108
��THE WIDOW'S MISTAKE.
��evening passed very pleasantly to the young ladies in recalling their school- days, while Mrs. Montgomery busied herself with her work.
It was ten o'clock when Mr. Pierce called for Susie, and Mrs. Montgomery managed to make his call so pleasant that it was nearly eleven when they at length rose to take their leave. Mr. Pierce invited the ladies to a party at his house on the following Tuesday eve.
"The old house needs warming up with young faces and happy hearts. I have lived alone so long that the very walls have become like myself — desolate and lonely. I thank the good angel that put the thought in Susie's heart to visit me."
" Then she came unexpectedly," said Mrs. Montgomery.
" Yes, I knew nothing of it until she came into my reading room yesterday afternoon," returned the gentleman.
" His reading room, as he calls it, is a perfect bachelor's den," said Susie, with a smile.
" Don't slander me to my good neigh- bors, Susie," said he, a smile lighting up his somewhat sad face ; then turning to Ida, he said ; " Don't be ceremonious, Miss Hartwell, but call upon us when- ever you wish — the oftener the better. I expect Susie will get homesick and leave me at the end of a fortnight."
Susie immediately declared her inten- tion of remaining until her uncle should send her away. Then, after a cordial good-night, the door closed upon their retreating forms.
" I can see that he is charmed with Ida already," said Mrs. Montgomery to herself as she retired to rest that night. " I really believe that in less than six months she will be his wife."
Some may think that the widow was strangely disinterested as regarded her- self, and perhaps she was so. Certainly she had never had a thought that there was any chance for her. She had some- how missed her chance in life for true happiness — if there had really ever ex- isted one — and she fancied herself done with that sort of thing forever. She was not sure, even, that she had a heart like
��other women, and consequently was sat- isfied to let matters remain as they were.
The night of the party came and passed. Nothing quite so grand had ever before taken place in the village of
A . From the night of the party
there was a continual round of gayety — parties and (when the snow came) sleigh- rides, festivals, skating parties, etc. Lester Pierce seemed to enjoy them all with all the zest of a younger man. The widow laughingly shook her head at all entreaties and remained at home, while Ida and Susie remained inseparable friends and depended always upon Les- ter Pierce as their escort. Scarcely a day passed that he did not call at the cottage, and it had come to be an ac- knowledged fact that he found great at- traction there — people being divided in their opinions as to which should prove the favored one. Thus the winter passed quickly away.
One evening in the early spring-time Ida and Susie were invited to attend a select party of young ladies to see about arranging matters for a festival. Mrs. Montgomery sits alone in her sitting- room. Her work has fallen in a heap on the floor, and her head rests against the back of her easy chair in a weary, listless way, quite the reverse from her usual energetic manner. In fact, she has somehow changed since we first saw her. Her round, happy face has lost its round- ness, and there is a look in the black eyes that tells of a mind not quite at ease. Suddenly she hears a step with- out, and then the bell rings a quick, pe- culiar peal, the sound of which brings the color to her face in a scarlet wave.
" He has come to ask my consent to pay his addresses to Ida. I ought to be glad, but I am afraid I am not," she mur- mured, as she hastened to open the door. As she had supposed, Lester Pierce stood before her, and she welcomed him with a smile and cordial good evening. At her invitation he entered the house, and, after removing his hat, he seated himself with the air of one very much at home. A half hour passed in general conversa- tion, when he suddenly drew his chair nearer that of Mrs. Montgomery, and
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