Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-10-19


Whatever her ladyship wondered about
1t did not take her iong to make up her
mind. \ few misgiyinEs troubled her
her husbund was from home, and she
| could not ask his advice, or know what he
would thin, of the expedition she Iredita-
ted. She was Il young woman, and in this
case, i-norant. Were the places in which
the london p or lived quite fit for ladies
| to enter? As soon a. this s. utence had
| found place in her thoughts, she rejected
| 1t angrily She had not meant that ex-
| actly; but was there any danger in going
to such places? Lady Clare thought not
She stood a little while longer, looking out
upon the dusky foliage in the square be
low, AMI then, wise or not, her mind was
made up
a short time after this her ladyship's
carriage was standing before the plate
glass front OF Messrs Foley x Hudson ;
establishment, and II represented of the
firm was speaking to NY lady. lie statr-
mered ii little IN his reply to Lady { are 5
request He hesitated and rubbed up his
hair, and looked uncomfortably round, in
the hope of attracting one Of bis principals
to the sprt
''The lace menderr' he said Certainly
he could give the address; but her lady
ship-ip fact it was not the sort of place
for Lady Glare to be seen in"
why not ?" asked my lady.
ooh, all really"
WAS it dangerous p she asked
Dangerous p he repeated "Oh no,
unless, perhaps, it mightn't be quite pleas
ant at night.
"Well, said my ady, otis not night now.
Tis only = IA little past noon"
II 4 In f1ly
any message for Lady Glare"
Ills glance fell upon the coachman and
the lootman rs he said this, and Il 80 upon
the maid whom my lady had requests d
to seat herself inside the carriage, and it
must have occurred to him that Lady Clare
did not need TO come to Foley n Hudson
or IA messenger; so he broke off suddenly
and stummercd out the address for which
he had been asked
Her ladyships carrIace drove on; the
.oachman and footman exchanged sympa
thetic grimaces of wonder and disgust,
md her maid would have demonstrated
bit that she was a swrewd young woman,
and saw the expression of her lady face
in time to check herself
The streets grew dingier and narrower
the thigail's face more sour, and Lady
Clare's more resolute BY and bya change
began to come over the latter-a dilatiOn
of the nostril, painful locke Of aInazement
and perplexity What rows of hideouS
tumble-down houses overhan ing the mar
row streets, black with perpetual scowl,
humid with the unhealthy danTS thatrose
mp and settled upon them from the cutters
below "A hat groups of miserable, squaIid
childten, covered with rags, covered with
iith. shueless. and st0Ckingicss
81,
English children Of the English poor T.
broke inyolunrarilv from Lady Clare.
Every now and then she passed a fold
ing door, which she diyined hy instinct
was the door of Gin shop; less terrible
in the daylight, for then these places lack
the horrible glare that falls on gaunt faces
md burning ewes they are there perhaps,
all the same. hut the day Is more mercIlui
70 them than the fierce gas.
When the carriage stopped, Lady Clare
turned to her maid surprising that she
would yet out first; but no, she sat firm.
II beg pardon NV lady she said; but
| couldn't do it. / should he afraid; !
should indeed | wasn't engaged to -
Very we H. interrupted Lady Glare
! quietly. and her ladyship got out.
She stood in the wretched entrance OF
the house she wanted, Mt the bottom OF the
| great oak stair case which was rottlng
/ away pieccmeaL Ouce slashed douhIets
an siIken hose were seen on that stair
/ case: lords and ladies' passed mp it; lovers
! paused for last word upon it; @reat names
were bawied ut the top of into rooms
where now sin and misery, hunger and
m kedness and filth reiEned, like Char es
/ Mackav'S cholera spectres, lords Of the
t Swarmiur town.
\ sudden dizziness seized upon Lady
I Clare; a single, sAnrn, sickeninC spasm oi
/ horror and fear What if the boys lness
were a reality, and bore about 1t the ter
rifle poison of infection? What if she
I carried it back to her own boy? And
i ther she remembered the womans words
wasting away ike, in a decline and
took courage.
But when Lady Glare got ut asst into
/ the room where the lace mender wed, hei
heart sank She had imagined poverty,
perhaps; but her idea OF poverty was
I ,ormed anon other models than this
There was no fire in the wretched CRATE
Drups of damp stood out upon the discol-
ored walls, and trlckled down with shiny
/ SlownesS upon the broken and battered
.,oor The chair from which the woman
rose with the( zee in her hand was the
~ae would have offered it to Lady Glare
but the chances were that 1t would give
wav under the weight of one who was X
norant OF its week point.
( Ny Lady, seeing the hesitating move
ment. said. No, no pray sit down. ano
then she went to heap of something in
one corner of the room. This was . coz
ple of flat boards raised from the floor by
brick ends. Something which looked like
an old sack WAS spread er them and
up n this. W ith handful ot straw for his
pillow, AMI the gown which has mother
bad taken off for the purpose, co erinl
him. ay the sick boy.
Lady Clare bent down to look at him
His dull eyes lighted up little as they
rested npon the bright ribbon of her bon
net and he put out his fingers to catch a
it teebly, as he might have caught at ;
sunbeam. Lady Ciare's face was cry
nale when she turned round TO the boy
mother.
Il came" she said. to say that you car
take YOUR own time over The lace.
Thank you, my lady, replied the poo'
woman.
The ewes of the two women met, ant
h.. o1- f,,a- ,q,aniar wH GbBH