Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1918-04-19

out. faint likely 1t had money In
it-young gen'elmeDs wouldn't send
money to young ladies theys a-co'tin'-
and faint no very black sin to los
letter what amt got money in it."
Circumstances aided Lucy in her
work of concealment. Mrs. Pendleton
and Miss Anne were out driving, and
| Mr.. Pendleton had gone to the county
seat. When the family met at the sup
per table, Mr.. Pendleton remarked:
Young Heath left today for Manila"
The pale pink roses on Miss Anne's
cheeks turned pale for a moment.
isn't 1t rather sudden?" she asked.
Eyes, he had to leave on a moments
notice. His partner out there has been
taken very i'll and Heath had to go to
attend to things"
Dear, dear! how people do jump
about nowadays sighed Mrs. Pendle-
ton. Life used to be a great deal
more pleasant and peaceful when
there was not so much rushing about"
Lucy, who was bringing in relays of
hot buttercakes, heard what Mr.. Pen
dleton said, and silently thanked for
tune that Mr. Cyril was safely out of
! the way.
For several days, however, she felt
uneasy, and had to check herself on
the brink of circulating: "'Clare to
goodness, l never done it" But as
time passed, and nothing happened, she
treasured herself
Nothing happened, indeed, save that
which goes on silently and secretly
in the heart of q maid. Cyril Heath
had returned to America for rest and
change of climate after several years
in Manila, and had been staying with
some cousins of his who owned the
plantation adjoining that of the Pen
dletons. The young people of both
houses met often, and Cyril had be-
gun by thinking graceful Anne, with
her thick, ash-blonde hair and deep
blue eyes, charmingly pretty crea-
ture: but this mere attraction toward
beauty gradually became something
deeper and more earnest. He had given
Anne every reason to believe that he
loved her-in fact, they had reached
the stage where a proposal might have
occurred Mt any moment. And his
sudden disappearance without even a
word Of farewell, was a severe blow
to her. Even if he had been pressed
for time he could at least have writ
ten a letter: and his failure to do so
seemed to prove that, on his side, theirs
had not been a serious love affair, hut
Il Irritation. Anne kept her own coun-
sci, but her pale pink roses became
white roses. When Mrs. Pendleton
worried over her daughters pallor and
languor, Anne said it was "juSt the hot
weather" and meekIy took the tonic
prescribed, but her cheeks grew no
roster.
Three months had passed. when one
day Lucy saw Tar Baby dragging a
paper bag into the dark little brown
closet under the stairs-One of his ia
vorite haunts. He was Just preparing
to rend the bag to pieces with his
sharp teeth, when well-aimed whack
from Lucy's broom sent him flying.
"Ain't that cat the beatines' ~
unused Lucy-"jes' materially loves to
tear up paper, an keep me sweepin'
benin him. Now what's this he's been
a-tearin?"
In one corner Of the closet were
some scraps of letter paper. Lucy
gathered them up and examined them.
She could read. and on the torn en-
velOpe she deciphered Miss Anne
then she remembered the pretty blue
paper" of the letter Mr.. Heath had
given her.
"What have YOU here, Lucy?" asked
the voice Of Miss Anne.
Clare to goodness. I nuver done
it," gasped Lucy.
"Well. what have YOU torn or broken.
: now?" asked Miss Anne, resignedly.
Then Lucy poured forth Il confused
tale about Mr. Cyrl's letter, and how
she had put it on the table when
Nanny hollered for her. and that ole
Tar Baby must Il took and tored it, and
she was skeered to tell-and-and-'
IDul Miss tNllIlt NlN Illl near the resi-
Of, the explanation. She had taken
the letter into the library. and was
l piecing it together. Some scraps were
: lost; hut enough was left to show that
it was the proposal Cyril had not had
> time to make "by word Of mouth" The
silent contempt with which it had. an
parently, been received must have ere
ated a very false impression. Was II
too late now to answer that letter.
Anne was not one of those heroines OF
romance who allow the happiness of =
lifetime to he ruined by the want OF
r n little common sense. She reasoned
+ that so genuine love as was express
I ed in Cyril's letter could scarcely be
" killed by three months absence. Then
e too. the pictures of Manila Beauties'
r in the illustrated papers were reassur
ing. "They are so fat and dowdy,
S she unused, "and so dark, too-and he
admired blondes"
s SO her letter Of explanation was writ