The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-12-21
MARA;
OR,
The Girl Without References.
NE A R A :
[From COlnhilI MAGAZINE

wondered how a name of such sadness
could have been given to a girl so
bright, sweet and tender. But Arthur
Halsey, who was in love with her, raved
that the name was the sOftest he had
ever heard, and that it was just such
Il one as he would have chosen to dis
tinguish her from other women, she be-
ing peerless.
He would dilate upon her beauty, her
gentieness, the winning power Of her
voice, with that meditative ecstasy used
by certain art-enthusiasts in describing
a picture, or by cOnnOisseurs i'll pre-
ciOus stones, who hold up a diamond in
the sunlight and ask you to admire
every one of it's glittering facets. Men
who behave like this are generally great
bOres. But Halsey was not; for we all
OF us knew the object of his praise, and
thought as well of her as he did. II the
truth must be told, the fact that he had
been the first to declare his love, and
the evident strength Of her preference
for him, were, perhaps, the only things
that saved lis from experiencing for her
a passion deep as his own. 1t is not
even so sure that we had escaped her
influence, and may be each of us ref1ec-
ted in secret how much lighter the jour
ney Of life might be made to him, could
he set out on it with Mara for his COM
paniOn.
Yet nobody could tell whence she
came, nor what was her parentage; and
she was destitute of that cOmmonest
buttress to respectability-and to rOgll-
cry, too, for that matter-references.
She had arrived one day at the small
seaside town OF Sandbeach, had taken
cheap lodgings, and had given out her
D04TroiJy oc M0pa Nhi1I O71f HI- -
ing, on the inquiry Of her landlady, that
she was Miss, not Mrs. The same day
she had gone to Butts Circulating
Library, and had asked Butts, in per-
son, whether he knew Of any family in
want of a gOverness.
Butts was a simpletOn of the discur-
sive sort. Besides circulating books
he was house-agent and proprietor of
the Sandbeach Gazette. This three
handed title allowed him to keep a
| finger in the pies of almost all the in
habitants of the town, and had led him
up to a vague notion that Sandbeach
| belonged to him. He wore a velvet
skull cap, had a pasty-face with q
double-chin, and probably meant no
harm, though he occasionally did some.
You have held a gOverness' situation
before, I suppose ?" was his magisterial
answer to the girl-stranger's question,
as she stood at the counter of his we'll
stocked shop.
"NO;I have never held any situa-
tion,o she said quietly.
Then you have some one who will
answer for yOu-speak to your abilities,
| I mean, and give you a character ?T
Butts looked at her as his plump fin
gers unstrUng a parcel of books just
come from London. She was dressed in
black, and wore very white collar and
cuffs. 1t was plain dress, but not poor
"No," she replied with shake Of the
head. " | am an orphan, and know Of no
body who could give me character"
Butts was both astOnished and scan
dalized "The price of tive-line adj
vertisement in the Sandbeach Gazette
is one-anda asixpence," said he suspicious
ly-" half crown for two insertions.
The paper appears twice week"
Mara drew out little network purse
and handed him half a sovereign: 81
think will have two insertions, please
she said. "You can say I am twenty
five years old, and am able to draw a
little but do not play the piano."
Butts rang the coin on the counter,
and, finding it good, it grieved him to
part with so much as seven -and-six-
pence GLdnE6, H0 SuDSCIlpbIOn W
the circulating library and reading
room is half crown q month"; he re-
marked i'm half cOnciliatOry tone. We
take in the London magazines and the
! Times, where you can read of people
who want governnesses. You have also
| the privilege of carrying away two
| books together to read at hOme.s
| Mara said she would subscribe; then
Butts asked her whether she needed
stationery, to which she said no, but
bought some drawing-pencils and a
mill-board. In brief, most of her ten
shi11ings remained in the possession OF
Butts, who still suspicious, tied up hel
purchases in parcel, and, when she
had left his shop, calculated, II don't
much like the look Of herr
We learned all this a few weeks af,
forwards, when Halsey and the other
three of us had come up from Oxford tC
read at Sandbeach during the long va
cation, Halsey had just taken his de-
gree, and was going to study for the
bar; Merry, Cloves, and myself were
still undergraduates, but preparing fOl
the Honor Schools next term; and we
had pitched upon Sandbeacll as the
duietest place on the map. 1t was not
so quiet, however, but that we soor
found people made plenty of noise
there about their HeighbQrs' concerns
and it must have been on the very
morning after our arrival, that we were
informed by our landlady of this singl.
larry beautiful and odd girl who ha6
come to Sandbeach, hoping to find g
situation without references, just as II
she thought all the people in these
parts were mad-folk, gentlemenm TT
the course of week, having become in.
innate with Butts, he treated us to fur.
thef details, though we had not asked
him to do so. But he was full of hi
subject, and so were all the other Sand
beaeheTs; this event being the neares
approach to scandal with which tht
town had ever been favored. Tt seemed
that two families had answered Mis-!
Child's advertisement; but they hat
been able to elicit nothing satisfactory
as to her anteeedents, and so, of course
had reGeded. All Miss Child would say
was, that her mother was dead, anC
that she had never known her father
who had deserted her mother years ago
At first her mother had appeared il
easy circumstances; afterwards they
had become very poor, and had beer
obliged to work with their needles fol
their living. How long was it since he
mQEnef naQ 0lel DIX years. An(
what had she--Miss ChiId-done since
Worked. Where? This she refused ii
saygand she would neither state where
her mother had lived, nor how 1t cam.
that she herself, after being reduced II
live by needlework, was suddenly II
a position to apply for place as COVER
ness. To the last inquiry she had sim
ply answered that she had met witt
some people who had been good to her
!, All this was extremely. suspicious
Butts aDnearea to ennsitler- it q pre-