Old Friends And New

Old FRIends and New. - 1879 - CONTENTS - A LOST LOVER. R a great many years it had been understood in Longfield tliat Miss IIoratin Dane once hacl a lover, aild tliat lie lisd been lost at sea. B, v little and little, in one wnr and anotller, her acqnnintances had foul141 out or innde up tlie whole story and Miss Dnne stood in tlic losition, not of nn unmarried woman csnctl, hut rather of llaing spent most of her life in n loig and lonelj. nidowlioocl. She looked like a person with a liistory, strangers often said as if we each did not llavc a 1ristor-y and lier oi-11 inbroken reserye about this inomance of hers gnrc ever-lodg tlie more respect for it. The Long field people paid aillillg deferclice to JIiss Dane her fsmilr Iiad always been one that could be likctl and rcslectecl, ancl she was tlie last that was left in tlle old liome of wliicli she was so food. This was n lligh, square liouse, nit11 n row of pointed windows in its roof, a 7 peaked porch in front, sit11 some lilac-huslles aroncd it aild, clcmt b . the road was a long., C . I orclerly prooesoll lSf poplars, like a row of sentinels stand jug gunrc. he had lived here alone sinqe her, t fit hj3.r lilttt.l tenty years before. I, . ., 1 4, a a She was a kind, just woman, lvhose pleasres were of a st, a, tely and sober sort and she seemed not nuhappy in her loneliness, though she sometimes said giavely that she was the last of llef familr, as if the fact llad a great sadness for her. She had some inild1e-aged ant1 elderly cousins living at a distance, 2nd thex came occasionall to see her but there had been no young people sta-iny in the house fbr nailr W W years until this summer, when the danghter of her jougest collsin hadwritten to ask if she might come to make a visit. She vns a motherless girl 01 tsent, both older ald V rounger than her years. Her father aud brother, who were civil engineers, had taken some work upon the line of n railwnj in the far Tlestern country. Kellj lind madc mnnx long jom.ie-s with thern before niltl since she had left school, ancl slie had meant to follow thein now, after slie had speilt n fortnight vitll the olcl cousin hoin die had not seen siilce lier elildllood. IIer father had laughed at tlie risit as r freak, and 11ad warned her of the dulness and priinness of Longfield but the result was that the girl fouad herself rerj- lnlqy i11 the comfortable home. S11e was still her own free, llnfettered, lneky, and sunshing self and the old llouse was so much pleasanter for the girlish face and life, that Aliss Horatia had, at first timidly and then most heartily, begged her to star for tlie whole summer, or even the autumn, until lier father was ready to come East. The ilame of Dane was rerj- dear to Miss IIoratia, and she h wen. fouder of her guest. When the illngepeolle saw her glance at the girl affectionntelj-, ns tliey sat together in the fnmily-pew of n Sondnj-, or saw tllein walking together after ten, they said it was a good tliing for Miss Horatia how bright she looked ancl no doubt she would leaye all lier inone3 to Kelly Dane, if she plajecl her cards n-ell. But se will do Kellr justice, ancl say that she was not mercenary slle m-oiild haye scoried such a thought. She had grown to hare n L great low for her corisit I-lorntin, and she liked to plefise her. She idefilized lier, I have no doubt and her repression, her grmc courtesy and rare words of approral, had a greatfascination for n b vid who had just been used to l3eople who cliattered, and were upoil most intimate terms with o o clirectlj-, ailcl colld forget you wit11 equal ease. And Nelly liked hn-ing so ndmirioy nnd easily pleased nli audience as Miss Dane nnd her old servant Melissn...