Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1899 — “ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.” [ARTICLE]

“ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.”

4< T AM so sorry this has happened,” I she said with forced calmness. “I * like you much, and thought we were always to be frletids, but you can tee that it is impossible for me to marry. It is toy duty to take care of papa and my brothers and try to take the place of my poor mother.” “I felt from the first," said Harry sorrowfully, “that it was hopeless to think of you. You are too good for me.” “Don’t say that, please, for I like you much more than any one I know. If I ever did lo—marry, it would be Just such a man as you—good, clever and generous. But you see that it is Impossible, don’t you?” He looked Into her appealing eyes, but could not answer. Nothing is so sublimely tragic ah a beautiful girl sacrificing herself to a mistaken sense of duty, and she appeared so sublime Lo him that he couldn’t help thinking her in the right. In affairs of the heart a man, especially a young man, needs a disinterested woman to guide, to encourage, or to check him, as the case may require. Now, Harry Watson was so fortunate as to hare a charming widow as his confidant and friend. She was several year* his senior, and he was once much In love with her—or thought he was. She had poohpoohed bis proposal and told him that, although she thought him a fine, clever young fellow, the had no desire to take a boy to raise, and that he mustn’t talk nonsense. Of course he was tragic and went out West to hunt for grizzlies, hoping to be masticated by one, but he presently came to his senses and returned to the city. He was naturally rather shame-faced when he met the widow, hut she was so jolly that he soon forgot his previous absurdity, and they became fast friends. “You poor boy!” said the widow in humorous sympathy. “What would become of you if it were not for me? But If you obey my orders I will guarantee that you will win her.” After thinking the whole matter over Harry felt comforted, and he foK sure that the clever widow was going to do all in her power to help him. But he did not imagine that while they were discussing the subject the peerless, self-sacrificing Esther was weeping bitterly and almost rebelling against her fate. It was only by magnifying her duty to an appalling grimness that she ‘finally recovered her composure and soothed the pain at her heart to an aching numbness. As soon as the widow felt that Harry had recovered from the first bitterness of bis disappointment, sbe ordered him to go and call on Mather. He obeyed, and a few such calls restored to some extent their old relationship, and they could talk more like brother and sister. And one evening she talked to him in a most sisterly .fashion, warning him wistfully to beware of the wiles of the widow. ::;v ; “You know l look on you as a brother and sbonld not like to see one of my brothers as much In her company as you are. Of course sbe is nice, but people say she la so designing.” “The little minx,” said the widow when sbe beard of It. “I know lam designing, but she will find that it is for her happiness I am doing k now—and incidentally for my own—or Just the reverse.” She of course diagnosed the case as one of jealousy, and was pleased. Harry didn’t understand the last part of her remark, but he did not question. “Are you going to the Madison musicals?” the widow asked. “Yes. Esther and her father will be there,” Harry replied. “Well I shall be there, too, and I may want you to do me a favor. WilLyou doltr “Certainly.’' On the night of the musicals the widow was triumphantly beautiful. There waa the light of battle in her eyes, end that with good reason, for she had brought her own affairs and those of several other people to a crisis. But no one could look at Uer perfect figure thm> not been nresent to nlltira and vet lUUI UWV F kVin ‘ MV SW ** UV * Jv* adght have eOn aronsod#: ,f ; . |. ■

and T jKpSfS r her” > c ° OM " fttOTy “I can’t.” &&:&&££&?:■■■'> J “You must. If you do. I think I can promise you thit you will win her—if not to-night—soon afterward. But you must propose tonight." Hope made hire courageous, and he did as he was directed. When he had found a. sufficiently retired alcove In the conservatory, he renewed' hie proposal with the stately beatify. But It was In vain. «, “It cannot be,” sbe answered. “My dutyjs quite dear to me, and I must sacrifice my own feelings to it. I feel that to take care of my father In his declining years is a trust Imposed on me by my dead mother.” “Then you are not tadlffereßt to me r Sbe wks too honest to deny her love. She bowed her head in assent, and the tear's welled In her eyes. “I must get papa to take me home.” She turned and walked away from him quickly. Before she had gone a dozen paces she stopped a# if transfixed and looked with dilated eyes Into an alcove she was passing. Then she ran back to Harry, and almost fainting, caught his arm. “Take me home! Take me away from here!” He hastened to call a carriage. When they had entered it Esther began to cry, and he tried to console her. Instinctively he put his'arm about her,and she did not resist A moment after—lt was the natural thing to do—he kissed her, and, leaning her head on bis shoulder, she wept until her sorrow had abated. He could not imagine what was the matter, but when they arrived at her home she enlightened him. As sbe was leaving him in the conservatory she bad seen her father kneeling before the widow, proposing to her, and had seen her grant him a kiss of acceptance. All her illusions about duty vanished in an instant. Her father was getting another to take care of him, and her occupation was gone. “I shall leave home!” she cried, angrily. “If be marries her, I must leave home!” “I have a home to offer you,” said Harry. It never occurred to Harry that the widow had ordered him to propose to Esther so that sbe could bring her father, as if by accident, to see the llttfe scene. She had watched his ‘movements, and, judging the correct moment to a nicety, had brought Mr. Townsend to that part of the conservatory. He liked Harry too much to interrupt, which the''widow bad taken care to learn before sbe took the step, but be was naturally surprised.. Of course sbe promptly sympathised with him on losing his housekeeper, and so wrhsted from him the proposal which she had long ago planned. Sbe bad not counted on Esther overlooking her part of the drama, but that only hastened the action of her plot, and she was not sorry when she heard of it. Harry was naturally profuse in his thanks, for his happiness so blinded him to everything else in the world that he thought it was for his sake that it had all been done. When this dawned upon the widow, she laughed loud and long. “Oh, go away,” she laughed, “to your billing and cooing with Esther! You are such a pair of fools you should be happy together.” And she added, somewhat mischievously: “You see, I am, in a sense, taking a boy to raise, fitter aIL But you will find me an indulgent moth-er-in-law.”