Cousin Maude

anet, the housekeeper, disappeared from the parlor, just as the sound of the gate was heard, and an unu

oble heart which had won her girlish love. And she was a widow now, a fair-haired, blue-eyed widow, and the stranger who had so excited Janet's wrath by walking from the depot, a distance of three miles, would claim her as his bride ere the morrow'

greeable in manner whenever he chose to be, and when he wrote to her of his home, which he said would be a second Paradise were she its mistress, when he spoke of the little curly-headed girl who so much needed a mother's care, and when, more than all, he hinted that his was no beggar's fortune, she yielded; for Matilda Remington did not dislike the luxuries which money alone can purchase. Her own fortune was small, and as there was now no hand save her own to p

tall, so dignified, so grand, so particular, that it seemed almost like stooping, for one

heard his step upon the piazza, the bright blushes broke over her youthful f

ouched her glowing cheek, but in his cold gray

ow that the young creature was so glad to meet him, it awoke no answering chord, and he merely though

rlor. Then, seating him in the easy chair near to the open window, she

k," said he, "for I don't believe in humoring those

Mrs. Remington's lips, but she was prevented from saying so b

she replied. "The c

u in Rome, that it was left by will to you. May I, as your to-morrow's husband, ask how muc

; "I received a thousand dollars, but there were debts to be paid, so that I had only

ll remain here a while, to arrange matters, before joining me in my new home. She wished me to leave my little girl to come with her, but I can't do that. I

ndred dollars from his mind. There was feeling-passion-everything, now, in his cold gray eye, but

red laughingly. "Didn

you have always called her 'daughter'? But has she

vilized mother. She was a fat, chubby child, not yet five years old; black-eyed, black-haired, black-faced, with short, thick curls, which, damp with perspiration, stood up all over her head, giving her a singular appearance. She had been playing in the brook, her

, "where have you been? Go at once to Janet, and

t of the stranger, Maude left the room, while Dr. Kennedy, turni

like her father in everything; th

ds with long-drawn sighs, and enumerating her many virtues, all of which he expected to be improved upon by her successor; but he could not bear to hear the name of Harry Remington spoken by one who was to be his wife

e, "as it is a maxim of mine never to s

ow, and in her soft, blue eye there shone a mischievous twink

at is sister Kelsey's idea, and as she is very fond of Nellie I do not interfere. But, seriously, Matty, darling,"-and he drew her to his side, with an uncommon show of fondnes

emarks, he caressed her with an unusual degree of tenderness, the impulsive woman felt that she would call her daughter anything which suited him. Accordingly, when at last Maude returned to the parlo

is hand toward her, "little girl, c

r going to the gentleman, asking if she did not like him, she answer

e Dr. Kennedy, turning slightly pale, thought "wr

't be Matilda-I'm Maude," and her larg

stranger, and as he persisted in calling her Matilda, she persisted in refusing to answer, until at las

id Mrs. Remington apologetically; while the doctor replied, "I think, myself, a little wholesome discipline would not b

id not wholly believe in Solomon. The sight of Janet in the hall suggested a fresh subject to the doctor's mind, an

when I was a little girl no larger than Maude. Since my marriage

in the speaker's face there was an expression which puzzled Mrs. Remington, who could scarce refrain from crying at the th

said; "she knows all my ways,

ah has been in my family a long time. She was formerly a slave, and belonged to my uncle, who lived in Virginia, and who, at his death, gave her to me. Of course I set her free, for I pride myself on being a man of humanity, and since that time she has lived with us, superintending the household entirely since Mrs.

ish? But Harry was gone, and the man with whom she now had to deal was an exacting, tyrannical master, to whose will her own must ever be subservient. This, however, she did not then understand. She knew he was not at all like H

nd quite agreeable in manner; compliments which tended in a measure to soothe her irritated feelings and quiet the rapid beatings of her heart, whic

y, very happy." And comforted with this assurance she fell asleep, encircling within her arms the little Maude, whose name had awakened bitter memories in the h

mpled on his affections and spurned as a useless gift his offered love. He hated her now, he thought; and the little black-haired child, sleeping so sweetly in its mother's arms, was hateful in his sight, because it bore that woman's name. One, two, three-sounded the clock, and then he fell asleep, dreaming that underneath the wi

rting up, he listened half in anger, half in disappointment, to the song which little Maude Remington sang as she sat in