The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1922-10-05
Old Aunt Mary's
Romance
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
BY ELLA SAUNDERS

Nh'N NNNlh ANN'i AhlhlAihhf Ahf hAAit
house again. That was Della's chief
thought as she sat by the window,
staring out into the driving rain.
She was too honest TO pretend sOr.
row for the grabbed old womans
death. Aunt Mary had written offer
ing her home after her fathers
death, and she had given up her post
as stenoTnpher in town, thinking it
her duty to help with her aunt's house,
rs her cousin, Miriam, was an invalid.
But she had soon found that Mirlam's
invalidism was an excuse for lying In
bed till ten In the morning and loung.
ing all day in her chair on the porch,
and being waited on.
Della had known little Of Aunt Mary
before she came to live with her. She
knew that she had made a runaway
match long before, had disappeared for
a dozen years and returned with her
ungalnly daughter, to take possession
Of the house her father left her Moth
ing more, and, during her years of
service, Aunt Mary had not been com.
indicative.
Service? Drudgery Della had
stayed year after year, seeing her
benuty fade, because Miriam was too
selfish or incompetent to care for the
old woman, especially after her aunt
became bedridden. And now Aunt
Mary was dead, and she had left no
will. Della was to receive nothing for
all her years of work.
More than that, Miriam was to be
married To an elderly farmer of the
district. II was not even In pretense Of
a love match. But Della had TO go.
"fm sorry, Della" Miriam had said.
"Stay week or two and look round
But, you understand, Tom and / In.
tend to rent the place. SO. take your
time, but keep looking out for some
thing"
Wen, she could go back to her old
position. Rogers & Sons had offered II
to her again. But-Delia was six years
Olderl
And Miriam, lnherltng a property
worth five thousand, had not offered
her a penny. That was almost unbe-
lievable. II had not occurred to her
cousin that she had any claims on her
at ALL
Della packed, turning out drawers
that had remained unsorted all those
years. She was going on the morrow.
She had no regrets, no shadow of SEN
timental feeling for the old place.
A drawer wedged. She pulled hard
II came out suddenly and fell with a
crash to the floor. Della heard Mlri-
ANS petulant voice oil the stairs.
81 wish you wouldn't make so much
noise, Della !"
Della went back. Behind the drawer
she saw package Of old letters with.
out the envelopes, folded double, the
Ink yellow and faint with age. They
were in an unknown writing. She
glanced at them indifferently. They
were addressed to her aunt. She must
give them to Miriam.
suddenly she perceived one among
them In her aunt's writing. II had
been penned hut never sent. And she
breathed quickly as she read.
1t was a pitiful appeal of young
girl to the unknown writer, unlike any.
thing that she had ever known In Aunt
Mary.
Il have been true to you" 1t ran,
"and you deceived me. You went
through the ceremony of marriage with
me, and for five years / thought myself
your legal wife. Now / find that have
been tricked.
"Oh, If you had told me that your
first wife was living, and hopelessly
insane, would have come to meet you
at the ends of the earth. My love for
you was like that. 1t was eternal, so
long as | believed that you were true.
but nOw-now that / find you have
deceived me, and that my little girl has
not even the right to bear her fathers
name, | have finished with you. shall
never return to you, and you will never
hear from me or see either of us
again."
Della put back the letter among the
rest and sat with her hands folded in
her lap, thinking. She realized now
that her aunts hardness had been the
hammering Of fate, not her natural
character. Il was dear TO think that
even grabbed old Aunt Mary had had
her romance, pitiful though 1t was.
But then sudden thought came to
her that made her gasp. Her cousin
Miriam was illegitimate and never sus-
pected ii, She had believed her father
dead those many years. Under the
law Miriam got nothing: Della. as the
niece, all. The place was hers, and it
was Miriam who would have to 20 II
Della revealed her aunt's secret.
Della sat long In thought till the day
died. Then, quietly she slipped the
letters into her trunk, to be de-
stroyed.
She went downstairs. Miriam looked
up from the sofa, where she was read
Ing novel.
IF you've finished packing you'd bet
ter get supper" she said when have