Washington County news., January 22, 1904, Image 4

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The way tu which ibis memory had
come to me sAmped it as genuine.
Moreover, I have a rule for such mat­
ters, and I rely ii|>on It with a sad cer­
tainty—that which Is good Is a dream,
that which is hud Is true.
I arose, shivering, and huddled some
clothes upon me. with a heavy hooded
bath robe over them. Then I made a
fire o f sea coal in the parlor and sat
down before it to meditate upon a
state of affairs which, briefly stated.
i was this:
An old gentleman named Christopher
Hooper, who lives In Sayvtlle. on the
Maine coast, a pretty little town where
j I have spent a summer or two, had
written to me for a legal opinion upon
Advertising Is the mainspring
I the status o f certain property.
He
o f business. It beeps the ma­
j particularly desired to know what
chinery In motion and leuds to j would become of it in case he should
profitable progress.—George P.
die without a will. He did not say
Howell & Co.
why he wished to die without a will,
but I was of the opinion that he might
Bloomingdnle Bros, o f New
do worse. Indeed. I was considerably
York spent $15,000 advertising
relieved to find that such was his in
a special sale to last one week.
tentlon. I f he should not change his
It Is said their profits on It
mind upon this point his granddaugh­
amounted to $25,000.
ter, Gertrude Ellis, would Inherit
about a quarter o f a million dollars, to
the best o f my knowledge and belief.
T ilt s p a p e r o f i ir a th e b n H
In regard to the property mentioned
m e d iu m
fo r
s u c e e s e fu lly
In his letter asking my advice there
a d v e rtis in g
ro ar
b u s in e s s .
might be n squabble over the matter of
H a tes ns lo w ns c ir c u la t io n
partition, and If litigation should arise
w ill w a rra n t.
*
the situation would be complicated by
lb"—-.—. .................................................... ..! the fact that Gertrude was no longer a
minor, with a legal residence In Maine,
Jfctti
A ttt
A T
'i. T
,L' v T
A ■».
hut was secretly married to Robert N.
V
T T
T .ti
T .t.
T iti
T A
T A T it T it " i A f T A .♦<
n tti^ti
T t A T A T
* T s *1
Ellis of Rhode Island.
Ellis was a young man who had had
a little money and had lost it through
neglecting the advice of Christopher
Hooper. This was a serious offense,
hut he lind cut himself off from pardon
by tnklng a position on a newspaper.
Mr. Hooper despised all newspapers as
a result of having been abused by one
of them In the course of a political
•By Howard Fielding
campaign In 1868.
Ellis had met
Gertrude In summer vacations, ns I
J
I
I d Boston It is raining to a degree
that Noah never saw the like of. The
roof of the cab in which I cross the
city roars with the flood that Is de­
scending upon It
Beyond Boston the train seems like a
submarine boat. Night closes in. and
the rain still falls. We are late at
Portland, later yet at the Junction where
I must change to the little branch road.
A man with a lantern leads me to a
little Inn that looms in an ocean o f rain.
He takes It for granted that I want to
go to bed. Probably he has never seen
a man who did not have that natural
Inclination at such an hour o f the
morning.
Next day the weather had cleared.
The sun shone brightly but the whole
sane summons to Gertrude, had Deen
wholly
unnecessary. The utffiction
which had caused the trouble had. in
| the mystery of divine mercy, averted
It or would have done so but for my
own panic.
I tipped the letter open. It was a
lengthy corumunicatlori, but I kuew
Just where to look for the bit of lunacy
thut had dribbled from my pen. There
It stood, most plainly written down.
“ As her husband is a citizen of Rhode
Island.” The phrase had recurred to
me accurately in sleep.
The need of the moment was for
quick and accurate thought upon the
present emergency, but there was no
one to think i t I stood wringing the
letter in my dripping hands until It
was a mere rag. abd my mind was
wrung In precisely the same way. All
I could think of was that Gertrude was
in the room over my head. Without a
notion as to want I should say or do I
rushed up the stairs four at a leap.
Some one said “ Come In!” as I
knocked at Hooper’ s door. Entering. I j
behold the old gentleman lying upon a
couch and propped up with pillows.
His white hair floated round his head.
It was of a perfect whiteness and as
fine as the strands of a sunbeam. With
his clear blue eyes it gave him a cer­
tain beauty, and I marked a serenity
upon his countenance that was not
Quite its customary expression.
A BETRAYAL 9f
CONFIDENCE
I
Copyright, 1903 , by Charlen W. Ilnohe
-H|b I
T was the sound of my own voice
that waked me from the state of
semiconscious wretchedness which
I call sleep. The hour was uncer­
tain, hut the night seemed on the wane.
The room had the gray gloom of a dim
cell under ground, and the four walls
larked in shadows like four dark robed
Inquisitors watching some tortured vie-1
tlui oivttie rack.
1 stft upon a pillow with my bad:
'against the liruzen grille at the head of
tile bed. The bars were as cMd as au
Eskimo's Idea o f perdition, and no
doubt they printed their pattern on mo
ns I crouched there for two minutes
glbberlug like a seared monkey. Hav­
ing attained full consciousness through
this pleasant process, which has bo-
I
“ HAS H E BEEN TO T H E .-.A ll,? " I D E M A N D E D
t
had. He was still in his youth and region seemed to be lake. I had many
with a sunny view o f life. It was bet­ misgivings, yet the ■ ranch train start
ter that he should win her. I had nev­ ed confidently on ti.ae. It ran about
er striven against him nor said one ten miles and then -flopped while tin-
word in my own cause. I had no ex- 1 track ahead was tested and repaired J
alted notions o f self abnegation.
I A few miles furtb-r along the same
thought that this would be like other process was repeat'.«!, and so we crept
sorrows, but somehow It isn’t.
down to Belfast, arriving too late for
They made a great friend of me, and the boat across the bay.
when It came to their childish folly of
Mnils reach Sayvllle about 2 o'clock
u secret marriage 1 was their sole con- In the afternoon, coming down by stage
Uduut. 1 tried to dissuade them, self­ along the east hank of the Penobscot. |
ishly, generously, 1 don’t Uuow which. By the best calculation that I could
I ’erhaps the meeting o f those storms of
different considerations in my brain make my letter had been In the very
may have had something to do with the train that had taken me to the junc­
condition of it. A t any rate, if it hurt tion. It would probably fail to muku. G E K T K U D E W AS S IT T IN G B E S ID E T H E COUCH.
me it beuetited no one else. They were connections at Bangor because of tl»e | Gertrude was sitting upon a hassock
married as a guarantee to Ellis that storm and would not go down to Say beside the couch. She had been shed­
old Christopher Hooper's opposition ville hntil next day, hut if I should, ding tears. As I entered she rose
should not wreck his hopes. The cere­ wait for tomorrow's boat 1 might lx. quickly and with the spring and the
mony occurred tu New York, where too late to intercept the letter, the mar grace o f youth. The old man eyed her
Gertrude spends her winters with an gin of time being very narrow. There­ admiringly In the second's time before
aunt who Is so dull of wit that I think fore it was advisable for me to hire my she spoke.
“ I have confessed all to grandfather,
the wedding might have taken place in own transportation across the bay.
It was 2 o'clock when we drifted Into and he has forgiven me.” she said. “ I
her own parlor and she have been none
am so glad you sent for me!"
Sayvllle harbor.
the wiser. I was the only accomplice.
While I was walking up the main
It was some months later that 1 had
*
my letter from Mr. Hooper. As 1 sat street of the town 1 encountered III-
4
down to answer It I said to myself: "I ratn Banks, who was Mr. Hooper’s
must be careful. I don't know what handy man.
"Rather early for summer visitors,
I ’m about."
"H ow 'd ye
I had done my best with It. and my ain't it?” lie inquired.
You must 'a
best had been as had as possible, for come? Sailboat, eh?
b’en in a hurry. Goin' up to the house
those words had crept In:
“ As her husband Is a citizen of I suppose. I knew Mr. H ooper'd w rit­
ten to ye. lie's sick. Just took; quite
Rhode Island"—
The name of the state would Identify bad. I'm goin' for the doctor."
"H as he been to the mall?” I de­
By Margaret M. Page |
the man, and as Hooper had once been
led to fear a secret marriage no lies, manded.
"Just come from there,” he replied,
—
though hacked by all the resources of
Copyright. 130S. by Margaret M . Page
-j-
perjury that arc known to a New York “ when he was took.”
So my letter had come despite tny
lawyer, could repair the mischief.
hopes, and it had prostrated the old
Heyoud doubt 1 had arranged matters
u n t s a v a n n a h H a m il t o n
man. Well. I might have expected as
go that Mr. Hooper would not die with­
was by far the most active
much. What was to be done? My j
out a will. No direct advice upon the
1 Hnd energetic negro In Peuton-
mind refused to take hold o f the prolx
point could have been half so effective.
vllle. Unlike the majority of
lcm, but some Instinct directed my
I f he lived long enough to Hud a bottle
body. I went to the telegraph office Florida negroes, who bask in idleness
of Ink after reading my letter Gertrude
until an empty larder or depleted ward­
and sent thif message to Gertrude;
would be disinherited.
“ Matter of R. N. E. necessitates youi robe compels them to earn a little mon­
What was to be done? Upon this
ey, she was always ready to work.
coming here at once.”
point I tried to think clearly. There
Then I went to the Hooper house. Her husband had been wont to con­
must be a way out of It. I said to my­
The old gentleman was quite 111, and sume a great part o f her earnings in
self that If I could have ten minutes of
the doctor advised me not to try to sec drink, but it was commonly reported
real sleep—nay. but live—I could think
him. I waited till evening, when he that during the three years which had
my way through this difficulty. With
was considerably improved, ami then elapsed since his death she had accu­
deliberation I laid my heavy head
I went to his room. Ills first words mulated a considerable sum of money.
against the cushioned chair and closed
let me know that he had not received The excellence of her cooking brought
my eyes despite the force o f the springs
my letter, hut In the meantime I had her into constuut demand when the lit­
that held them open—springs that
had a telegram from Gertrude saying tle town was filled with northern
pressed incessantly so that the orbits
that she had started. 1 had not the boarders. She was also accounted tha
of the eyes were sore. I saw many vi­
resolution to tell Mr. Hooper this. Ger­ best singer in Pentonvllle.
sions—the old days at Sayvllle; Ger­
Although she was fully fifty yedrs of
trude must explain her own coming.
trude. seventeen years old. upon a ten
As to mine, I had no trouble, alleging age and exceedingly stout, the com­
nls field shaking down the masses of
bined attractions o f good cooking, fine
his letter as the excuse for it.
her hair disordered in the game, the
I went down to the Belfast boat to Singing nnd the possession of a bank
picture of youth; the first time l ever
meet Gertrude next day.
My soul account would have made her a for­
saw her. Rut this has nothing to do
midable rival to the young girls of
feared the sight of her.
with the letter. I must think of that.
The boat did not bring her. and I Egypt, the name commonly given to
Mailed about half past 10 o f the even
hurried bnck to the house. Banks was that part o f Pentonvllle occupied by the
tng. It bad not yet started on Its way
colored people, had phe chosen to enter
standing on the steps.
to Roston. Only one mall a day at Say­
“ She came by the stage." said be. ” 1 the matrimonial lists. In fact, she had
vllle. I wrote a letter to Gertrude once
received several offers of marriage, but
meant to tell ye 'twas likely.”
and beat It to Sayvllle by a full day's
had rejected all such propositions with
’’The
stage?"
1
gasped.
time. I f I take the fast express at tO
“ It get* iu an hour earlier Thurs intense scorn, saying that one husband
o’clock this morning I may be there In
was one too many for a seusible wom­
time. In that case I'll find some way days." said tie. "t*on't ye remember?" an.
'Remember?" I echoed, striking my
to intercept the letter. I ’ll bribe a serv
However. It began to be whispered
ant. So that's all settled and off mv forehead with my clinched hand. “ How
about that since the arrival of Mr.
mind, and I may sit here In this chair should I remember anything? Yfbere
James Pendergast, a tall young mulat­
and dream o f things that aren’t true. is she?"
to from Georgia, the citadel had been
All that la good Is a dream.
“ Gone up to Ills room," he replied.
successfully attacked. James possessed
It la a comfort to ride In a railroad
"H ave you beivrd” —
a magnificent tenor voice, Rnd when It
train. The engineer knows his way.
“ I ain’t bean! nothing." said he. “ Is
rang out in “ pra’r uieet:n' " above the
and the conductor, for a consideration, there likely to be n rumpus?”
other voices Aunt Savannah clasped
will put an absent minted passenger
I strode by him iuto the parlor and
her hands and rolled her eyes in ec­
off at the proper atatiop. I f he hap­ flung tny overcoat off upon the floor.
stasy, while her clear soprano was
pen* to forget to rendi r this service As I did so something fell out of the
hushed In admiring silence.
When
why should the absent minded passen breast pocket. I picked It up. It was
James escorted Aunt Savannah home
ger make trouble? Rather let him be my letter to Christopher nooper.
from meeting oue evening. Sis Sukey
comforted by the thought that some
I had forgotten to mall It! All this
one else has lost his memory. However. . mental torment, this self accusation, .Johnson observed t o C r e e s y . A u d i Sa
vannah's married daughter:
Boston la a terminal, ao there la no risk this scurrying across country, this iu-
4 4
HOW A U N T
SAVANNAH SAVEDj
T H E DAY
|
t
A
A M A S W ITH A LANTE11N D EADS
D IT T I.E IN S.
M E TO A
come quite usual with me, I began to
repeat the phrase that I had uttered
automatically before waking:
"A s her husband Is a citizen of Rhode
Island” —
Could It be possible that I had put
those words in!" a letter addressed to
the one person In the world who
mustn't know that the young woman
in question has a husband? 1 knew
tuyself toil v e il to doubt that I had
done It. My memory, for all useful
purposes. Is gone. I meet my friends
mid do not know their names; I talk
with them and forget the subject
which la under discussion even while I
am In the very act of discussing It.
Rut when I am asleep—or sunk In
tlmt purgatory o f mental stress through
which l never can quite win my way
Into the heaven of slt**p—I am liable
to remember anything minute details
o f my boyhood, the exact turn of a
phrase or glance of an eye that murk-
ed a scene of youth, but chiefly my
own faults and emirs. These, whether
o f long ago or o f the day just done,
come Into my mind with startling sud­
denness and always with absolute ac­
curacy, so far as 1 am able to deter
mine. Sometimes I repeat aloud my
o w n words or tho«o of dh-'rs; some­
time* I utter vain pro' --t* against the
recurrence of such thoughts, hut the
end Is nlwnys the aar i< I pa ; through
purgatory In tin v r
’
.«u and
am cast into the torment of Wide-
sw ak t.
” Fo’ de Lawd. Creesy. 'peurs like yer
ma done got cotcb at las’ by dat
Georgy sucker!”
Aunt Savannah had lived alone in
her one room cabin since the death of
her husband. Near by stood the cabin
in which Creesy lived with her hus­
band and two children. Both of these
bumble homes were shaded by orange
and lemou trees, and In the plots of
ground In the rear some cabbages were
growing. Between the two bouses a
rudely constrsicted henhouse and a
chicken yard surrounded by a slat
fence seemed to receive more care than
either cabins or gardens.
One day soon after fhe act of gal­
lantry which hud caused Sukey John­
son's comment preparations for some
great event were being made In Aunt
Savannah's cabin. All day she bad
been cleaning and cooking. As it near­
ed sunset her labors appeared to be
completed. The table, covered with a
snowy cloth aud neatly set, stood in
the center of the room. Bouquets of
roses, honeysuckles. Jasmines and ole­
anders arranged iu cracked cups and
pitchers stood in every available spot
and filled the room with fragrance.
On the hearth, where the fire hud burn­
ed to a few embers, stood a platter of
fried chicken, and the roasted sweet
potatoes aud corn pone were still cov­
ered with the ashes to keep them
warm.
Presently Aunt Savannah emerged
from behind the curtain which parti­
tioned off one corner, used as a bed­
room. She was dressed to do credit to
the occasion, whatever it might be. A
black alpaca skirt aud purple plush
H E B £ X T DOW BE-FOHE HEH
tasque finished at the ueck by a broad
lace collar, which was fastened by a
large gold brooch, aud a white apron,
crisp and shining with abundant
starch, set off to advantage the ample
proportions of her figure. Large gold
hoops depended from her ears, and an
ornnge silk handkerchief was hound in
turban fashion about her head.
As she stood in the doorwuy shading
her eyes with her pand from tin* level
rays of the sun Mr. James Pendergast
appeared in sight.
James was also dressed for a great
occasion. He wore nankeen trousers, a
red and green plaid waistcoat and a
blue cont adorned with brass buttons.
On his head was a much worn silk hat,
*nd he JauntHy carried an orange stick
rane. As he approached Aunt Savan­
nah greeted him with a deep courtesy.
In acknowledgment he put his cane un­
der his left arm, placed his left hand
on his heart and with his right hand
lifted his hat and nearly swept the
ground with it aB he bent low before
her.
"Good ebenin’, Mr. Pendergas’,” said
*he. “ How does yo' fin' yo'se'f dij
tbenin’ ?”
“ Po’ly, Miss Hamilton, po'ly. When
«*r mail picks oranges all de day long
lie prickin' ob de thawns en de frag-
niunce ob de blossoms min's him pow’-
ful ob de sorrers ob a single life.”
"1 yearn tell, Mr. Pendergas', as how
yo' was ingage ter a gal up in Georgy.”
"W ell, Miss Hamilton, i owns as dere
was a sort ob kin' ob ingagemint.”
said James as he followed Aunt Savan­
nah into the cabin in response to a
courtly wave of her hand.
"Res' yo' hat on de flo' en draw a
cheer ter de table. Mr. Pendergas'.”
As James seated himself at the table
nnd nlaeed his battered hat carefully
at his feet he beamed approvingly af
the viands which Aunt Savannah has­
tened to set before him.
"Would yo’ kin’ly pernonce de bless-
in’. Mr. Pendergas'?"
With one partly closed eye on the
chicken, James hurried through ao
elaborate blessing, ending with a so­
norous “ Amen.'1 in which Savannah
heartily Joined.
"H ab some ob de orange martnalade
en he'p yo'se'f ter de guaba Jelly. Mr.
Pendergaa’.”
“ T an k yo' mos' kin'ly. Miss Hamil­
ton. Am dis Jelly some ob yo' own
pussuviu'?”
“ Bless de grnshus. yes, Mr. Pender-
gas'. I alius does my own cookin’. My
stummlck hain't no sorter fancy fo’
takin' in de contrapshuns what oder
folks musses inter. I ’spec' dat Georgy
gal's a ui.gfity scrumptious cook, now.”
•T»at Georgy gal's needer yere noc