Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-02-22
MISS THORNE'S WILL.

Lawyer Northbrooke had just driven
away from Glenthorne, and Elizabeth
Everill stood for moment on the
broad terrace, and then, with 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 wo mans will. 1t
was simple enough, and those who
hal known Miss Thorne intimately
hardly wondered at its wording:
''To my niece, Elizabeth Everill,
provided she marry man of title, J.
will and belueath all my worldly pos
sessions"
''And if I do not marry?" Miss
Everill had asked.
''You retain your Inheritance, the
lawyer answered with smile. Miss
Thorne Dire y up the will herself, and
it is deficient on that point
Eliza6eth'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,
passed to Matilda unconditionally.
She had held no communication with
her married sister till she read in
newspaper OF the death of Paul Ever
ill, aud 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 dau ghter 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
employed to perfect her education, and
her amt had never wearied of install
ling love of wealth and power, and
a horror of poverty into the girls
mind. That her words had not fallen
on barren ground she would have un-
derstood could she have known her
niece's thoughts that evening.
She was thinking of scene that
had taken place there just five years
before.
Some old paintings had been sadly
in need of the attention that only
skilltul hand could give, and Miss
Thorne had heard Ralph Crosby favor
ably spoken of, and had asked him to
do the work Eliza beth had been much
in the long portrait gallery while
Ralph Crosby talked and painted, and
at length he had forgotten that he was
only Il strug Cling artist and she the
niece of the wea!thiest woman in the
country and had spoken his love. Miss
Everill could still remember the
naughty stare and mocking smile of
her aunt when she spoae of her love
for Ralph.
Love! Your mother loved Paul
Evorill, L suppose, aud you know
something 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 n horror, till
at last she resolved to answer "No"
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 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 haud. In the last few days
she had thought once or twice, in a
vague way, that if Glenthorne should
chance to be hers she would find
way of letting him know that she
loved him still, that she had loved him
always.
s"And now-and now," she said to
herself, while the shadows grew deeper
i'll the corners of the wide library,
''an 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 kind
ness is but cruelty. 1 wonder where
Ralph is now? Oh, l almost wish l
was poor girl today. And yet, no
1 couldn't bear that!"
And the latter reflection was con-
stantly passing through the girls
mind as time wore on. 1t was very
pleasant to be mistress Of the great
house and to have money to command.
Under her rule Glenthorne became
very pleasant place indeed; and be-
fore the year was ended it was
whispered 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 u work that was
to make name for him, some said.
Others limited that he wes i'll; and Miss
Everill wondered that he, heart
should beat SO quickly at the sound of
his name. She had resolved to accept
Lord Arthur. He was rich-much
richer than she-and quite Mt the top
OF the social ladder. Certainly she