Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1900-08-03
~ OR ten years people had been
IN waiting for Squire Harding to


some; then he was very wealthy; and,
finally, he was irreproachably connect
ed, and as the most wary young lady
of Oakdale said there was nothing
disagreeable about him." No; the men
said that Squire Harding was first
he was nice" Yet, when pretty Gladys
Ray became engaged to marry him, she
nearly cried her eyes out.
This is the way it was: When the
squire had come and built the hand
soonest house in town, what 'futter
ing there was among the dove-cotes!'
Blondes and brunettes successfully set
their caps for him, but in vain. The
squire confessed to certain old ladies'
that he had "hoped to be able to fill his
dear Matilda's place." but, beyond a
few civil attentions, no young lady of
Oakdale could boast of him as con-
quest.
This fact showed the man little dull
and unappreciative, Tor nowhere i'll the
country is a prettier, more intelligent
and domestic set of girls than in the
nice agricultural village Of Oakdale.
But the squire had his idiosyncracy-
his hobby. 1t was that of health.
He had uttered vow never to marry
a woman who was not perfectly
healthy. On this point he was un-
changeable. Let scarlets and purples
flaunt, let ringlets wave and smiles
brighten, the squire turned neither to
the left nor right. His standard of the
ideal female physique seemed never to
be appr proached.
Most people thought Oakdale girls
buxom and blooming enough, but the
squire's observant eyes saw erysipelaS
in burning cheeks, consumption in mar
row shoulders, dropsy in the plump
forms. 1t was only when he beheld
Gladys Ray that this eXacting man
was satisfied and enthusiastic.
She had just come from years stay
with her grandparents in New York,
and was barely sixteen. Pretty-well,
that is no word for 1t. She was just as
lovely as a new-blown rose. And she
was as good as she was pretty, and as
loving as she was good and every one
would have seen it was out Of the
question for her to marry Squire Hard
ing, worldly man Of forty, with a
shrewd eye for the main chance.
She was just as unselfish as sun
beam, as impulsiye as kitten, as
guileless as a violet, and cared nothing
for the position Squire Harding could
offer his wife. She never knew what to
say to him when he came to Clematis
Cottage, as her home was called-was
afraid of his bass voice, and shy of his
Righteousness; and yet he came and
came, and her father encouraged his
suit, and Gladys was told she must
agree to marry him.
Must, because business was dull, and
there was a mortgage on Clematis Cot
tage, and there was no sense in a girl
refusing such a chance. OF course, she
would never have another like 1t in
lifetime.
Thus her father talked common sense
to her, and Gladys protested with her
uncommon sense, and said she did not
want to be rich, and the squire'S money
would not make her bit happier, and
that 1t would be dreadful thing to
make her miserable all the rest of her
life.
She had no mother, but her brothers
protested, telling her that she was
goose; and at last the poor girl was
harassed into making a half promise
that perhaps, some time, she would"
But her father at once set in motion
preparations for the wedding and sent
for Aunt Phoebe.
Aunt Phoebe was an uncommonly
skillful needlewoman. but what was
more in Gladys case she was person
with a heart.
Though she had known the grimmest,
hardest and bitterest Of experiences, her
trials had not hardened her against the
griefs and sorrows of youth; and the
moment she saw the face of her niece
she knew that something was wrong,
and she determined to find out what It
was.
One morning she went into Gladys
chamber and found the girl hastily
putting away letter-a letter post
marked New York, and directed to her
self, in the boldest and hapdsomest of
chirography. Having put the letter
under lock and key, Gladys turned ST.
lently to be measured for a new en-
broidered waist.
Are you tired, Gladys?' Aunt Phoe-
be asked.
"a little," replied the girl.
didn't you rest well last night?
mot very"
GLADYS, you are my dear dead Sis
ter's child! Tell me what ails you"
"Oh, auntie, my heart achesr