Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-03-07

fortune IN thht Way, Wheh again MS
Nemesis. In the shape OF his lawyer,
came down on him, telling him that,
by the terms of old Morrison's will,
he was prohibited from disposing of
more than certain proportion OF his
capital during his lifetime. Then the
brilliant, quite unbusiness-like idea
occurred to him to contest his great
uncle's will. But as his relatives
who had carefully read the will even
before he had. and found that in case
OF contest the whole fortune would
go to charity-begged him not to do
so, as they would thereby have to
disgorge what he had already con-
veyed to them--he felt compelled,
for their sakes, to desist. II only he
had had the good fortune to think
Of this plan at first! But, hang 1t
ALL that was just his luck
About this time, his case looking
really desperate. some malicious
spirit suggested to him to marry a
poor girl-one who had never had
two cents to her name, and who
would have her head so turned when
she learned of the wealth that was at
her disposal, that she might be trust
ed to get rid of it in short order by
the abnormal extravaganza which
she would naturally develop. Here
was promising scheme. and he won
dered he had not thought of 1t be-
fore. He went to work warily, how
ever, for, OF course. while he wanted
poor girl, he did not wish COM
mon one, with no genius for extrava-
gance, and the right one was hard to
find at first
Happening to mention to his old
nurse his desire to marry poor but
pretty girl, she entered into the plan
with much alacrity and promised to
find "the very one" Laughingly
telling her that the most prominent
characteristic of the fair one must be
an undeniable tendencf to extrava-
gance, and an empty parse her only
dover he awaited events
At a summons from the old lady,
he called at her rooms, and there
veg slim httle thing with her,
dressed in a shabby gown, who sat
and knit away at coarse stocking
and never raised her eyes or said a
word all the time he was there. He
went away a delighted man for, in
spite of an unusual refinement of face
and attitude. 1t was evident the girl
had not cent in the world but what
she could earn by knitting.
The next day he met her she wore
a plain black dress. He saw her often
after that and by degrees he over
came her extreme shyness, and she
conyersed with him in a way that
soon set his pulses tingling.
At the end of two or three months !
he was dead in love with the girl.
He had not intended this, but was
not going to let such a small con.
sideration break up the plan, which
was progressing so finely It took |
nearly another month to persuade |
her to marry, but She finally con.
sented.
The wedding day arrived. Paul
was terribly nervous, having preced. |
ed the bride by at least ten minutes,
aid was beginning to have an awful |
fear that she might have played him
false. He had discovered by this
time that she was the one girl in all
the world for him, and as he contem-
plated with anguish the prospect of
losing her lovely vision appeared.
He could hardly believe his eyes. OF
al the costly looking brides he had
ever seen she was the costliest, and
yet the plainest in her apparel. Was
that magnificent, white-robed, queen
ly woman the little girl who had been
wont to sit in her poor black frock,
knitting industriously in nurses
little liying-room? IN.
The next day, on the train, when
he casually dropped a package of
thousanddollar notes into her lap,
with the remark that it was pin
money, she remarked in the quietest
little drawl imaginable:
"Oh, Paul! l must tell you little
secret! When poor Aunt Matilda
died in California week ago she
left me two millions! "--From Good
Literature.