Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1888 — JUST IN TIME. [ARTICLE]

JUST IN TIME.

Every one was surprised when Alice Oake became engaged to the young German Theodore Max, and it all happened because she thought Paul Norman had slighted her. The blonde, blue-eyed young foreigner was interesting, but in her heart of hearts she treasured the memory of the dark-hafred lover. The wedding day drew near, and one afternoon Alice drove over to a neighboring china manufactory to make some purchases, and at the same time to visit the works. All attention was shown" the young heiress as she made her way through the various rooms where deft hands turned the dirty clay into things of beauty and artistic worth. The room where the decorators worked particularly interested Alice. One young Sirl was engaged in painting delicate pink owere in a pale blue dish. The occupation seemed a charming one, it struck the fancy of the young lady. The girl looked up and smiled. “I wonder whether you could teach me to do that?’ she asked. w“Ah, yes, madam,” replied the girl,with a foreign accent. “If madam could take lessons in the evening, I should be delighted to earn a little more.” “Come to me to-night," said Alice, “and we will talk it over.” And at night the girl came—an innocent simple creature, who needed little urging to talk of herself. She was from Dresden; she had learned to paint china there—all the world had. She longed to return, but she had a purpose in coming to American-and it was not accomplished. No, madamoiselle was mistaken—it was not to make her fortune. She would tell madamoiselle, who looked so kind. It was to look for her lover. Oh, he loved her, and she loved him. They were both in the china works, but her grandfather would have her marry her cousin, and he turned Theo from the door —yes, and with anger and threats, if he should come again. They met once and vowed eternal constancy; then he came to America. He thought she was married, but Providence had arranged otherwise; her cousin was dead and her grandfather also. So she had come to find Theo. Did madamoiselle ever hear his name? That would hardly be likely; but she asked every one —“Theodore Max of Dresden.” Theodore Max. from Dresden! Miss Oake started violently. “Tell me how he looks,” she said. “In the least like this? ’ and she drew from her work-basket a photograph. “It might be his own portrait.” “It is!” cried the girl. “Oh, do you know him?” “I think I do,” said Alice. “I will send for him. What shall I say?” “Only that Sophia Brett never married her cousin Andre, and is here," said the girl. But Miss Oake only telegraphed to Theodore Max, “Come at once.” “Theodore," she said to him, before she led him into Sophia’s presence, “you loved Sophia Brett once?" He answered frankly; “Fondly. But I could not marry her; so I came away.” “She is free,” said Alice. “What can you know of Sophia?” asked her lover.

Alice drew her engagement ring from her finger and gave it to him. “Give this to Sophia,’’ she said. "I will give her a dowry. I see you love her. I know she loves you, and I found out long ago that I never loved you at all. Go to my boudoir. You will find her there.” Again the world wondered. When wedding veils are bought and wedding breakfasts ordered people expect a wedding ceremony. They were not disappointed, but the bride was not Alice. The feast.was at her home. She graced the ceremony with her presence. Stie was as gay as the bridegroom, and as loving at the bride, and far more elegant. And she kissed little Sophia with unaffected tenderness, and shook hands heartily with Theodore Max as the young couple bid her adieu and went off upon their wedding trip. But while the guests still lingered, Alice Oake stole away into the conservatory, where a tiny fountain tossed its waters into a.marble basin, and there, as though waiting for her—-as indeed he was—stood Paul Norman. His dark face glowed with joj; “Alice,” he whispered, “have you come to me at last?” Her only answer was to drop her head upon his bosom. And you may be sure.that there was another wedding soon, and this time Alice was the bride. *