The Washington herald., 1914-08-09
A CLASSIC
IN A PAGE

wealthy indigo dealer and owner OF m
digo plantations. had offered TO take him
into partnership after certain length
OF trying out as q clerk and manager.
Her Consent at Last.
IT suppose that is bride for you to
marry Lilly?"
NO" he said: Lilly was, he thought.
In love with him. But he had told the
father and the father had told the
daughter that his heart was Lefty Ken
derdine's alone
Besides, Lilly was dying with con-
sumption and mad begged him to take
the offered position. give up trying to be
an artist and marry the girl OF his
choice. Would Lefty consider?'
After ca1efully inquiring what his pres
ent salary would be and the probable
| rapidly OF his promotion Lefty consent
ed 90 marry him.
AT Iast!'' thought Edna and william
and there was great Joy and peace in
the Stedman househald. y
But Lefty put the wedding date far
on. Then. one night, Julius came TO the
stedman's saying that he had done SO
| well that Mr. Marchmont was going to
send him out to India--to Calcutta-to
| look after that end OF the business.
Would Lefty be married straight away
and go out to India with him? Poor
Lilly Marchmont was already dead
Some said she had died Of a broken heart
but the doctors called 1t consumption
The Bride Who Did Not Come.
When must you Ieave7" asked Lefty.
Next week"
"Oh. / can never get ready in time.
| You go out and / will come and Join
you there. We can be married in India. 3"
So II was arranged. Lefty read up on
India, and fancied herself surrounded
by a swarm OF native servants She
would be quite in her element out there,
she thought, and could have many luxu-
ries. Then. with petulance. she said to
! herself, "Oh. l wish julius had some
! thing besides his salary
After many delays Lefty embarked
upon one of the Marchmont ships for
India She saw with something like
a shudder that the name OF the vessel
was the Lilly Marchmont.
! 4 long time passed and no word came
| from either Lefty or Julius. DR.. Sted-
man wrote out to Calcutta, and learned
that when the Lilly Marchmont arrived
! there Lefty had. not been on it.
| She had become acquainted with a
| wealthy South African merchant on board
the ship. had stopped on at Cape Town
with him and married him.
Julius had gone down to meet the
ship upon its arrival at Calcutta. When
he learned the facts he had fallen sense
less upon the deck. Upon recovering he
had gone ashore and utterly disappeared.
Only a Memory.
1t was thought he had drowned him.
self In the Hoogly River. All investiga-
tons seemed to make this supposition
a certainty. julius Stedman passed out
| of life and his brother and his brother 5
wife mourned for him
Then he became only a memory-for
children came rapidly to fill the culver
OF the Stedmans-four sons there were
! at last-one of the eldest born before
julius went out TO India, was named
after his uncle and was taller than his
mother.
Then came William, two years young
er than Julius. who. they told him. died
in India Then there were the twins,
who were still young enough to be
amused by playhtings and by riding
''pig-a-back" up on the shoulders Of their
older brothers
This brings US to a period Of time six
teen years after Lefty kenderdine had
sailed away to meet Julius Stedman at
Calcutta-and had never arrived there.
The doctors practice had greatly in
! creased: he had a valuable hospital ap-
l q
for himself in his profession: he was in
easy circumstances: his home was happy
and his life serene.
Saved by an old Soldier.
! A. a small junction station on one Of
the numerous lines of railways that d.
verge from London Bridge dozen or so
Of passengers were walking up and down
the narrow platform as patiently as their
the ''neyer-punctual' train.
As the train came at last little sirl
seeking 20 regain a dog which had
iupnped from her arms-fell upon the
\ tracks and would have been killed had
! II not been for the promptness ana the
daring of an old soldier who rescued
her and brought her back. safe and sound
to the platform, where her mother re-
ceived her.
The mother was a tall and remarkably
! handsome woman. So fair was her SKIN
and so regular her features that. out
for the rooted air OF discomfort which
never left her she would have been al
most as comely as a young woman in
| her teens"
The child. on the contrary, was short
and round, "button-nosed," and far from
pretty-though she Tas only twelve years
Of age. But she had a sweet. sensible
| look which one often sees In children
that prognosticates good for their looks
in the future.
GIIded Misery.
The soldier who brought the endan-
! gered child back to her mother gasped
as he saw that beautiful face.
Who is that woman" he asked Of
railway official The naughty lady her
| self had scarcely thanked him for saving
I the life of her child.
That is Mrs. Vanderdecken, OF Holly
| we'll Hail." replied the railway official
/ Soon after that a gray-bearded man,
] wearing a worn-out uniform, arrived at
a little village near HoIlywell Hall and
took board in a small inn. Private Stone,
he called himself. He had served in In
! dia.
! He haunted Hollywen Park and often
talked with the girl whom he had res
| cued from the wheels Of the railway
| train. Any one can guess who this re-
! tired soldier was who reads the story.
/ But Mrs. Vanderdecken had no suspicion
| that he was her old lover.
| Her life was q gilded misery. Her
husband tainted her continually with
her perfidy to the man whom she had
/ been going to marry out IN India That
woman had no kingdom,
In India Julius stedman had contract
| ed the habit of opiuHn-eaiing and In one
Of his debauches OF that sort he told
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