Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1888 — THE BROKEN CAMEO. [ARTICLE]

THE BROKEN CAMEO.

The long pearl-tipped breakers wcr* tumbling on the bare stretch of yellowish beach; a fresh, salty breeze rushed in through the window at which Miriam Leigh was sitting, find tossed the golden curls of her little 5-ycar-old nephew, Arthur, who stood by her side. The child was leaning forward tb examine a tiny I unch of trinkets that hung from Mlriain'i watch-chain. "Why, aunty," he said, presently, In e grieved, regretful voice, “it's broked, isn'l ! it!" i And the boy, holding up the bunch of I trinkets, showed her one which was largci ; thiiu the rest-the fragment of a pink I cameo, without netting of any kind On its surface wns carved a tiny white rose, the leaves and stems of which were evidently with the missing fragment. Miriam Leigh's face—ft wSs pale, gentle-looking framed in silky, chestnul r iThh7-and4itwith dark gray eyes . flushed ' crimson for a moment i "It has been broken for six years, ArL thhr/-klie said. "It waLgiven me, this fragment Lore, by a very dear friend—on leaving me fora long, long Journey." Another flush nf the pale, thoughtful face. ’ "NuiSe: and Hetty arc or. the beach yonder, and 1 think they 3re looking for ;.o!i, Arthur. Hadn’t you better go and join them?” "But you haven’t told me, Aunty, whether fl Was a lady ot gentleman," persisted Artlibr, .looking up curiously into Miriam's eyes. 11 "A gentleman, ' ■ Arthur”—spoken in scarcely audible tones. “Nurse sees you,” she added, "and is beckening for you tc come."

Arthur obeyed nurse’s signal, and Mir inn leaned her head upon her hand, sup porting her elbow against the window-sill, and sat thus for ten minutes, musing si lently. At the end of that time her married sister, Mrs. Quintard, entered the room. Mrs. Quintard, it may be well'to state, was a tall, dignified, handsome wo man, who had mairied prosperously and execrated sentiment.

"What nonsense have you been telling Arthur, Miriam, kbout that ridiculous cameo ‘affair,’ which you persist in keep iug?". "It fc| no longer an ‘affair,’ Julia,’ Miriam uttered the words without appar ent effort and in a tranquil voice. JiMliit land Morse is dead; there can be of his having been lost at sea. We know positively that the Cleopatra was wre< kcd." "But your hopes were not/’ said * Mrs. Quinturd, with an odd mixture of stern ncss and humor. "The Cleopatra left you a spar to cling to, Miriam; whatever she did for poor Maitland Morse, on going under the sea.” ‘jWere there any arrivals this morningl" Miriam asked, bent cm changing the subject?’ = "Yes, Ogden Haight came down. By the way, Miriam, I think be is very much taken with you.” "Yes, another gentleman. Tall, net tin handsome, aud bearded like a par J.’ Ido not know his name, but he seems really to be somebody.” , "is it. the gentleman who is walking on the beach with nurse and Hetty and Ar thur?” Miriam asked. • "Yes,” Mrs, Quintard said. "Arthur and he seeui to he excellent friends ai ready. Il is wonderful what -social ex pansibility that child has.” ■ * * « * * •> »

• ‘There’s such a nice man in the hotel, Aunt Mjrry. He builds the beautifulest house, ' WTd~ Arthur, stumbling a little over bis imposing superlative. • Here followed severaLsentences of pane gyric on the gentleman’s architectural piv i i's. tv> which Miriam listened ahsvnt'y. - Five minutes later Mrs. Quintard, Miriam and Arthur were standing amid quite an assemblage of hotel guests on the wide, high pillared piazza of the house. - ■While Miriam, at the earnest request of her match-making sister, was really "bein£ civil? to Mr. Ogden Haight," some thing caught her sleeve rather v’gorously and she looked down to discover her little nephew, who was whispering Wbb great earnestness. %

"This is the gentlemHi), Aunt Mirry. See what a splendid beard he’s get” At that moment Miriam’s polite attention to her companion s fine conversational jieriods were again interrupted by her in corrigible nephew. He had no't pulled her sleeve this time; he had given some thing attacked to her dress a violent and dislodging jerk, and was crying out, glee fully, a moment later ■ ‘They match, auuty I The gentleman’s got lhe other piece of your cameo on his watch < hain!” Similarly pul ed in Miriam’s direction a<s Miriam had been pulled in his,' the gent lenmn lieirt a glance of keen scrutiny upon Arthur’s aunt; and Arthur's aunt, in turn, searching his face with wild devour ing eyes, utter a low, faint sob when she had at fast recognized Maitland Morse, ' the man for whose death she had mourned five weary years. T W 'O hours afterward they were alone together, and Miriam was listening with oh, such a blissfully throbbing heart! to all Maitland Morse had to tell And a wild story it was, a story of shipwreck and awfuf famine at sea and finally landing upon a lonely, half-civilized island in the Pacific. He had only reached his native laud three days ago, and had stopped at the hotel where they met for a single day, on his journey from Boston to New York. He feared to discover that Miriam Leigh, if living, was Miriam Leigh no longer." But she is Miriam Morse, now that the lost is found and the dead is alive, and the fragments of lhe split cameo are now Jolned -'"T A Blood Tonic.—Hibbard’s Rheumatic Syrop is the greatest blood pnrifier in the world. R> ason’teaches the les son. Read their formula found in their medical pamphlet. 8 >ld by F. S. Mey