Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-06-14
CHAPTER XIII.

/ quiet suburban streets and squares
the streets and squares that are
never quiet from early morn 20 dewey
eve. The weary man of business is
vending homewarG from the great
city in omnibus, train apl tram. I'm
/ der foot the pavement is moist AMI
damp; the usual misty haze which
crowns our glorious metropolis at this
season is hanging like a pail over.
head the day, the busy, moiling, toll
ing day is over and London which
never sleeps, pauses, IS it were, to
take breath before it dashes into
the roaring. restless night.
Very little of lie roar and excite
ment. however, reached Hanley street,
Rayswater, ami the only sounds that
penetrate into Mrs. Box9lPE front par
Tor are the tolls of the muffin bell and
he tramp of the lamp-lighter.
A month, just four weeks, have
passed since Samuel Dalton fell down
dead in the library of his grand coun-
try house. -Four weeks only, and yet
I y seem months, years, to the TWO
girls sitting by the fire in Mr. B0xall's
little parlOr
Many changes may be worked in
for weeks. Excepting the loss OF
their father AMI their fortune. how
ever, the two girls do not look much
changed.
According to the welLknown canons
Oh romance. one at least of them May
should be wan and white, and exhibit
ing every symptom of dying shortly
of broken heart. But, though Mays
heart may be broken, she does not
look like it,
Men have died. says Shakespeare,
"and worms have eaten them, but
not for love-" and May looks as if life
held strong grip of her. Both
girls are dressed in ttlck. a short
cashmere, which. much to Mrs. Box
all's secret dismay, is innocent of
Grape
Just as there is no clape, so there
are no weeping and waiting. Both
girls have borne the double. and, in
Mays case, the treble blow, woman
fully. Not a word of repining for all
that is lost has escaped the lips Of
either of them. They sit sometimes,
as they are doing now, looking at the
gre in silence, but it is not the silence
of despair. Despair comes only when
the digestion is ruined, and-truth is
tuth-their digestions are unim-
paired.
Still, though they do not repine.
taey are given to wonder. 1t is so
marvellous and astounding, this trick
which tickle Fortune has played
them-one day nursed in the lap of
luxury, basking in the sun Of happi-
ness, the next bereft, and thrown up
or the mercy of the cold world!
II is so sudden. SO overwhelming
that it is hard sometimes to realize
that it is not the fantastic freak of
dream. Very often turing these
four weeks May has awoke. expecting
10 find herself in Woodbine Villa or
the dormitOry at Mrs. Browns Semi
nary The Gresham House period
was so short, so unreal that she never
even dreamed OF it; all that is blank,
save-ah, save those few too short
days Of her first passion.
To those few days of rapturous de-
light she goes back-how often,-in
the stiffness of the night, goes back
with an infinite longing. an infinite
despair
There has been no ripening, no fret
full wailins about better days and a
cold-hearted world.
Il don't believe IN a coli-hearted
world" she said, one night when the
two sat talking over the strange
events. These dear. good people
can't be the only generous hearted
ones in the world. There are more
Boxalls than ours, and while the
world holds them it can't be very
cold"
For Mr.. Boxall and his wife have
proved themselves to he pure gold.
tried in the furnace. It was he-the
little Dale-faced man-who came up
manfully and buckIed on the armor
IN their behalf.
From the moment in which he learn
10 their aid and stood by them with
devotion which in the old days of
chivalry and earnest than he.
1t seemed as if he could not do too
lnuch to prove his devotion 10 the
daughters Of the man whom he hal
served from 5oyhOod to middle age.
Notwithstanding that he had not
closed an eve for an hour of that
dreadful day. he caught the first train
to London, and was at the bank with
Mays check--the last the ruined hnan-
cier ever drew.
Pale AMI anxious he stood, facing
the cashier and still paler. but
triumphant le swept into his pocket
the notes and gold. almost the last of
the many, many thousands Of Samuel
Dalton's which had passed through
the cashiers hands.
And there had been need Of haste.
One hour after that check was casheI
the crash came. and the city rang
with the news Of Samuel Daltoa's
ruin AID death.
Merely stopping long enough 70
send telegram 20 Mrs. Box8I. the
brave little man dashed TO the rail