CHAPTER I.
Many years ago, in one of the New England States near the banks of a small lake, stood a beautiful farm house, surrounded by a fine orchard. John Hilton, the owner of this romantic place, was an intelligent farmer and was kind to all people who chanced to come to his house. His family consisted of himself, wife and two children, a son and daughter. Warren, the eldest, was a fine lad of eighteen, with blue eyes and light complexion, and inherited his father’s kind disposition. Minnie was a brunette, a splendid girl of sixteen, with a heart as pure as the wild flowers around her home. She had company. Her cousin, Nettie Spaulding, had come from the city of New York to spend her birthday. Nettie was a lovely girl of eighteen, with dark brown eyes and dark auburn hair which hung in lovely curls around her shapely head. She had come to spend a few days with her cousin in the country. Since her father’s death nothing seemed to please this dreary, kind-hearted child of nature more than to visit her uncle’s house by the lake, where she could roam at will in the woods and gather wild flowers where nature had planted them so artistically. That Monday morning there was a great bustle around the house. There was to be a party on the Friday night following in honor of the young lady friend, and all seemed to enjoy the pleasure it afforded, except the young lady. She was silent and often in tears, and her cousins could not draw her out of this apathy. That afternoon her cousins were going to town to do some shopping. Nettie preferred staying at home and going down to the lake to gather wild flowers for a bouquet.
“It is so pleasant to gather roses, lilies and shrubs alone by the lake;” thus she said to her cousins as they rode away.
Warren waved an adieu as he said, “Dear cousin, do not go too near the brink of the lake, as you may fall in and there would be no one to get you out.”
She waved back the adieu as she sadly said, “Be not afraid, cousin. I shall be careful. How happy they are,” she said as she turned and went silently to the house, thinking how kind her cousins were to her, a poor, lonely girl of the metropolis. Thus she mused: “Mother told me my cousins would use me as if I was as well off financially as they were. Oh, if papa had lived perhaps we would not have been bankrupt. Oh, how times will change in a few short months; as soon as papa died nearly all of his creditors wished to have their pay. It was all right for them to have their dues. Poor mamma had to sell nearly all the property, only saving a small sum out of the wreck. We can get along, for ‘where there’s a will there’s a way.’ I am going to do something. One thing certain—my parents gave me a good common education and debts cannot take that away. I will try and turn it to good advantage when I can.” Thus she mused as she went slowly up the path. The tears were slowly trickling down her lovely features and falling on the little hands. She was deeply engaged in thinking and did not observe her aunt who was coming down to meet her. She was surprised when her aunt said, “Nettie dear, why those tears? Are you not happy? Have your cousins been unkind to you?”
“No, auntie, I was only thinking of papa and what might have been.”
“Yes, Nettie, I know what you are referring to, but God has willed it otherwise and you should be content. My dear, your papa did not know that he was so soon to die and leave his only child nearly penniless. If he was to know it would make him very unhappy, as he dearly loved you. It is well the dead do not know of the living, for if they did how unhappy thousands would be to see the troubles and sorrows of their friends on earth. This is a great mystery we cannot solve; we can only do our duty in helping one another, then, perhaps, we can meet them on that ‘evergreen shore.’”
While her aunt was speaking Nettie was silently weeping. Her aunt said, “Cheer up, Nettie, you and your mother can have a home with us as long as we have one, and we will sharethe last morsel of food with you; your uncle said so a few days ago.”
“Thank you, auntie, we can get along yet a while; something may turn up for us yet,” answered Nettie, kissing her aunt.
“Remember, my dear, you have one true Friend, One who is always near. He will not forsake you in the hour of trial,” said her aunt.
“I remember mamma telling me that God will never forsake one of his children if they will call on him for aid. It seems so strange, though, to be cast down from wealth to poverty, and have nearly all our friends turn from us,” said Nettie sorrowfully.
“They are not your friends; they are only make-believers. No true friends would turn their backs to you because you had lost your wealth. They would help you in the hour of need.”
“Thanks, auntie, for your compliment,” answered Nettie. “I will always be true to myself and all mankind, then I will be able to reap the great reward that is in store for the just.”
“Now, dear, it is time you should be going down to the lake to gather those flowers, as your cousins will be back soon,” and as she spoke these words she kissed her niece, turned, and ran up the steps as sprightly as a young girl.
All the afternoon she was meditating how happy she would make her only brother’s lonely child. “My children shall not mar her happiness by one thought or deed, as I will set the example and they will follow, as they are dutiful children.”
Meantime Nettie wandered down to the lake, gathered a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers, and then sat down on the brink of the lake to arrange them more tastily. She was thinking how she would be eighteen next Friday, and how anxious her cousins were for her to get acquainted with the young people of the vicinity. She exclaimed aloud, “Oh, if I was as light hearted as they how happy I would be. They seem to be very happy indeed, and why should they not be, with everything so pleasant around them; by this little lake I could live always,where nature is dressed in green in the summer season. Oh, mother, if you knew how lonely your child is this afternoon and how sad it seems to me to come here for pleasure, and leave you at home with only one companion. I know it is very lonely for you, as I never have left you at home since papa died. Oh, mama! why did you urge me to come and leave you alone. You were very anxious for me to come and spend my birthday with my cousins. Oh, mother! no happiness have I found, although my friends are very kind to me. I hope some day I may be able to repay you for all the kindness you have shown to me. Oh, dear! I am so melancholy.”
As she uttered those words tears were falling on the flowers in her lap, and in moving some of the most beautiful of them fell into the water. “Oh, dear! what shall I do! I can’t get any more of those lilies tonight; what will auntie say when I return home?”
She had brought a stick and was trying to fish some of them up. So busily was she engaged that she did not observe a tall manly form come out of a clump of bushes near by until he said, “Dear lady, may I not get those flowers for you? Please let me have that stick. Perhaps I can reach the greater part of them.”
She gave the stick to him and stepped back and watched him as he drew the flowers, one by one, out of the water. What a handsome young man he was, as he stood, one foot on the bank and the other on a rock on the edge of the lake, reaching far out into the water after the flowers. His hat lay on the bank; his hair waved in the summer breeze—it was auburn and inclined to be curly. His eyes were dark blue. He was a picture of manliness. This was Paul Burton, the richest young man in the vicinity. He came down to the lake fishing, had torn his net, and was mending it when the lady came near by, and not wishing to frighten her had kept quiet, thinking perhaps she would soon go away. He did not wish to be an eaves dropper, but the circumstances placed him there and he did what any other young man would have done in like circumstances. At last he secured all the flowers. He gently shook the waterfrom them and gave them to her, and bowing low said, “May nothing more serious happen to the receiver of these flowers!”
He picked up his hat and turned to go when Nettie said, “Sir, to whom am I indebted for this great act of kindness?”
He turned towards her, handing her a card which read thus: P. B., of Pine Island. She put the card in her portfolio and kindly thanked him.
“You are entirely welcome, and I hope we may meet again.”
He quickly retreated to his work, leaving her standing alone. She watched his form until the bushes hid him from view, then she went slowly homeward, contemplating about the young fellow she had just met. She looked upon him as a hero and wished to know more about him. Thus she mused: “I will find out who he is Friday night. Perhaps he may come to the party, for he can’t live far from here as he is alone. I will not say anything to cousin about whom I saw, but will wait and see what will come to pass.” She went home in a lively mood; she was happier now than she had been since her sojourn in the country. Her cousins had returned heavy laden with dainties for the party. As she came into the house so gaily they demanded to know why she had been gone so long.
“You have not been getting flowers all this time; mother said you went away as soon as we were gone,” said Minnie.
“Yes,” said Warren, “I was thinking of coming down to find you, thinking you had wandered far out into the woods and got lost, or was drowned in the lake.”
“No, cousin, I lost some of my flowers in the lake and had to get them.”
“How did you manage to get them,” asked Minnie laughing, “you had to wade out in the water no doubt.”
“No, Minnie, they were fished out with a stick.”
“It must have been great amusement for you fishing for flowers; I wish I could have seen you,” said Minnie, looking at her cousin pleasantly.
“You would have been surprised no doubt. I tell you, cousin, I have had a splendid time since you have been gone, anyway,” answered Nettie.
She omitted telling them what a fine companion she met by the lake. She seemed more cheerful and took more interest in getting ready for the party. All her friends there wondered what had made her so lively and gay all at once, as she spoke often of the party the remainder of the week. All the young people were busily engaged in getting ready for this grand occasion, which was to be a sunbeam in the life of poor, delicate, lovely little Nettie; she who was discouraged and depressed; and for this reason her mother was anxious regarding the health of her child, and for a change sent her to her uncle’s, who were doing everything in their power to draw her back to be the same lively girl she was before her father’s death.
I will leave them all busily engaged in getting ready for the party, and return to Paul.
After getting the flowers he went back to his net, but he could not work. Time hung heavily on his hands. At last he picked up his fishing tackle and went homeward, musing on what a lovely little being he had found; such little hands. “I saw one tiny little foot as she stepped upon a knoll to see me fish for the flowers, and never can I forget those dark, dreamy eyes. They seem to look into my very soul. I wonder if she is Warren Hilton’s cousin. All the girls around here I am acquainted with. This little lady must be the city cousin Hilton’s people are going to make a party for. Warren has given me an invitation, and I am going, on purpose to see if my conjecture is right.” Turning he went home, and as he came without any fish. His mother met him at the door and said: “Why Paul where are your fish?”
“In the lake, I suppose,” he answered laughing heartily. “Do you not see I haven’t any?”
“I didn’t know but what you left them somewhere about,” answered his mother, rather sharply.
“Now mother do not be cross with your little boy. He has only been fishing and tore the fish net and could not catchany,” said Paul, still laughing. “Oh, mother, I found the nicest little human fish I ever saw, and I am going to catch her if I can. What will my mother say to that?”
“My son,” answered the lady solemnly, “if she is good and true I will not say anything, but if she is not, what a life you would live God only knows. My past life you never knew, and may never, perhaps. If I had my life to live over again, I should lead a different life to the one I have been living the past twenty years.”