Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-03-21
MISS THORNE'S WILL.

away 1rOm GlentnOrne, auQ tliZaoetu
Eyerill 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 wonan's will. 1t
was simple enough, and those who
had known Miss Thorne intimately
hardly wondered at it's wording:
''To my niece, Elizabeth Everill,
provided she marry man OF title, 1
will and bequeath all my worldly pos
sessions"
.And if I do not marry?" Miss
Eyerill had asked.
''You retain your Inheritance" the
lawyer answered with smile. Miss
Thorne drew up the will herself, and
il 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
her married sister till she read in
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 sistsr's 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 gorernesses had been
employed to perfect her education, aud
her aunt had never wearied OF install
ling love of wealth and power, and
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 n
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 painted, and
at length he had forgotten that he was
only 8 struggling artist and she the
niece Of the wealthiest woman in the
country and had spoken his love. Miss
Eyerills could still remember the
hanghty stare and mocking smile of
heraunts when she spoke OF her love.
for Ralph.
ssLoYel Your mother loved Paul
Eyerill, Z suppose, anu you know
/. something of her life. But make
your own choice. Marry this young
man if you will, but not one farthing
Of mine viii 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 horror, till
at last she resolved to answer 'tNo"
to her lovers pleading.
She WINGED even aow 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 a
vague way, thst if Glenthorne should
chance to be hers she would find a
way of letting him know that she
loved him still, that she had loved him
always rR
Sand now-and now," she said to
herself, while the shadows grew deeper
in-the corners of the wide library,
Gan insurmountable barrier divides
u.s." She clasped her hands tightly,
and, with eyes that were dimmed by
tears, gazed into the glowing embers.
ooh, Aunt Matilda, your very kind
ness is but cruelty. wonder where
Ralph is now? Oh, I almost wish I
was poor girl today. And yet, no
! 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 to command.
Under her rule Glenthorne became a
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 a work that was
tc-make q name for him, some said.
C.hers hinted that he was ill; ;aud Miss
Everi.l wondered that her heart
should beatso quickly at the sound OF
his name. She had resolved to accept
Lord Arthur. He was rich-much
richer than she-and quite at the top
OF the social ladder. Certainly she
did not love him; he was hardly o
man whom any woman could respect.
Anyhow she did not respect him, and
yet she would marry him. They were
uncongenial spirits, she knew, but
what of that?
In s1ch a mood she was going one
night TO great ball given by one OF
the most fashionable women in Lon
don. Lord ARTHUR would be there,
and probably she would say 'Yes" to
his pleadings that night. She rather
thought she would as she stood be-
fore mirror when her maid had given
the finishing touches to her toilet.
She had on a new white dress, and
PEARLS were on her neck and amid
her dusky hair; she was radiantlJ
81. 80