dead
for, some time. and Mr.. kennerly looked
forward with q good deal of pleasure to
having his daughter home with him at
the end Of the term
But it was decreed otherwise. In the
Christmas holidays of her second year
Ruth was called home to the death bed
of her father. After his demise it was
found that he left his only child 4 hand
some little fortune, but that did not COM
Densate Ruth for the loneliness of her
destiny without him. Her aunt, the
Youngest sister Of her dead mother, Of
fered the girl q home during her vaca-
tons. and it was agreed that Ruth
should live in the family of her relative
after her graduation. This aunt had ar
rived at the school, accompanied by Prot.
Atterbury, whose sister was a class
mate of Ruth, and was to be graduated
on the same day.
Ruth Kennerly had not wasted her OPP
pOrtunitieS. and h0nors were shOwered
upon her. She read the valedictory and
received the gold medal as a reward for
her many eXcellenceS of conduct and
scholarship.
Lucy Atterbury was not so we'll IA
yOred but two learned persOnages would
have been too much for one family, her
brother, the professor. filling an impor-
tant chair in a Northern university.
What a beautiful creature.' Whis-
pered the professor into Mrs. Chapman's
ear, as Ruth stepped forward to read her
essay.
Yes. our girl has inherited her moth
er's beauty" replied the lady with a
gratified smile
Ruth was tail and queenly of beauty.
The fnely-cbiseled features of her face
betrayed patrician blood and unusual in
telligence. Withal there was the charm
OF the child. pure, unspoilt and modest III
the high-bred cOuntenance, and her large
brown eyes bespoke q tender soul.
After the exercises Mrs. Chapman in
trOduced her niece to Prof. Atterbury
The professor said many hattering things
to Ruth and expressed the hope that he
might meet her at one of the waterin g
places along the AUlaDIlc coast, where
both the AtterbufyS and the ChapmanS
had planned to spend the summer
Early in August the professor and his
sister registered at one of the fashionable
hotels at Narragansett Pier, where Mrs.
Chapman had promised to stop during
their summer outing, which was to begin
about the middle of July. Much TO bis
astOnishment the professor not only
failed to find the Chapmans at the pier
ali n n off inf Il
him that they had Cancelled their engage
ment OF suite of rooms. saying that
they would not find it possible to come
Lucy Atterbury had not heard from Ruth
since the day she babe her farewell in
the parlors OF the school. Her disap-
poIntment was almost as great as that Of
her brother, and she Immediately wrote
60 her friend, addressing the letter to
her Philadelphia home. In the course Of
week an answer came from Ruth. say
ing that she had been i'll and that Mrs
Chapman had decided to take her to Eu-
rope instead. The letter was not as
frank and ingenious as those Lucy had
received from her colleague on former oc-
caslons, and she feared that something
more than illness had come into Ruth's
life since they laid aside their books and
diaries for the turmoil Of the fashionable
world. How much her brother was dis
appointed by RUth's failure to come to
the pier Lucy did not know just then. but
she soon suspected that he must have
conceived more than q passing interest
for her friend, since he became moody
and irritable, and suddenly announced to
her one day that he was obliged to go to
Philadelphia on pressing business.
1t was on one of the hottest of the dog
days in August that be arrived in the
Quaker city. After a hasty toilet he or
dered a cab and drove out to the fash
lOnable boulevard where Ruth lived with
her aunt. He found the shutters barred.
the storm doors closed to protect the in
ner entrance. the house wearing a general
AIR OF desertlon. like many of its neigh
bOrS.
4 ring Of the bell brought to the door
an old negro servant. She knew the PRO
fessor and readily admitted him to the
desolate, Hnen-swathed parlor with it's
musty air and shrOuded windows.
question for Mrs Chapman brought
the information that she and Miss Ruth
had gone abroad to meet the formers old
est nephew, who was Il student in one of
the academies Of Paris
Had Miss Ruth been ilI?" asked Prof
Atterbury.
Not i'll, exactly. but out of sorts and
under the weather. responded the serv-
ant
When will they return?'
'Probably not until after Miss Ruth's
marriage
Ruths marriage! The news fell with
the weight of blow On the professors
ears. His face paled yisibly and his
hands shook as he drew down the blind
the old servant nad raised at his en-
trance.
''Who is the lucky man?" asked the
professor, with quivering lips and a voice
that shook visibly with emotion.
Mrs. Chapman's nephew, Master
Charles said the old woman you
know, Marse Charles is done squander-
ing his fortune over in Paris and missus
wants Miss Ruthie to marry him to put
him on his feet agin.
Suddenly it flashed across the profess
sor's brain that the girl, mayhap, was
forced to this marriage through her
aunts persistency. The Chapmans were
not wealthy. Ruth had a fortune, and to
secure it for her favorite relative was ex-
cusable in the fashionable society wom-
an.
Wont you bring me a glass of wa
ter| begged the professor, anxious to
relieve himself of the servants presence
that he might recover from the shock
the unwelcome news had given him From
the first he had made up his mind that he
would marry Ruth. He had hoped to