The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1900-02-02
Miss ThOrne'SWil
AWYER NORTHBROOKE had ius

7 AWYER NORTHBROOKE had Just
driven away from Glenthorne, and
Elizabeth Everill stood still moment
on the broad terrace, and then, with a
sigh, turned and entered the house.
Only that day her aunt, Miss Matilda
Thorne, had been buried, and Mr..
Northbrooke had come down from Lon
don to read the dead woman's will It
was simple enough, and those who had
known Miss Thorne intimately hardly
wondered at it's wording:
ITO my niece, Elizabeth Everill, pro-
vided she marry man of title, 1 will
and bequeath all my worldly possess
sions."
"And if do not marry?" Miss Ever
i'll had asked.
you retain your Inheritance" the
lawyer answered, with smile. miss
Thorne drew up the will herself, and it
is deficient on that point"
Elizabeth's mother, Miss Thorne's
sister, had run off with Paul Everill,
the organist of the church, before she
was is. Her father had forbidden her
name to be mentioned in his hearing,
and at his death Glenthorne had
passed to Matilda Internationally.
She had held no communication with
the married sister till she read in a
newspaper of the death of Paul Ever
i'll, and then she had paid one visit to
the dismal London lodging where Mrs.
Everill lay dying. There had never
been much love between the sisters,
but Miss Thorne was willing to take
her sisters daughter under her care.
So, when the organist's wife was laid
beside him, their only daughter had
been brought to her mothers home.
Masters and governesses had been en-
ployed to perfect her education, and
her aunt had never wearied of instill-
ing a love of wealth and power and a
horror of poverty into the girls mind.
That her words had not fallen on bar
rem ground she would have UNDER
stood could she have known her
niece's thoughts that evening.
She was thinking of a scene that
had taken place there just five years
before.
Some old paintings had been sadly
in need of the attention that only a
skillful hand could give, and Miss
Thorne had heard Ralph Crosby favor
ably spoken of, and had asked him to
do the work. Elizabeth had been
much in the long portrait gallery
while Ralph Crosby talked and paint
ed, and at length he had forgotten
that he was only a struggling artist
and she the niece of the wealthiest
'woman in the county and had spoken
his love. Miss Everill could still re-
member the naughty stare and mock
ing smile of her aunt when she spoke
of her love for Ralph.
"Love! Your. mother loved Paul
Everill, suppose, and you know some
thing of her life. But make your own
choice. Marry this young man if you
will, but not one farthing of mine will
be yours"
And the girl had lain awake till day
break thinking of the sordid sur
roundings amid which her childhood
had been passed, and of the poverty
for which she had such a horror, till
at last she was resolved to answer
mo" to her lovers pleading.
She WINGED even now as she re-
called the grief that struggled with
contemptuous pity for her reasoning
when she told him the next day that
she could not be a poor mans wife,
and remembered the few bitter words
that fell from his lips as he turned
away without seeming to see her OUT
!. stretched hand. In the last few days
~she had thought once or twice, in q
vague way, that if Glenthorne should
chance to be hers she would find q
way of letting him know that she
loved him still, that she had loved him
always.
"An6 now-and now" she said to
herself, while the shadows grew deep
er in the corners of the wide library,
ian insurmountable barrier divides
u.s." She clasped her hands tightly,
and, with eyes that were dimmed by
tears, gazed into the glowing embers.
'Oh, Aunt Matilda. your very kindness
is but cruelty. 1 wonder where Ralph
is now? Oh, almost wish I were a
poor girl to-day. And yet, mol
couldn't bear that"
And the latter reflection was con-
stantly passing through the girls
mind as time wore on. It was very
pleasant to be mistress of the great
house and to have money at command.
Under her rule Glenthorne became a
very pleasant place indeed; and be-
fore the year was ended it was whis-
pered that Lord Arthur Kendall was
very much in love with her.
Elizabeth heard Ralph Crosby's
name mentioned several times later,
when she went to London. He was
occupied upon work that was to
make a name for him, some said. 9th
ers limited that he was ilE Ind Miss
Everill wondered that rer heart
should beat so quickly at the sound OF
his name. She had resolved to accent
Lord Arthur. He was rich-much