The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-11-30

lifted her to conduct the large eSta1-
lishment of which she had been made
mistress he WAS forgiven his lack OF
taste. Little more was said of his Pc
culiarities until, his wife having died
and his child proved weakly, he made
the Will in his brothers favor which
has since given that gentleman such
deep satisfaction.
Why this proceeding should have
been so displeasing to their friends re-
port says not: but that ii was SO is
evident from the fact that great re-
joicing took place on all sides when
Veronica suddenly developed into a
healthy child. and the probability of
David Moore inheriting the coveted
estate decreased 10 a minimum. 1t
was not a long rejoicing, however. for
John Judson followed his wife to the
grave before Veronica had reached her
tenth year, leaving her and her half
sister, Cora, to the guardianship of a
grabbed old bachelor who had been his
fathers lawyer. This lawyer was
rnorose and peevish but he was never
positively unkind. For two years the
sisters seemed happy enough. when,
suddenly and somewhat peremptorily,
| they We're separated, Veronica being
| sent to western school, where she
remained, seemingly without a single
visit east, till she was seventeen.
During this long absence Miss Tut
| tie resided in Washington, developing
under masters into an accomplished
| woman. Neronica's guardian, severe
in his treatment of the youthful owner
Of the large fortune of which he had
| been made sole executor, was unex-
pectedly generous to the penniless sis
ter hoping perhaps in his close, pee
| wish old heart that the charms and ac-
qured graces of this lovely woman
| would soon win for her husband in
the brilliant set in which she naturally
| found herself But Cora futile was
not easy to please, and the first men
| of Washington came and went before
her eyes without awakening in her
| any special interest till she met Fran
els Jeffrey, who stole her heart with
! look.
Those who remember her that win
ter say that under his influence she
/ developed from a handsome woman
! into a lovely one. Yet no engagement
was announced. and society was won
| dering what held Francis Jeffrey back
| from SO great prize. when Veronica
Moore came home, and the question
| was forever answered.
| Veronica was now nearly eighteen
| and during her absence had blossomed
| into womanhood. She was not as
/ beautiful as her sister, but she had a
bright and pleasing expression. with
! enough spice in her temperament to
! rob her sirlish features of insipidity
| and make her conversation witty, if
not brilliant. Yet when Francis JEFF
frey turned his attentions from Miss
! Tuttle and fixed them without reserve
or seeming shame upon this pretty but
terfiy, but one term could be found to
characterize the proceeding, and that
was fortune hunting. OF small but
settled income. he had hitherto shown
q certain contentment with his condi-
ton calculated to inspire respect and
make his attentions to Miss futile
seem both consistent and appropriate.
But no sooner did Veronica's bright
eyes appear than he fell at the young
heiress' feet and pressed his suit SO
close and fast that in two months they
were engaged and at the end of the
half year married-with the disastrous
consequences just made known.
So much for the general gossip of
the town. Now for the special.
a certain gentleman. whom it is I'M
necessary to name, had been present
at one critical instant in the lives of
these three persons. He was not a
scandal monger. and if everything had
gone on happily-if Veronica had lived
and Cora settled down into ma trimony
he would never have mentioned what
he heard and saw one night in the
great drawing room of a hotel in At
lantic City.
It was at the time when the engage
ment was first announced between
Jeffrey and the young heiress. This
and his previous attentions to Cora
had made much talk. both in Wash
ington and elsewhere. and there We're
not lacking those who had openly
twitted him for his seeming incon-
stancy. This had been over the cups
of course, and Jeffrey had borne it well
enough from his so called friends and
intimates. But when, on certain
evening in the parlor Of one of the
large hotels in Atlantic City, fellow
whom nobody knew and nobody liked
accused him of knowing on which side
his bread was buttered, and that GER
tainly it was not on the side of beauty
and superior attachments, jeffrey got
angry. Needless of who might be
within hearing, he spoke up very plain
ly in these words. you are all of a
kind-rank money worshipers and self
seekers-or you would not be SO ready
to see greed in my admiration for Miss
Moore. Disagreeable as l find it to
air my sentiments in this public man
ner, yet since yoI provoke me to it
l will say once and for all that am
deeply in love with Miss Moore and
that it is for this reason only / am go
ing to marry her. Were she the pen
niless girl her sister is, and Miss Tuttle
the proud possessor of the wealth
which, in your eyes, confers such dis
tinction upon Miss Moore, you would
still see me at the latter's feet, and at
hers only Miss Tuttle's charms are not
potent enough to hold the heart which
has once been fixed by her sisters
smile"