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not availed to keep the young lover ah# had chosen; and ahc had no mother to plead for her.Dick had been ordered to India, and very aoou after old Iterwick had gone under, aa they aay. This time in a double venae, for the crash that took hi# fortune took hia life, and left .Sylvia absolutely alone in the world. Hocicty wm naturally too busy with ita own roncerna to remember the comet of a day. Dick had l**cn at first sore and angry, then cynical, over hia own passion.The organ played Christinas hymns, the hymns that, whether we will or no. take us liack, and exorcise ouch subtle mugir. Kven to the most rarelewM listener they had a touch of fresh significance among thaw gny memorial* of good will und kind nr**, not towards men, but toward* the children, to whom the pitiless heritage of the MM of the father* cornea with out l» • niel force.Suddenly Dick'* eye wna riveted by n |wir of imnicnjMt doll*, und hi* heart beat a« it had not beaten for Ifi yearn.among the pink lamp# and friendly ohady pal tna!Ho ahe luid never married, then, after all. He thought of the bright face, of the crowd of eager (mrtncra round the pretty heiress. Not one of them all true to the woman when her hour of tribulation rame. Or waa it be-cauae alie had not forgotten him? Im-(toaaible. The slollw stared at him aa onlv dolla do stare. The jaunty colonel, with everything complete; the dainty damael, in delicate sen-blue brocade, with her lilies in her hand, lie ao dark, ahe so fair, just aa they had been.(Hi, the dear little man. Oh, let me kiss him. I nr|i* Dick.Forced tack to fact, and lluntie growing restless, he took a sudden resolution.“Hove you had enough. Buniic? Would you like to go where cake ia?Are there chocolates there, too? queried that small person.Everything, said her uncle.Then let** go. (Jood by, dear dollies;“Does Miss lierwick live her#?“Vo#, sir, Imt she ia not at home.That i# unfortunate, for 1 wanted to see her particularly.On business, #ir?“Yea, oaid Dick, untruthfully.Then, if you pMM. air. I waa to aak yon to wait. Mias Berwick will be in directly.“Ho she ia expecting aome other fellow on business? What bu*ine#a? thought Dick, aa he followed the girl u|wtatra into a little room pathetically pretty with the pretti-nee# of tasteful poverty.His question answeml itaelf, for there waa a typewriter by the window piled with blotty manuscript.On the muntelpiece, what? A photograph —hia own. No; after all, it was not a photograph, but a portrait cut from thetlraphie after that affair in the Nindra Fuss that the pa|M-r* had made such a fuss over.Thm were footsteps on the stair#, and the door opened. It was nearly dark, but the firelight showed Idm that it was indeedHe took b«r in hi# arms and answered, passionately My darling, I never knew until to-day that you wanted me; it was the doll that apoke.Then there was a very complete and eloquent silence between them, till Hylvia looked up with her old amile: Why, Dick, you f on't mean that you a#w the colonel of tho day* of the duke of Marlborough. What were you doing in the Albert hall? *I was drugged there by force by a amall tryant—my sister'a llaby Bun tie—and I got the l*c#t Christnina present of all, though 1 didn’t deserve it. Good old Henta Claus had not forgotten me when ah# showed me the lady in blue with the liliea in her hand.I dare aay it was silly anti sentimental of me to dress the dolls like ourselves, but sometimes. Dick, when I sat here working at them 1 could hear the music—that waits, ‘Houvicn* toi,' and see the pink lights just as they were on the happiest night of all my life. There was nothing left but my dear past. Nothing could take that from me.
Newspaper Details
The Lanse Sentinel
L' Anse, Michigan, US
Sat, Jan 01, 1898
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 08 Aug 2023
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