Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-03-01
~. ~ !;
:: s
B LOVE. FINDS "A WAY. !
b: >
4 ~ s~s->>>-s>> q:
81! y
3 BY JEAMMETTE q. VALw@RTE. s
4 >>>-%>,>-.,> q:
::
~ Copyriehs 1898. by Jeannette r. walworth. s:
s
BY JEAMMETT7TE q. wALw0|RTH.
Copyright, 1898. by Jeanette Il. walwor.a.
v ~ a - = ': = =
>>>-s4>,,-s>>
80 e4I,>->>>

:
pose. Broxton had better be sending
for the minister, if he is but a poor
crooked stick, and settling his account
with heaven instead Of worrying with
the lawyers at such a time"
Mrs. Spillman could afford to put her
own estimate upon the new preacher.
She spoke as one who had been in au-
thority. Vaudeville had but one church.
and for years her husband had filled its
pulpit. She knew every foot of the
ground between Broxton Hall and the
little church over which the CROOKED
stick" now presided, to her austere dis
satisfaction.
The window in which her big arm
chair was immovably planted gave her
a glimpse of the tiny white steeple in
one direction and the wistaria wrap
ped walls of Broxton Hall in the other.
Honeysuckle and clematis vines clam
bered over her window sill. She loved
about the double petunias and gay
phloxes around her doorsteps. She
could not hear them, but she knew
they We're there, SO she lost nothing.
The front of the Spillman cottage
was pierced by one door and two win
dows. Miss Malvina's sewing machine
occupied one of these. Evidently
events We're not moving rapidly enough
for the older woman. She interrupted
the resumed whir Of the sewing ma
chine ENORMOUSLY.
Il think you might give over tuck
ing white petticoat when neigh
boris soul is passing, Malvina, and that
neighbor Rufus Broxton. 1t is a sorry
day for u.s.
Miss Malyina looked penitent and put
the lid on her machine as softly as If
the sick man had been in the spare
room of the little cottage instead of in
his own stately four poster half mile
away.
II meant no disrespect, mother. No
body thinks more of Colonel Broxton
than do or will miss him worse. It's
just my way to keep busy &
"Ah, ali, We'll miss him, Malyina!
You'll miss him, I'll miss him, and all
Vaudeville will miss him. But what
does he want with Horace Matthews
at such time? Oh if your own dear
father was only here now1
Il guess he wants the lawyer to get
Toms affairs well in hand. Colonel
BroSton is rich, mother, and Tom is
young-so young and helpless"
"Only IA years old, poor lady'
And I suppose the colonel is trying
to arrange everything for TOMS best
interests. l guess he never once
thought, being so well and strong just
a week ago, but what he would be here
himself to look after Tom for many a
long year vet Jessy says Mr. Mat
thews and the colonel are just like
brothers,
Mother Spillman jerked her trum-
pet away from Miss Malvina's lips
with fierce petulance.
''Jessy is gossiping simpleton.
Brothers, indeed! Don't speak of them
i'll the same breath. know Horace
Matthews. Then, with shrill, rising
voice, 81 know more about Horace
Matthews and Rufus Broxton than
Jessy could ever find out if her mother
cooked at Broxton Hall till kingdom
come"
II know my father prepared them
both for college," said Malvina proudly
Then quietly she seated herself on, a
hassock near her mother and possessed
herself of the pile of gray wool the old
lady worked up into articles of doubt
full beauty and undoubted inutility,
just as the whim seized her. In off
moments Miss NIalvina would seize the
needle and hasten the hour of compile
ton.
Confident of flood Of familiar rem
iniscence, she settled resignedly 70
crocheting. 1t was her way to keep
busy. Once fairly launched on the
backward flowing tide, she could trust
her mother to entertain herself for an
indefinite period of time
81 have known Horace Matthews
and Rufus Broxton since they were
both boys in knickerbockers and roun.l-
abouts coming ito Mr.. Spillman for
Latin and mathematics. That was lie
fore you ever saw the light, Malvina.
They We're always together as boys,
and maryeled at it then. Rufus
was handsome, high spirited, clean
souled lad who would have cut off his
right hand if he detected 1t doing a
dishonest thing. Matthews was just
everything that Rufus wasn't i never
understood the liking Broxton had for
Sim
Malvina put in a word for the ma
ligned. "Mr. Matthews must have been
very winning in his young days, moth
er. He's got such friendly manners
and he is so dreadfully good looking
even now
ooh, there's no gainsaying his good
looks. They came pretty near landing
him on the topmost round of his ambi-
ton once upon a time. He just missed
being Rufus BroNton's brother-in-law
and coming in for half of old Marsden
Broxton's estate. When lucetta Brox-
ton came home from boarding school
my, but she was something to look at!
Horace Matthews did not let the
grass grow on the road from Mande-