Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-08-10
AFTER HOPE WAS DEAD.

| NnaC cOuld you 90 Oh Il IaFn
| But l am Is years DID,
ooh, are you? | would not have mag
ined it,"
| Bruce Conklin's attention had been dis
tracted, but he now took a good look at
the girl standing before him, with down
cast eyes and crimson cheeks. Her dress
first claimed his attention. It was a
faded print, darned in many places and
was evidently the best she had. From
the garment his eyes wandered to the
curly brown head, which just reached to
his breast, shifting and resting finally
on her sweet and pretty face. Her fea-
lures were regular and delicate. The lit
tie nose was straight. and eyes large,
and the mouth--WheE had he seen such a
mouth? It's expression when she smiled
bcgot i'll him an almost irresistible desire
to stOop and press his lip to it.
| I'm afraid, Pm afraid" he said at
length, as the girl modestly turned her
face away from lis searching scrutiny;
Pm afraid you are too little and too
| Gelcatc.'
"Oh, but l am not, indeed. l can
work You will see that [ can"
But your weight would not hold you
down to such work as you would have
to do here. It's one everlasting grind at
this farm, let me tell you. | am sorry
| to say it, but it is true. There doesn't
seem to be any end to the work. The
last girl we had wisel y threw up her job
and decamped. | didn't blame her. But,
somehow, things keep cropping up all
around you that must be done, and there
must be some one to do it. If it is al
lowed to accumulate it simply swamps
us. You are too little. You couldn't
stand that sort of drudgery.'
"But, since you want girl, would you
at least give me chance to try?"
| "Wall, yes, | might do that, but I
would first have to consult my aunt.
She's housekeeper and queen regent just
at present, and it wouldn't do to take
| any stems where the household affairs
are concerned without first consulting
her. Surprising we go to the house and
see what she says about it. Of course
YOU ale from the village, but tell me your
name "
''NIy name is Sallie Meadows" the girl
| answered, and once more she b1ushed be-
Meath the searching scrutiny of his eyes,
and her own fell Modest in the extreme,
her flushed and heated face bore evidence
! of the ordeal she was undergoing of
which Bruce was eventually aware. He
did not suspect, little as she was, that
there was woman's heart beating be-
meath her shabby garment, and that it
was his handsome face which had de-
prived her of her self possession.
| Owing to the unceremonious departure
of their late domestic, who could not be-
come reconciled to a life of drudgery on
the farm. the need of some sort of help
was urgent, and Miss Collins, the aunt in
question, concluded to give Sallie a trial.
She had her misgivings, as she looked
at her delicate little hands, but even
these hands would be better than none at
all. This decision having been reached,
Bruce hitched up the buggy and took
Salie home, engaging to come for herself
and her belongings the next day.
As might be supposed, Sallies belong
incs did not materially tax the carrying
capacity of Bruce's buggy, and a feeling
of pity surged to his heart as he noted
the extent of her wardrobe, deposited, as
it was, in receptacle no larger than an
ordinary bandboX. 1t was but natural
that she should be fond of pretty clothes,
but those little hands of hers would first
have to earn the wherewithal to get
them, and to earn it on a farm-Bruce
| knew what that meant.
The week which followed was one of
| surprises to Aunt Jane and Bruce. More
especially to Aunt Jane, for that the
| village, the brazen and frivolous girls of
which she had always held in supreme
contempt, should have held such little
| Jewel as Sallie she would not have
thought possible Mild, gentle and af-
fectionate, an industrious and competent
little worker, that was what the week
| had disclosed of the new acquisition to
the household But the surprises were
not confined to Miss Collins and Bruce;
Sallie had also been agreeably unde-
ceived. Her first impression of Bruce's
aunt was not tlattering, and that she
should prove anything but the eXacting
Itaskmistress she had thought to find her
was a revelation. She knew now that
she would be able to hold her situation,
and dearly loving her surroundings, this
thought occasionally brought the fra
GRANGE of song from her lips. There
was vet another thought, later on, that
stirred her heart into giving vent to these
little melodies which occasionally caught
Bruce's ear. He invariably stopped to
listen when he heard her sing, for these
| OulUlIStS "SIS lIiIlSd Ny q VIM eii'NN
was soft and ineNpressibly sweet.
1t was not long before Miss Collins
began 20 suspect the possible source of
the inspiration that had come into the
girls life rendering her impervious to
| fatigue She was such little thing that
Bruce had been treating her very much
as he might have treated child, it was
so natural to catch her, in passing, and
press his lips to hers, or rub his face for
Ian instant on her soft cheek as he might
have rubbed it on that of an infant.
Sallie took it all in good part, so what
VS. the difference: But Miss Collins
thought differently as this state of affairs
finally came to her knowledge.
Bruce was engaged. Engaged to a
fashionable city butterfly who would
make but an Indifferent farmers wife