Show A bookworms Bookworm 3 love tory story 9 79 OF atop tok ky Y after day for or some months I 1 had sat in near 0 1 D j 0 company of a young girl in T p the british museum who W alv without being beautiful was the possessor of infinite charm whether she worked so energetically for the mere ION lo 10 e of the thing or from necessity I 1 could not tell I 1 chose however to fancy her the help of a widowed mother n w ho on slender means had perhaps still younger lives than my fellow worker a to give her anai atles buffee it to say on this point my near fellow labored with zest and often her example inspired my own somewhat ila flagging ging efforts I 1 found myself possessed of an ancon qu erable des re to make her acquaint ance yet I 1 could not summon the nee espiry courage to address her A cold but bright day in january found me on ray my way to a notable member of parl part ment with the hope to secure through his aid tid a ticket for the ho ise of commons I 1 had proceeded as far as the top of charing cross fold road when I 1 betl ought me to take 1 i I b is I 1 became in in eide side there was but one other mccu pant a lady presently the conductor conductors s vo c ce e startled us loth the 1 may turning I 1 revealed to me the well known face of my lady of the reading room the conductor a cill 11 upon us fo for r tares together with the sud and denness of mutual recognition had rather flustered us presently a vivid blush spread over hei face as she plaintively gane gi e tie tl e conductor to un der stand she hid bid b id left her purse and the collector of fires pires w N as somewhat inclined to be coarse and offensive as be he lemarl ed ho I 1 bessay that a i a tale wot ain aln t good ei auh for me I 1 ve bin ad end that way af afric oi c today to day wot are yer go n to cloa at th ill a s ju I 1 deemed it id td disable to expostulate warn ng irn that it anns TV is no pirt of I 1 a duty to be uncivil 17 rhen lien I 1 begged the lady a per mission to settle so trifling a mitter at the same some time poi biting out to her thit the fact of our being fellow workers at the british museum would at least privilege me in so small a service tint that Is 1 fort forti mite nite she replied thank you so much may I 1 ask bour name I 1 gave it richard thel stane stame thank you ton so much mr air athelstane I 1 im am eunice frith after delta cring herself of this grac loua tons bit of information she departed on her way leaving me tn in a seventh hae aven of del dpi ht for was not the ice tee now broken at the per od of my first interest in eunice frith I 1 was busily en i ed in efforts to graft in some manner the amer can f firmly of sha idee upon the parent staci in england it was a work of great on the next on of my meeting with miss frith the merest form of greeting follon follow ed As she handed me the bronze obligation her renewal of thanks was accompanied bv the faint est cat change of color I 1 ut her wolds were very kind to help me out of my dilemma left no opening for extension ot of an acquaintance so lus begun our sittings were within one of each other we took them and thus far there was the end she evidently knew full well the ex istance of the rule of silence which the superintendent for the time ever strives so energetically to enforce eunice frith whether or no she divined that I 1 desired i closer ac c never bargained for the catastrophe which thou though h it brought fear and trembling tor for awhile to her won for me the open sesame I 1 had eo so longed for in i I 1 week s time we were on speak tag ing terms within a month an ac be ship hid ripened marvel bously Giad mily willy we came to under stand each other IN we e sat at side by eide side the divid ng chali chaft separated us no longer then the time came when she as scented to my invitation to drink tea with me in the gallery room over that delicious we chatted freely she spoke to me of her mother an inval enval d of her brother a clerk in a banking house I 1 gathered that the united earnings of these young people re represent presente el I 1 nearly the whole of the wherewithal of their otherwise happy little home my work of pedigree cr creating etting had palled sadly upon me for some time and I 1 began to think IN 1 ing lug among u t th the bones so to of departed no bodies far from echil exhilarating brating once it happened eunice s mother accompanied her to the british mu in seum As they were descending descend in g the stairway from the galleries I 1 was passing through the hall eunice in produced trod me to her mother and we re in conversation for the best part of an hour when mrs frith sud and denly remembered her doctor a eions not to try herself too much and pronounced tor for home to her alarm on ou arrival at the vestibule bule of the museum it was raining smart ly once again gain ag lull favored me my aly umbrella a property which nine days out of ten I 1 left at home proved a ready friend for once under its shel abet ter mrs frith reached her bus in comparative dryness I 1 offered it to her oh no mr athelstane I 1 won t deprive you she said but my insistence carried the day and suggested that eunice might find it useful in the morning that young lady however declared she had one of her own mrs frith irith settled the question by saying I 1 will take it mr air athelstane on condition that you will bring eunice home this even ng and join us at our little tea dinner and then you see you can take possession of your um uni brella to this I 1 consented after leaving eunice and her mother I 1 returned to the reading room in t alding to put in an hour or two of work but in this I 1 wa was s frustrated by the receipt of a telegram which an all nolin bounced ced the serious illness of my father ind and desired mv early attendance at his side here was a cill that brool ed no in attention I 1 showed the wire to bun eun ce and bag begged 9 pd her to express to her mother my regrets ind bidding her what was intended to be an impressive good by left foi my home at wells in norfolk little d d I 1 tl nl DI that two long years would elapse before I 1 again set eyes on eunice filth nith I 1 was iway tway in norfolk Isor folL for some months my inv fitters condition varying to such an extent owing to frequent relapses as left me no alter native but to stay with him I 1 was waa his second son my brother christopher being two yeii ye ii a my senior our mother had been dead ining a years my ily father had been dead some six weeks dm dut ing w chich aich per od I 1 had been busying buoying myself in the administration of his little estate and winding up my enforced rest bioni pedigree hunting ind and other such trifles when the great change in my life began the african mall brought me a I 1 letter from my brother christopher or rather from a friend of his inting is amanuensis christopher had met with a very sen seri ous icel dent in the mine most of Ms his ribs had been woken ind the doc doe tors feared that much internal lacera alon had ilso taken place chris was anxious to see me feiring a fatal ending boull out I 1 I 1 come at once to 1 lie ile had also enclosed a drift for 00 to cover traveling et ev benses and in case the world had not used me kindly to pad pact up my traps was but short work and the old home I 1 left in chalce of a m maiden aiden aunt after I 1 ha I 1 booked my passage I 1 had a few hours to spire these I 1 spent in a vain for eunice frith I 1 could hear no tidings at the boll hoesr where they had hid I 1 ved the land landlady lidy only knew they had left gone she thought into unfurnished rooms I 1 d d not feel easy on the matter but I 1 hoped for the best and made my way wiy to a hotel near waterloo whence I 1 had to start the next morning on my first venture beyond the white cl effs of old england the castle liner on which I 1 had taken my passa passage e did her voyage well and rapidly the succeeding day to thit on which I 1 landed in cape town saw me being transferred as rapidly as a south african can managult manage mana gelt it northward I 1 arrived too late poor cl CI ns ris had gone to the bourne whence none return his lawyer met me soon after my arnvid condoled with me and eulo gazed poor chris chriss s many virtues he said that mv my broil er hid had been a most successful man up to 1 a I certain point but lately owing to to er scruples he had been placed at a tae still he remarked still mr athelstane your brother died pretty warm pis ris personality I 1 should siy N n ell let me see er well Is auf quite te I 1 explained that thit my brother had never confided e tl er to his father or myself the degines of success which he had attained lt JM indeed a r I 1 added we know vei veil little about his south career I 1 presume he has a wife and children not so sir your brother lived a very retired I 1 fe rarely join ng in any of the many functions our citizens de light in he was a good man and a charitable chin chiri table one charitable 9 I 1 questioned ahn tb n I 1 presume he has left lar large go sums slims to your local institutions and hospitals no sir not a penny tl TI en to whom does I 1 is money re vert surely he did not die intestate 9 not a man min in the world less hi ill ely to do so no sir yo i are a happy bapp Y man by rill will here I 1 it t Is sir in black and white ill III that I 1 d e possessed of I 1 leave to mv my brother richard 1 athelstane thel stane to be by him used and dis posed of as kiy appear best to his own good and charitable chiri table di on I 1 was not bitely puffed up by this sudden acquisition of wealth one t thing ng filched first upon my mind and that was that I 1 should be for ever done with my old occupations no more grinding and paragraphs no more pulling about the dead and gone ancestors of mighty present day pork butchers no more of III ventilated reading rooms whether under red tap or other wise I 1 should live in utopia to do this I 1 deemed it wise and best to return io fo england in due course I 1 arrive in london and at once went back to the scene of my old gies the british museum it seemed as if I 1 could not leep keep away why did I 1 go there you to look for eunice or maybe get some news of her but no I 1 could learning noth ing and it came into my mind that I 1 had seen the last of eunice frith I 1 had been one evening at kings xing a cross station to inquire after a pack age I 1 had transmitted I 1 in de a short cut back in the direction of russell square when my it A was drawn to a inot of children on the pt pavement at first I 1 could see nothing but as I 1 drew near I 1 noticed one or tv tw 0 articles of furniture with a box or two corded over I 1 one of those hateful cases of dis some poor lone aged widow I 1 thought to myself even as I 1 looked a poor wom woman yet neat and tidy withal looked up her face by its pained expression tell ng a tale of woe where had I 1 seen that face be fore I 1 had not gone on my way many steps before my recollection cleared I 1 h estene I 1 baci to the forlorn cre creature iture and pushing my way to her side asked in an all undertone are you not mrs frith eunice s mother ies les oh yes but you who are youa you before I 1 could mile reply another flauie appeared appe ired on the scene eunice herself but great heavens how changed that face had bad become in its thinness and even the moth er a sank into nothingness as in heart tones she oh mother mother hive they turned you out I 1 ke le th sa I 1 came as soon as I 1 I 1 new the state of affairs then she cau ht sight of me knew me at once as I 1 could see and drew shyly bick b ick I 1 held out my hand to her lying I 1 you know w inai 1 a ss frith ou lou are in trouble I 1 our mother cannot re main here you I 1 lust como coma with me in the twill ling of an eye I 1 had put mrs airs frith and ind her inside of a growler and jumping on the hot box told cabby to arii e to king hing a s cross sta tion in one of the wilting rooms I 1 heird the painful story my fi en enis Is hid bid to tell runice a birther bi other had lapsed from the course in their endeavors to rescue him their small capital of hardly earned savings had melted like snow before the sun A new home wis soon found for them money cin do thit I 1 begged them to let me be their banker until such time as eunice a health wis corn com plemely restored their common sense was equal to the occasion and they showed it by accepting my offer A month months s perfect rest in town another at the seslee soon mended the health of these broken ones more thin ever dear to me afy ty ol 01 I 1 home in norfolk forms a peaceful hiven of rest for mrs frith at present eunice Is with her if I 1 am lucky there will be a bridal ceic ce lemony mony in the alliee church before I 1 return to town new ew york news JL L |