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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLucknow Sentinel, 1891-08-21, Page 6r • A1,711.11PANWIlliolgooristompagsag6emaissozsmmat $4, 42; s5 4i. THE SISTE CHAPTER VL PAUL. en, on the brightest of bright sum- mer retings, they mune to Melbourne. e did not quite know what they, had a pec towhat the n) . e, tr y did. . see. astonished them. The, wiltilhinge caught Ln ttlatt 1/Paina a.14 aslatital in esana to the Eastern market, could not ha.ve felt more surprised or dismayed by the novel ty of the ittti�n theataalidatliese uathl when they found themselves launched into the world they were so anxious to know. For a few minutes after their arrival they steed_ together Silent, breeehlesn, taking it when they had ha'd aquiet luuch with Mrs. all in; and then Patty -yes, it was Patty— McIntyre (whose other boarders being gent - exclaimed: lemen in business', did not appear- at the "Oh, where is Paul Brion?" mid -clay meal„) *prattling cheerfully with Paul Brion was _there, and the words had the isameee see seeas, s„a eeeerie, fee, him the comfort of his pipe -now isn't it? And. I have no ladies here to be annoyed by it -in general I don't take ladies, for gentlemen are so muck more comfortable to do for; and Mr. Brion is so considerate, and gives so little trouble-" " What 1 Is Mr. Paul Brion lodging here?" broke in Patty impetuously, with her face aflame. " Not now," Mrs. McIntyre repliecL "ale left me last Week. These rooms that yea hoe were Wean lend them beat:timid, tinning ee Welkgp. atta etit.. by tor over theft yeers. He wanted you to his side ; and Eleanor told bins h,e was like 'Come here, because he thought you would his fatter in the opportuneness of his be comfortable with 'tee "- smiling - he- friendly services. But Patty was silent, and 'gay. "-Hee-said- a -man put up rage4 atwardly. anywhere." When they had traversed the length of At four o'clock, when they had visited the street, and were come to the open space the bathroom, arranged their pretty hair before the Government offices, where they afresh, and put on the black print gowns- could fall again into one group, she made an etlart to get sal of hint and the burden of obligation that he was heaping upon them. " Mr. Brion," she began impetuously, " we know where we are now quite well-" T dn. 't. third:. vett! "lin in 1-4,rmintpil claimed, speaking in hie" 13harp and rapid way, while his little moustache bristled with such a smile as they had not thought him capable of. "And. -..and an I assist you in any way ?" Elizabeth explained their dilemma; upon which hp declaied he was himself going to East Melbourne (whence he had just come, after his morning sleep and neontide break- fast), and asked leave to escort them thither. " How fortunate we are !" Eliza - before them. " How do you do, Miss King ?" he said, not holding out his hand, but taking off his hat with one of his father's formal salutations, including them all. " I hope you have hal a pleasant passage. If you kindly tell me what lug- gage you have, I will take you to your cab; it is waiting for you just her. Three .He was a small, slight, wiry little man, with decidedly bru.sque„, ;though perfectly polite mitertere ; active end selfei Assessed, and, in a certain way of his own, disifiecl, notwithstanding his low stature. He was not handsome, but he had a keen and clever face -rather fierce as to the eyes and. mouth, which latter was adorned with a fierce little moustache curling up at the cornets -bet pleasant to look at, and one that inspired trust. "He is not a. bit like his father," said Patty, following him with Eleanor, as he led Elizabeth to the cab. Patty wasangry with him for overhearing that. Where is Paul Brion ?"-as she was convinced he had done -end her tone was disparaging. "As the mother duck said of the ugly ducklitig, if he is not pretty he has a good dispoSition," said Eleanor. He is like his father in that. It was very kind of him to ' come and help us. A press man must always be terribly busy." " I don't see why we couldn'thave managed for ourselves. It is nothing but to call a. cab," said Patty with imitation. They arrived at the cab, in which Eliza- beth had seated herself, with the bewildered Dan in her arms, her sweet, open face all smiles and sunshine. Paul Brion held the door open, and, as the younger sisters neassed- im, elopked-at-them-inteetly-with searching eyes. This was a fresh offence to Patty, at whom he certainly looked most. Impressions new and strange were crowding upon her brain this morning thick and fast. " Eliza,beth," she said, unconscious that her brilliant little coun- tenance, with that flush of excitement upon ,it as enou h to fascinate the gaze of th • eseman, ; Elizabeth, he looks at us as if we were • curiosities -he thinks we are dowdseand countryfied and itaamuses "My dear," interposed Eleanor, who, like Elizabeth, was (as she herself expressed it) reeking with contentment, " you could not have seen his face if you, think that. He was, as grave as a judge." " Then he pities us, Nelly, and that is worse. He thinks we are queer outlandish creatures -frights. So we are Look et those women on the other side of the street, how differently they are dressed ! We ought not to have come in these old clothes, Elieebeth." e • "-But, my darling, we are travelling, and anything does to travel in. We will put on our black frocks when we get home, and we, .will buy ourselves some new mese. Don't troub/e about suck a trifle now, Patty -it • is'not like you. Oh, see what a perfeet day it is 1 And think of our being in Melbourne at last 1 I am trying to realize it, but it almost stuns me. What a place it is 1 But Mr. Paul says our lodgings are in a quiet', airy street -not in this noisy part. Ah; here he is 1 And there are the three boxes all safes "Thank YOU so much," she said warmly, looking at the young man of the world, who was some five -years older than herself, with frankest friendliness, as a be- nevolent grandrnamma might have looked at an obliging schoolboy. "You are eery good -we are very grateful to you." • Your lodgings are in Myrtle ,street ; Miss King That is in East Melbourne, you know -quite close to the gardens -quite quiet and retired, and yet within a short walk of Collins street, and handy for all the places you want to see. You have two bedrooms and a small sitting -room ofyour own, but take. your meals with the other people of the house ; you won't mind that, hope. -it made a difference of about thirty shillings a week, and is the , most esual. arratirment. Of course you , can . alter anything you don't 'like when you get there.. The landlady is a. Scotchwoman-I know her very well, and can recommend her higMy-I think you will like her." " But Won't you come with us ? " inter- posed Elizabeth, putting oat her hand. 'Coin° and introduce us to her, andsee that the cabman takes us to the right place. Or perhaps you are too busy to spare the a" " will. call on you this afternoon, if you will permit me -when you have had your lunch and rested a little. Oh, I know the cabman quite well, and can aswer for his taking, you safely. This is your addrees"- hastily scribbling it on an envelope he drew from his pocket--" and the landlady is Mrs. McIntyre. Good 'morning. I will do my- self the pleasure of calling on you at 4 or 5 o'clock." Then they went into the house -the. middle house of a smart little terrace, with a few ragged fern trees in the front garden -and Mrs. McIntyre took them. up to their rooms, and showed them drawers and ettp-a boarg, in a motherly and hospitable man- ner. " Arid I hope you will be comfort- able," concluded the amiable landlady, "andaet me know whenever you want any- thing. There's a bathroom down that pas- sage'and this is your bell, and those draw - ere have not keys, you see, and lunch will be ready in hall -an -hour. The dining -room is the first door at the bottom of the stairs, and -phew that tobacco smoke hangs about the place still, in spite of all my clean- ing and airittg. I never' allow smoking in the house, Miss King -not in the general way • butit man who bas to be up o? nights writing for the newspapers, and never getting his proper sleep, it's hard to grudge A k..k .r.1 da`o,ta ri nk"Ild Urn, ',la n. ,•./J01.• .V1141.41%S. •• •.• 1. LaVa •••••••.oa •5 U&414 ••• ••, • • ••••• ••• •••••.• • ••••• •••-•.• the most delicious viands ever tasted -when before." they had examined their rooms minutely, " Our landlady gave us directions -she and tried the sofas and easy -chairs, and made it quite plain- to is. There is no stood for a long while on the balcony look- necessity for you to trouble yourself any ing at the other houses in the quiet street- further. You were not going this way at four o'clock Paul Brion came; and the when we met you, but exactly in the oppo- maid brought up his cerd, while he gossiped site direction.' with MrsMcInt re in the hall. He had no " I am going this. way now, at ante rate," Elizabeth hastened to unburden herself. Pat- show your sisters their way through the ty was btirning to be the spokeswoman for the gardens. There are a good many paths, occasion, but she knew her place, and she and they don't all lead to Myrtle street.° remembered the small effect she had pro- " But we know the points of the compass duced on him in the morning, and proudly -we have our general directions," she in - held aloof. In her sweet and graceful way, slated angrily, as she followed im help - but with as much gravity and earnestness Iessly through the gates. " We are not as if it were a matter Of life and death, quite idiots, though we do come from the Elizabeth explained her view of the eitua- country," tion.. " Of course we cannot consent to " Patty," interposed Elizabeth, sur - such an arrangement," she said gently; prised, I am glad of Mr. Brion's kind " you must have known we could never help, if you are not." consent to allow you to turn out of your Patty," echoed Eleanpr in an under - own rooms to accommodate us. You must tone, " that haughty spirit of yours will please came beck again, Mr. Brion, and let have a fall some day." us go elsewhere. There seem to be plenty of Patty felt that it was having a fall now. other lodgings to be had -even in this " I know it is very kind of Mr. Brion," she street." said, tremulously, but 'how are we to get Paul Beion's face wore a pleasant smile as on and do for oarselves If we are treated he listened. "Oh, thank you," he replied like children -I mean if we allow ourselves lightly. "But I am very comfortable siva ang on to other people ? We should where I am -quite as much so as I was here e" ake our own way, as •others have to do. -rather mare, andeed. ....For the .people at 1 don't suppose had; any one to lead you No. 6 have set up a piano en the other side about when you first came to Melbourne "- of that wall "-pointing to the cedar addressing Paul. chiffonnier-" and it bothered me dread- " I was a man," he replied. " It is a fully When I wanted to write. It was the man's business to take caro of himself." piano drove me out -not you. Perhaps it " Of course. And equally it is a woman s will drive - you out too. It is a horrible business to take care of herself -if shehas. nuisance, for it is always out of tune ; and no man in her family." you know the sort of playingthat'people "Pardon me. In that ease it is the busi- ind-t-'11-ge in who „use pieties that are out of hese of all the men with whom she comes tune." • in contact to take care of her -each as he. CHAPTER VII. can." " Oh, what nonsense! You talk as if we tided in the time of the Troubadours -as if you didn't know that all that staff about women has had its day and been laughed out of existence long ago." "-Whannttift?"-- • ------- " That we are helpless imbecilese-a sort of angelic wax baby, good for ' nothing but to look pretty. As if we were not made of the same substance as you, withhraine and hands -not so strong as yours, perhaps, but quite strong enough to rely upon when necessary. Oh 1" exclaimed Patty, with a fierce gesture, " I do so hate that man's cant about women -I have no patience with it ,1" " You must have been severely tried," murmured Paul (he was beginning to think the Middle Miss' King a disagreeable person, tima witaaprecious, took the omnibus ac - a and .to -feel vindictive towards here) And cording aecustom; but her companions with one consent refused to squander unnecessary thkeepences by accompanying her in that vehicle. They had a straight road before them all the way from the corner of Myrtle street to the fish market, where she had business; and there they joined her when she had.completed her purohases, and she CHAPTER VW. gave them a fair start at the foot of Collins AN INTRODUCTION TO MRS. GRUNDY. street before she left them.. In Collins street they spent the morning -a bewildering, exciting, anxious morning -going from' shop to shop, and everywhere finding that the sem they had brought to spend was utterly inadequate for the pur- pose to which they had dedicated it. They saw any quantity of pretty soft stuffs, that were admirably adapted alike to their taste and means, but to get them fashioned into gowits seemed to treble their price at once; and, as Patty represented, they must Wipe' one, at any rate, that, was made in the mode befgre they could feel it safe to manufacture for themselves. They ended by choosing - as a measure of comparative safety, for thus only could they know what! they *ere doing, as Patty said -three ready-made costumes that took their fancy, the combined cost of of the landlord of No. 6, the state of the which was a few shillings over the ten drains and chimneys, and paint and paper, pounds. They were merelymorning'dresses of the house ; and, having satisfied himself of black woollen stuff ; ladylike, and with a, ithat it was as nearly being what our girls captivating style of " the world" about wanted as anything they' would be likely them, but in the lowest class of tgooda of to find, called upon Elizabeth, and advised that ' kind dispensed in those magnifi- her to secure it forthwith: The sisters were icent shops. Of course that was the just then adding up their accounts -taking end of their purchases for the day; the stock of their affairs generally -and coming selection of mantles, bonnets, gloves, bootie ! to desperate resolutions that something; and all the other little odds and ends on •' must be done ; so the suggested Elizabeth's list was reserved fora future !arrangement, which • would, deliver them occasion. from bondage and from many of It was half -past twelve by this time, and I their worst difficulties, had quite ' a a at one o'clock Mrs. eintyre would expect providential opportuneness about it. They g them in to lunch. They wanted to go home: took the rooms at once -four small rooms, by way of those green enclosures that Paul including•the improvised kiteben-and went I Brion had told them of, and of which they . into them, in defiance of 'Mrs. Mclntyre's ! a had had a glimpse yesterday -which the protestations, before they had so much as a landlady had assured them was the easiest bedstead to sleep upon ; and once more they thing possible. They had but to walk right ." were happy in the consciousness that they h up to the top of Collins street, turn to the had recovered possession of themselves, and right, where they would see a gate leading could call their souls their oWn. •I it into gardens, pass straight through those One day, when their preparations for h gardens, cross a road and go straight.' regular domestic life were fairly completeda, throughother gardens; which would bring Patty, tired after a long spell of amateur t them within a few steps of Myrtle street- carpentering, sat down to the piano to rest / a way so plain that they couldn't miss it • if , and refresh herself. ; they tried. ' "Elizabeth," she said' presently,. still ,o " Dear tee ! we Shall be reduced to the keeping her scat on the mrtac-stool, and h ignominious necessity of asking our way," stroking her cheek with one of her sister's o, exclahned Eleanor, as they stood forlornly hands while she held the other round her o on the pavement, jostled by the human tide neck,, "1 begin to think that Paul Brion that flowed up and down. " If only we had has been a, very good friend to us. Don't c Paul Brion here !" • you ? " It ens very provoking to Patty, but ° he " I am not beginning„," replied Elieabdth. t was there. Being a small\ man, he did not "1 have thought it every day. since I have a come into viewaill he was within a couple known him. And I have wondered often of yards of them, anal that was just in time how you could dislike him so much." to overhear this invocation. ' Ells ordinarily " I don't dislike him," said Patty, quite a fierce aspect, which she had disrespectfully amiably. c likened to that of Dan when another terrier "1 have taken 'particular notice," .re u had insulted him, had for the moment (lis- marked Eleanor from the hearthrug, " end appeared. The little man showed all over it is exactly three weeks since you spoke to c him the pleased surprise with which he had him, and three weeks and aye caught the sound of his own name. you shook hands." "Hwa you got so far already 7" he ex- Patty smiled, not changing her position ' a A MORNING WALK. But they slept well in their strange beds • and by morning all their little troubles had disappeared. _Atter breakfastathey_hadeanaolenceincon- sultation, the result being that the forenoon was dedicated ' to the important business of buying their clothes and finding their way to and from the shops. "For we meat havebonnets," said Patty, "and that ieunediately. Bonnets, I per- ceive, are the essential tokens of respect- ability. And we must. never ride in a cab again." They set off at 10 o'clock, escbrted by Mrs. McIntyre, who chanced to be going to the city to do some marketing. The land- lady, being a very fat woman, to whom Eleanor laughed cruelly, and said, "Oh, nd, she's got it all out of books." " A great mistake to go by books," said he, with the air of a father. " Experience first -books afterwards,Miss Patty."And .he smiled coolly into te girl's flaming face. And, as the days wore on, even she grew to be thankful. for Paul Brion'though, of course, she would never own to it. It was he who finally found them their home, after their many futile searches -half a house in their own street and terrace, vacated by the marriage and departure to another colony of the lady who played the piano that was out of tune. No. 6, it appeared, had been divided into flats; the ground floor was occupied by the proprietor, his wife, and servant; and the upper, which had a gas stove and other kitchen appliances in a back room, was let unfurnished for £60 a year. Paul, always poking about in quest of opportunities, heard of this one and pounced upon it. He made immediate in- quiries into the character and antecedents or ceasing to caress her cheeek with Eliza,- beth's hand. " Well," she said," don't you think it would be a graceful thing to ask hare to come and have tea with us some night? We hive made our room pretty "- looking round with contentment-" and we have all we want now. We might get our -silver things out of the bureau, and make a couple of little dishes, and put some candles about, and buy a bunch of flowers -for once -what do you say, Nelly? He has never hee. he,ainee we came inestiever farther than the downstairs. passage -and wouldn't it be pleaeaut to have little house-warming, and show him our things, and give him some enttaie, .and -and - try to -make -him- enjo himself? It would be some return for what pleased." sd.hased2ne for us, and his father would be That she should make the proposition -- she who, from the first, had tea only never " got on " with hide but had seemed to regard him with active` dislike -surprised both her sisters not a little ; but the propo- navese -an ;lent c• nelal +.e, 4 1, every ganaae...... u'reason aseareconneesend .ie They thought it a most happy idea, and adopted it with enthusiasm. That very evening they made their plans. They de- signed the simple decorations for their little room, and the appropriate dishes for their modest feast. And, when these details had been settled, they remembered that on the following night no Parliament would he broke into a brief but passionate fit of weeping, such as she had never indulged in in all her life before. At the sound of the first sob Eleanor jumped up from the musieastool, contrite and frightened --Eliza- beth in another moment had her. darling in her arms ; and both Batters were seized with the fear that Patty was sickening for some illness, caught, probably, in the vitiated atmosphere of city streets, to which she had never been accustomed. Ia the stillness ef the night, -Paul Brion; leaning over taro balustrade of ,the veranda, and whitening his coat against the parti- tion that divided his portion of it from -theirs, -heard- -the opening -bars- of -the due neral -march, the gradually swelling sound and thrill of its impassioned harmonies, as of a procession, tramping towards him al ng the street, and the sudden lapse into Il- i timely silence. And then he heard, v -ry faintly, a low cry and a few hurried sobs, and it 'was as if a lash had struck him. He felt sure that. t was Patty who had been .../....-.4:...-... M.. 4.1..........1. a. ,:4. ...........1. - tii......- V,- 13. 4.4-,. M. intr. ffhlcieleaM,RA'rt.WIAMV•txV,44144,1Y.41,_.,,,,a*,11, ct.....1:4,,44tfli2,--630,-,,,,I,FiTaar•-,auctr.,,- '1..=-7-7,-A--- 1.1. - Cal.,—...- .. 111 - . ........-. -...4 k3r..1-4-.. ry zit; 1.41.41.1.t1 thatbeautiful 11 WM titurnui, ant.i. J esse who had fallen a victim to the spirit of melancholy that she had invoked -simply because she always did seem to hind to represent the acticn of the little drama of the sisters' lives, and Elizalieth-and Eleanor to be the chorus merely ; and he had a clear conviction, in the midst of much vague surmise that he was volved in the aaktaaraiiima e er For a little while he stood still, fixing is eyes upon a neighboring street lamp and scowling frightfully. He heard the girls' open window go down with a sharp rattle, and presently heard it open again hastily to admit Dan, who had been left outside. Then he himself went back, on ti toe, to hiiss face. apartment, with an expreTsion of more than his usual alert determination on h Entering his room, he looked at his watch, shub his window and bolted it, walked into the adjoining bedchamber, and there, with the gas flaring noisily so as to give him as much light as possible, made a rapid toilet, exchanging his loose tweeds for evening dress. In less than ten minutes he was down in the hall, with his latch key in his pocket, shaking himself hurriedly into a light overcoat ; and in less than half an hour he was standing at the door of a good- sized and rather leveeing -looking house in the neighboring suburb, banging it in his • peremptory fashion with a particularly loud knooker. Within this house its mistress was receiv- ing, and she was a friend of his, as might have been seen by the manner of their greeting when the servant announced him, as also by the expression of cerin facs is name -as they could not well helphearing amongat s the geeests _when they rd it. " Mr. -Paul -Brion," the footman shouted, with three distinct and well -accen- tuated shouts, as if his lady were entertain- ing in the Town Halt . It gave Mrs. Aarons great pleasure when her domestic, who was a late acquisition, exercised his functions in this impressive manner. Sha came sailing across the room in a very long-tailed and brilliant gow-nesa tall,- 'fair yellow -haired woman, carefully 'got up 41 - the best style of conventional art (as a lady who had her clothes from Paris regard- less of expense was bound to be)... -.flirting her fan coquettishly, and mailing an unntie- ' takable welcome. She was not young, but she looked young, and she was not pretty but she was full of sprightly confidence and self-possession, which answered just as welt " Ah 1" said Mrs. Aarons, shaking hands with him finpressively, " you have remem- bered my existence, then, at last 1 •Do yea know how m tnye weeks it is since -you honored me with your company ?-five. I wonder you can stand there and look tars in the face." He said ithad been hie misfortune az* not his fault-thag he had been so immersed in business that he had had no time to 1'406 Bulge in pleasure. " Don't tell me. "You don't.have- bu is nese on Friday evenings," said Mrs. es promptly. ) "Oh, don't I ?" retorted Mr. Brion (the fact being that he had spent several Friday evenings on his balcony, smoking and listen- ing to hie neighbors' music, in the meet absolute and voluptuous idleness.) " Yon ladies den't know what a pressman's life is -his nose to the grindstoneat all hours df the night and day." 'Poor epan! Well, now you are liege, come and sit down and tell me what yciii have been doing." • . "Of course I wanted very much to see you -it seems an awful time since I was here -but I had another reason for co to -night," ' said Paul, when they comfortably settled themselves (he the descendant of countless gentlefolk she had not even a father that she co conveniently call her own, yet was she cep - strained to blush for his bad manners wad i his brutal deficiency in delictcy and teats). 1" I want to ask a favor of you -you Ste always so kind and good -and I think •yntt will not mind doing it. It is IlOir much -.-t least to you -but it would be very much to Iwhom ?" inquired Mrs. Aerobe wit% t. h em, ,r-0, la little chill of disappointment and d proval already in her voice and face. I was not what she, felt she had a right to ex- . l bablyeome home early (they knew his time of coming and going, for he was back /at hi old quarters now, having returned in cense quence of the departure of the diseordan piano, and to oblige Mrs.McIntyre, li said) ; and that decided them to send him his invitation at once. • Patty, while he complaisant mood was on her, wrote it her self before she went to bed, and gave i over the garden railing to Mrs. Mclntyre's maid. In the morning, as they were asking which of them should go„to town to fetch cer- tain materials for their little fete,they heard the door bang and the gate rattle at No: 7, and a quick step that they knew. And the slavey of No. 6 came upstairs with Paul Briou's answer, which he had left as he passed on his way to his office. The note was addressed to' " Miss King," whose amanuensis Patty had carefully explained herself to be when writing her'invitation. " My Dear Miss King, -You are indeed very kind, but I fear I must deny myself the pleasure you propose -than which, assure you, I could have none greater. If you will allow me, I will come in some day with Mrs. McIntyre, who is very amnions to see your now Menage. And when I come I hope you will let me hear that new piano, which is euclasen amazing_ _contrast to the old one. Believe pae, yours very truly- " PAUL BRION. This was Paul Brion's note. When the girls had read it, they stood still and looked at each other in a long, dead silence. Eleanor was the first to speak. Half laugh- ing, but with •her delicate face dyed in blushes,-she-whisperad-under her -breath, " Oh -oh, don't you see whet he means?" " He is quite right -we must thank him," said Elizabeth, gentle as ever, but•grave and proud. " We ought not to have wanted it -that is all I am sorry for." • But Patty stood in the middle of the room, white to the lips, and beside herself with passion. " That we should have made such a mistake 1 -and for him to rebuke us 1" she cried, as if it was more than she could bear. " That I should have been the one to write that letter ! Elizabeth, I sup- pose he is not to blame-" " No, my dear -quite the contrary." • " But, all the same, I will never for- give him," said poor Patty in the bitterness of her souL. CHAPTER IX. MRS. A ARONS There was no room for doubt as to what Paul Brion had meant. When the evening of the next day came -on which there was no Parliament sitting -he -returned to No. 7 to dinner, and after dinner it was apparent that neither professional nor other engage- ments would have prevented him from enjoying the society of his fairneighbors if he had had a mind for it. To -night, not only she, but all of them, made a stern though unspoken vow that they would never -that they could never - so much as say good night to him on the balcony any more. The lesson that he had taught them was sinking deeply into their hearts ; they would never forget it again while they lived. They sat at their needle- work in the bright gaslight, with the win- dow open and the venetian blind down and listened to the :sound of his footstep an the dragging of his chair, and clearly realized the certainty' that it was not because ho was too busy that he refused to spend the evening with them, but because he had felt obligect to show them that they had asked him to do a thing that was improper. Patty's head was bent down over her sew- ing ; her face was flushed, her eyes restless, her quick fingers moving with nervous vehemence. Breaking her needle suddenly, she looked up and exclaimed, " Why are we sitting here so dull and stupid, all silent, like three scolded children % Play some- thing Nellie. Put away that horrid skirt, qd play something bright and stirring --a ood rousing mazah, or- something of that ort." "The Bridal March from Loliengrina " uggested Elizabeth, softly. " No," said Patty ; " something that will race us up, and not make us feel small and uneble and set upon.' What she meant • was ' something that will make Paul Brion nderstand that we don't feel small and umble and sat upon." Eleanor rose and laid her long fingers on he keyboard. She was not, in the habit ef taking things much to beart herself, and she id not quite undersband her sister's frame f mind. The spirit of mischief prompted er to choose the saddest thing in the way f a march that she could recall on the spur f the moment -that funeral March of leethoven's that Patty had always said was apable of reducing her to dust and ashes in er most exuberant moments. 'She threw he most heartbreaking expression that art llowed into the stately solemnity f her always perfectly balanced execution, artly because she could never render such theme otherwise than reverently, but. hiefly for the playful purpose of working port Patty's feelings. Poor Patty had 'kept up" and maintained a superficial ommand of herself until now, but this un- xpectea touch of pathos broke her down ompletely. She laid her arm on the table, nd her pretty head upon her arm, a.nd pect under the present combination of ear- curnsta'nces. " Three girls -three sisters who a* orphans -in a kind of way, wards of father's," exclaimed Pena showing 0. position to stammer for the first time. " Their, name is King, and they have emir to liva in Melbourne, where they don't k t. • anyone -not a single friend. I thoug pernaps, you would just call in and see theta some day -it would be soaWfully kind of pee, if -you would. 4t\ little notice from a wallah like you would be just everything to theist" (To be Continued A warm Day. ' Theb cst method to resolve doubt into eer, tainty, if any such doubt exists as t „the and fafr efficacy of St. Jacobs Oil, is to use it I nd be. convinced. A wenn day is a good day for experiment upon any form of pain such, St. Jacobs Oil has no equal. Berlin ladies recently applied to the pohee authorities of that city 'for permission to ride horseback man fashion in public. Baron Rinhofen, chief of police, refused to grant the petition, and an appeal has been made to the Empress hereelf, Hunker eao Gildersleeve is mat -ii -d. "Plie match was made in Heaven, of oaurse. laloobtimper-No ; in Chicago.