Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-01-06
ING, VA, THURSDAY \


\ to the younger ladies'
"Are these your sisters. Tom?" she said, with
the same good-tempered face and Objectionable
forgetfulness Of forms Not waiting for an an
Swer, she went straight up to then with her
formula, SLOW dye do ?" aud before they knew
| what she was about, she had put her arms round
their necbs and kissed them.
"0h, this will never dol" said Mrs, Delane
aloud. whats hisyOung person thinking OFF,
She turned such heavy frown of inquiry on
her son that he sank under it, feeling in it all
the reproach that was to come Bat not seeing
mch good in angry looks, she was about to re
mOnstrate with the delinquent herself and had
| got as far as "AIisS Plaistow, | do not allow"
when Aura looked up, innocent and bcaming,
and said
"They are not like Toni They are so pale
and quictm
This assault was so complete, that Mrs Deiane
was actually sienced from surprise, taken aback
aud discomfited; so she was fain to keep her
forms in reserve for another occasion, and Aura
escaped for the moment.
| Before she had time TO commit new blundeTs,
Jane was ordered to take her to her room; and
Aura, laughing and nodding to them all she
went, called out at the door chcerily, 81 shan't
be lung" as if she was telling them piece OF
good news, and something they would be rejoic-
ed to know.
Mrs. Deane looked after her with grim curl
osityi the sisters glanced at each other, but
kept silent; Tom turned red and pale by turns,
moved his chair, shuied with his feet and play
ed with his guard chain; and his mother, salts.
fed with his embarrassment said nothing,
knowing that her reticencc would be more elo-
quent of condemnation than the most fluent
speech
(which was right?'' thought Tom, "my ad-
miration of her at Merridno, or my shame hcreY"
The room assigned to Aura was puritamcal|
| little closet, with a couple of swing shelves
against the walls, filled with good books Of ex-
treme doctrines, with n strong smell of lavender,
scented linen, furniture oil, WOODEN carpets,
lmoreen curtains, and closed windows, and with
IN undcfinable sense OF oppression and mpris-
onment meeting you like presence at the door.
Now Aura was used TO simple arrangements at
home. Perhaps no house in England cqualled
Mcrridno for its combinations of simplicity and
artistic beauty; perhaps nowhere else could
have been found such dearth of conventional
luxury, and such n wealth of natural taste. ltl
was not the smallness nor the scanty furniture
of her room then, that struck Aura as she fol-
| lowed Jane into that wGil-sized closet, for her
nest at home was but n closet too; but it was
its utter discomfort, as she read comfort, and its
excessive ugliness of arrangement. The room
was carpected throughout, but the carpet was
of large pattern, and incOngruouS colors. Ut
home she had but one rug by the side of the
bed; the rest was all white boards, well washed
weekly, harboring no dust. Her own little iron
| bed was without curtains. and made up OF a hard
tnatrass and one small pillow; but it was pleas
anter TO her than this tent bed" hung with
heavy mOreen, which the servant took especial
pains TO draw quite close, aud with very monn-
tain of down pillows heaped on the feather bed.
| And Aura hated feather beds; at least she did
| when she tried them, for as yet they. were un-
known to her The consequence was, that she
got up in the middle Of the night, and rolled
herself up in blanket on the floor, where she
was found the next morning by Jane, TO her
| uff cCanlaliyniiOn nn1 doubts of the
| young ady's sanity or moral propriety.
| Her book shelves at home held very pretty
! illustrated books; some with her fathers pictures
engraved in them, and some old cherished fairy
taes the fresh air blew freely through that little
nest all day, aud all night too; here the window
had not been opened for a week Mt the very least
and the closeness Of the atmosphere was actually
oppressive The paper on the walls here was a
heavy "hock," very expensive and very ugly (;
ut home it was n cheap lining paper" OF quite
cool gray, but hung with pictures aud sketches
that would have graced the 6ONdOIu' of pTin-
cess. The great wealth and representative OF
property at MerridnO lay in its pictures. Her
| dressing glass here was large and handsome,
bnt clumsy; at home it was " small square OF
thin distortion, very black, with the quicksilver
worn off in large patches, and mOttled and sep
arated all over, set into a frame that had to be
kept steady by bits of paper and old gloves,
with one drawer that would not open, and one
that would not shut; but the large jug Of flow
crs before it concealed half its defects and trans
formed into beauties the other half. But, indeed,
Aura cared little about that particular article Of
her toilet table; for she rarely dressed herself
by its help, and never looked into it for curosi-
ty or vanity Had she done so Oftener she
womld not have been so uniformly seen with her
Icurly bands of hair fastened up lower on the one
side than the other, nor with the ''parting" so
ner to her left eyebrow, and so far fiom the
centre of her forehead. And as these were made
almost into crimes against her here, though at
Merridno they had been additional beauties, it
would have been wcllif she could have saved
herself from the ccnsure that befell her on this
point But she looked as lille into this large
handsome mirror as she had done into her own
shabby makeshift; and went about the llollies
with her hair on one side, and her sweet face
unevenly framed, just as she had done at Mer-
ridno, where such things were never noticed
At home her little room was her study, when
she wanted to study, which was not often, and
nothing deeper than the name of a wild Hover,
or the line ofa scroll but.here all was SO close
pTim, plain, aud sitting, that she escaped as
eagerly as from prison cell, scarcely staying
long enough to quite finish her dressing, and
generally to be seen putting in the last pin on
the stairs.
[coNrlNUED To.MORRow.l
II. CRANGLE sc CO.,
WHOLESALE GROCERS,