River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-11-20

Right at the very top of one of the
smallest houses the boy-still uncon-
scious that he was being watched
thrust open a door, and disappeared
into a room. Motives of delicacy pre-
vented Dick from going further; and
vet he wanted to help the lad il he
could. Hesitatingly he waited about
on the staircase, haH-inclined to
blame himself for taking so much
trouble over a matt<r which did not,
after all. really concern him; half
| inclined to push the m@tter further
and follow the lad into the room.
He must have waited quite ten min
utes on that staircase, forgetful of
| Capt. Boxer and the dinner, and ev-
erything. At last, however, he
knocked at the door softly; getting
no response, opened it and went into
| the room.
1t was a poor place, poorly fur
nished, yet exquisitely neat an0 clean.
AS a matter of fact, Dick had no eyes
for the room or anything about it,
he stood still, just within the door
watching the bowed figure of young
I girl, whose arms were spread out on
| the table, and whose head was buried
between her arms. At the moment
| that Dick entered she was sobbing
quietly and despairingly, in a man
ner heartbreaking to hear.
Now Dick was, before all things,
tenderhearted On the impulse of the
moment he moved forward in his i'm
petuous, boyish fashion, and touched
the girl gently on the shoulder.
Don't you give way, you know
He stopped in amazement. The girl
started to her feet and faced bin;
and he drew back, staring at her blank
ly. For here was the short, curly
brown hair, the deep, pathetic brown
eyes, and the delicate white face OF
the boy who had tried to carry his bag.
Yet her dress now was what it ought
to have been-plain and neat ana
rather shabby, but quite womanly.
The girl, for her part, recognized DICK
and, with a cry, covered her face with
her hands and shrank away from him.
Don't do that" said Dick, hastily.
"You don't know me at all, if you do
that. I thought there was something
strange about you. [ want to help you
if you'll let me-"
There was something so winning
about the boyish, good-humored face
and in the frank young voice, that she
began to regain confidence; and told
| him hurriedly, and in as few words
as possible, something of her story.
| Of how she had been left almost pen
niless, with a younger brother to sup
port; of how she had come, with the
younger brother, to this quiet place
in search of health for the boy; of
the death of the boy; and OF her ind
| ing herself friendless and penniless IN
a strange place. In a moment OF de-
spair she had donned her dead broth
er's clothes, and gone out, in the hope
of earning money in some fashion,
that should find her food. While she
| talked Dick had a sudden inspiration,
and acted upon it.
"Look here" he said, "what is your
name?"
'Tamlyn-Bertha Tamlyn," replied
the girl.
''Most extraordinary! exclaimed
Dick, inventing a story on the spot.
''My father knew your father-great
friends they were; and he left sort
of injunction upon me to look after
you-to be friends with you. Shall we
begin now?"
She was very skeptical at first, but
Dick stuck to his story; and the girl,
after all she had gone through, was
very glad to meet some one who treat
ed her as frankly and gently as he
might have treated his own sister.
For perhaps the first time in his life
Dick Lyddon began to be deeply inter
ested in some one; began to cast
about in his mind for methods of help
ing her delicately. Suffice it that he
smoothed the way for her wonderful
! ly; that, among other things, a mys-
! FERROUS letter arrived from an equally
mysterious lawyer, inclosing sum of
money-"some payment due to the es-
! tate of her late father" And then one
| day, in the midst of this new happi-
ness, some chance word of his, when
| she and Dick were sitting together
watching the sea, under the shadow
of the town, showed her in a moment
the gentle fraud that had been prac-
| ticed upon her, and the position in
which she stood. She said nothing
| then; but the next day there was no
Bertha Tamlyn in all Dawlish, and a
disconsolate Dick Lyddon searched in
vain for her.
,1lI f~N7- 10 L
a long summer wore itself out. He
dragged the faithful and unfortunate
! Capt. Boxer about here, there and eps
ervwhere, but all to no purpose. And
at last one day, after many journey
ings, the little train ratified him again
| through the little tunnel into Dawlish.
He found her that night sitting
| quietly under the shadow of the big
rock, gazing at the sea. He came and
sat down beside her and she did not
| try to run away. Very gently-being
terribly afraid to startle her, or to
drive her again from him, he began to
| tell her something of his search for
her-something, too, of that old story
which yet is always a new story, and
which had grown so steadily in his
heart.
"You only say this out of pity for
me- she said at last in whisper,
without looking at him. you are
sorry for penniless girl, who had to
masquerade in boys clothes to try to
get a living"
Il was always sorry for you," he
said gently; "but it's something bet