Year: 1876

brought her 20 notice had been so very
kind since. Tho liberty she enjoyed
made the quiet cOuntry-hOuse q very hap
py place. and now two admirers dawned
upon her horizon at once, and made life
perfectly splendid" TO May, much as
the situation would have bored many an
experienced belle.


Matters naturally assumed this form as
the time passed on. May had two lovers
and hardly knew which she liked best.


Marcus did not make love -hc did not
dare-but looked it. The doctor made
love scientifically; he had pumped the
farmer, who believed that the young lady's
fortune was something more than com
mon" He had even extracted from the
married cousin statement that Uncle
left everything to May"


He had three months to work in before
the heiress knew her power, and learned.
from one gray winter, that lovers follow
money thick and fast and he was a deter
mined sort of a fellow where there was
anything to get


Marcus had no plans, His boys heart
ran away with him-that was all. He
could not keep away from Mays side, nor
forget her when they were apart; and so
summer passed and autumn approached,
and the city folks were going home, and
the district school was to be opened, and
Cousin Helen's husband "a hard-driven
Wall street mani came down TO spend u
week before he took his family home, and
all this delightful time was at an end.


Marcus was to be examined tor his po-
sition as teacher of the school-a mere
form with his fine education. The doctor,
as a learned gentleman, was one of COM
mittee to examine the coming school
ma'am for the girls department.


"a pleasanter task, as he said, jest
ingly, elf he expected to see anybody
there but only old Miss Cynthia Alderny
and old Miss Baker"


May heard good deal of the school,
especially as Farmer Parsons was another
of the committee, and she felt an interest
in it, too, as Marcus was to teach. 1t
seemed so odd to think of.


Cousin Helen's husband went about as
men usually do, and heard more in day
than the ladies could in a year. He re-
turned one evening with solemn face
and informed his wife in confidence that
the talk of the whole place was Mays
fortune, and that the doctor, who had
done nothing but run after rich women
since he came to the place, was said to
be LATTER it.


!" A regular fortune hunter, my dear"
said the husband. You must use your
influence with poor May"


May, meanwhile, had been in her favor
ite grove, and there had Marcus Moreland
betakcn himself to say good-by. Poor
boy, he had had some bitter hours of late.
The fact that Mays love was the one thing
worth having upon earth had dawned
upon him and with it the knowledge that
he had no right to offer himself to an
heress. How he hated her money. 1t
stood between them like an awful spell
If she had been the poorest girl living
he could have said all that was in his
heart to her-not now.


So the poor boy uttered few faltering
words and went his way.


1t was folly for me to think that he
liked me much," said May as he left her
"How formal and cold after all our So
clability," and little pang nipped her
heart, and she smiled more brightly on
the doctor when he entered the grove thfn
she had ever smiled before.


He made love to her that afternoon after
true story-book fashion. On the stage at
IS he would have caused tender-heart-
ed ladies to say How sweet" 1t was n
pretty little scene rehcarsed in private.
Had MAY but known it the night before !;





stand his parting words:


Tomorrow before you leave must
see you. You will grant me private in
! terview, will you not? l have something
of intense importance, to myself, at least,
to say to you. You will let me see you in
the garden? III falter, look, a
snatch at her hand, a touch of his lips
upon it.


Then the curtain should have dropped.
He rode away in his gig, and said TO him
self;


II always was lucky fellow-to think
that Providence should have sent an heiresS
to such place as this; apretty one, too?'
When May entered the house a surprise
awaited her. Cousin Helen took her at
once to her bedroom, and there, behind
closed doors, repeated her husbands in
| formation.


a" You know you are so young and in
| experienced, ~ said she, land fortune
hunter is such dreadful creature"


Mays face flushed crimson.


"Do you really think nobody could
love me for myself?" she asked in a sud
den fit of indignation.


Then common sense came to her aid
She sat quiet for awhile, and then drew
near her cousin and whispered something
| in her ear. 1t was n long whisper.


1t will prove him." she sald aloud
"and you will help me?"


Cousin Helen promised, and May re
tired to her own room, there to shed few
not unnatural tears


Night passed-the morning came. The
]