a 
chosen mine. So let ic be!” 
Clarence Hyde took his leave, dejected 
enough. It is not pleasant to set up a fair 
idol, and worship it with all the strength 
and tenderness of your nature, only to find, 
after all, that it is dust and ashes—hollow- 
hearted and false! 
Cuthbert Hyde sat smoking his brier- 
wood meerschaum by the open window as 
Clarence entered—a t'quare, shrewd-looking 
old man, with deeply-seamed wrinkles on 
his brow, and restless, sparkling eyes, 
gleaming like live coals beneath his shaggy 
brows. 
‘•Clarence, my boy, something has gone 
wrong,” he said brusquely, after he had re¬ 
garded his nephew in silence for awhile 
“‘Tell the old uncle what it is.” 
‘•I have told you about Rosa Eldon, sir; 
well she and I are—in fact, it is all over 
between us.” 
“Engagement broken, eh? Past the 
power of patching up? 
“Yes, uncle.” 
“And it was on my account? Nay, boy, 
don’t turn away—I can read the truth in 
your eyes. So she played you false?” 
“We are parted, uncle—is not that 
<en< >ugh ?” 
“Well, perhaps so—perhaps so. It was 
well you found her out in time, "Clarence. 
It’s for the best, my boy.” 
Clarence Hyde was passing down the vil¬ 
lage street a day or two subsequently, 
toward dusk on a mellow August evening, 
when a slight form glided up to him and a 
tremulous hand was laid upon his ovn. He 
started at first, but quickly recognized the 
face and figure. 
“Lizzy Eldon!” 
“Oh, Clarence, I could not rest without 
telling you how very, very wrong I thought 
Rosa, and how sorry I am for you.” 
“Thanks, Lizzy. I do not think she has 
treated me exactly right.” 
Lizzy burst into tears. 
“How could she be so cruel, so unwoman¬ 
ly ? You are right, Clarence—you acted 
nobly. 1 think Rosa will one day live to 
repent it.” 
As Clarence stood there listening to Lizzy 
Eldon’s impetuous words and holding her 
soft little hand in his own, he wondered 
that he had never before noticed how very, 
very pretty she was—a softer, more sub¬ 
dued style of beauty than Rosa’s, yet not 
less bewitching in its way. 
They haunted him all night long, that 
oval, earnest face, those swimming blue 
eyes. 
Day by day Rosa’s image waxed fainter 
and more faint in his memory, and Lizzy’s 
shy, gentle look& grew more than ever pres¬ 
ent in his heart. 
“I do believe I’ve fallen in love with the 
girl,” he thought. “I wonder what she 
would say if I was to propose to her?” 
Next to the wonder came the realization. 
One fine October day, when they had stray¬ 
ed a little way from the gay nutting party, 
whose voices made the old yellow-leaved 
woods musical, Mr. Hyde asked Lizzy El¬ 
don if she would accept the love her sister 
had slighted, and Lizzy smiling and trem¬ 
bling, answered him, “Yes.” 
“You see, Uncle Cuthbert,” said Clarence 
eagerly, as he explained the new position 
of affairs to his uncle that evening, after 
he had safely escorted Lizzy home, with 
her basket of nuts only half-filled, (and no 
wonder, all things considered), “it will be so 
pleasant! We shall all live together, and 
Lizzy says she will love you dearly. Lizzy 
is such a famous little housekeeper. She 
thinks it will be so pleasant to have you 
sitting by our hearthstone! And. uncle, 
you will go and see her to-morrow, won't 
you ?” 
“Yes,” said Uncle Cuthbert, briefly, “I’ll 
go.” 
And the next day Lizzy was surprised at 
h *r sewing by a brown-faced, little old man, 
who abruptly took both hands in his and 
imprinted a kiss upon her crimsoning fore¬ 
head, just as if he was the oldest acquaint¬ 
ance in the world! 
“So you are going to marry my nephew, 
Lizzy, are you?” said Uncle Cuthbert. 
“Yes, sir,” Lizzy made answer, timidly. 
“And you love him, Lizzy?” 
“Oh. yes, sir. ’ 
“And you won’t object to having the old 
man lumbering ’round the house, helpless 
and feeble though he be?” 
“I shall be so glad to have you live with 
us, sir, for I never remember my father— 
