Year: 1871

that pretty, girlish way of hers.


Surely this must be more than you
pay to beginners %


1--WE pay at one rate for all man.
uscript which we take. If good
enough for our use no matter whether
the author has ever written before OF
not"


She thanked me heartily; and then
with shy joy, very pretty to see, she
crossed the room and laid the money
in her mothers lap.


"My first earnings!" she SAID, in a
voice that tried to be gay, but had a
note of pathos thrilling through it.


Mrs. Hastings looked at me with a
smile. half apologetic, and said,


on must not think the poor child
loves money too well. You can hardly
understand how many pleasant and
comfortable things such sum as this
represents to u.s.


/ staid few moments after that
long enough to discover into what a
refined and pleasant family circle
chance had brought me; and TO wish
that, instead of being solitary bach
elor, living in lodgings which nobody
cared to make pleasant, was son or
brother in that little household. and
had right to sit down at night in
that quiet, home-like room. ala


Before l left / intimated that IT
would be some time, perhaps, before
the story would appear-we had so
many on hand accepted previously.
When see it in print" she ans
wered, you must not be surprised if ]
send you another;" and then went
away. ..fa ~
The family interested me more than
I had ever been interested on such a


brief acquaintance in my whole life.
/ could not bear to lose sight of them
but what possible pretext could find
for continuing my visits? Miss Ruth
had intimated that she should not
write again until she saw her story in
print, and no one knew better than i


what long day off that event was
likely to be. a.a..a -.1..-r.5. --. I'll


Two weeks passed away and the
very apparent impossibility of meet
ing again my little brown-eyed special
contributor called her that because
no eyes save mine were ever likely to
read her story-only stimulated my
wishes into eagerness. confess to
thinking of her good deal. l even
took out. now and then, her remark
able manuscript, and re- perused it un-
til actually began to feel kindly
and familiar interest in the blue-eyed
and black-eyed heroines, and to look
with more complacency on the for
midable hero with the Spanish cloak.
If things had gone on for any length
of time in that manner, am sure
that / shouldn't have persuaded myself
fhof tho of nnn6 70
publish, were it only for the hope of
her bringing me another. -.i,


It happened that l found my good
fortune at length, where least looked
for it, in the columns of a morning
paper. In the list of board and lodg-
ing advertisements / saw one of a
room, with breakfast and tea. at No.
IL Blank Street; the very house. My
resolve was taken in a moment. 1
had no ties to bind me where 1 was.
A weeks rent in advance would be
sufficient compensation to landlady,.
who had never tried to oblige me, tor
the loss of her lodger. If possible /
would become an inmate of that quiet,
pleasant house behind the horsescnest-
nut trees:


Evening found me again in the lit
tie parlor. Mrs. Hastings was alone,
and did my errand, making the ex-
cuse that the location was so much,
nearer my place of business than my
present lodgings. She seemed heartily
rejoiced at my application. There
were SO many similar advertisements,
she said, that she had hardly ventured
to hope. hers would attract any one,
still she had thought the experiment
worth trying. She owned her house,
and with a responsible lodger they
could get along very comfortably.
1t was certainly an unexpected piece
of good fortune that /, with whom
they already felt acquainted, should
be disposed to come. ~


did not see that that night the
brown-eyed authoress of "The Rival
Sisters; or, the Mysterious Lover"
but that mattered little when / was
presently to be an inmate of the same
dwelling. .f.gaes 500 -, -


The next evening Joined them at
tea. My possessions had previously
arrived, and my room was in readi-,
ness for me. / felt at once comfortable
and at home. They received me as
one who was to belong to the family,
to share their household Interests,
and to, be one of themselves. How 1
blessed my stars that I found myself
at last among people who had never
known what it was to keep dodgers
Fsfor living" l et.-.,.e ~ 4g


Of course my acquaintance with
Ruth progressed rapidly. She re-
garded me, or / thought so, as a kind
of safe, elderly friend. She borrowed
my books; she came to me with all
her little difficulties, sang me her new
songs, and deferred so much to my
opinion that / ought to have been
both grateful and satisfied.


But wasn't. gs aoat ~


began to discover that 1 wanted
something more and different. It is
not pleasant to be met with the SIM
pie gayety and frankness of neice
or sister by the woman whom you
would fain WOO to love you. ,s / found
out, by my very Vexation that Ruth's
innocent friendliness, that it was her
love that / wanted-that at last my
days of doom mad come. The blind
god, whose shafts had been powerless
against me tor so long, had found the
one spot which the waters ofthe Styx
had never touched. 1- 7lrhfs


used to think, sometimes, while ] |
sat smoking in my room at night, /
what my life would be with her to |
share it. Looking into the blue smoke,
curling up and away, 1 saw pleasant |
home-pictures-scenes which even in |
such dim vision made heart and pulse
thrill with something dearer and |
sweeCer than the lost youth which
was slipping away from me. She
would make me young again-she,
with her fair child's face, her CHEEKY |
voice, her gay, pleasant ways. If i
could only win her Lowell But was
there any hope of that, when her lit,
tie brother did not receive my kind !
ness or claim my attentions with any
more simplicity and Inconsistencies
than she?7 aef liHo aaf oi0Ii tH


Toward autumn my condition grew
more forlorn. A young gentleman,
. friend of the family. who, it seemed,
had been rusticating for q few months,
returned to town, and began to form
very often one of the family circle,
4 4 -