The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-10-24

!
expect to be very happy"
! Myra sighed and abandoned the use
less argument. What was to be done
with so very unreasonable damsel as
| this?
| A bright little hearthstone-a kettle
singing on the hob the crimson carpet,
not Brussels nor velvet, but simple in
grain and the plain, neat furniture,
with Grace smiling at the ready spread
table-this was a pleasant home for
Walter Genlis to come to after his days
work in the great machine shop was
over.
upon my word" he said gayly, CT
think we're happier here than Myra in
her big house, with her parties and her
visiting list, and her swarm of servants.
Do you know, Grace, L almost felt at
one time that l was doing wrong in mar
rying you?"
wrong, Walter ?"
Myra seemed to think you were such
a victim"
''Do look like victim ?" demurely
asked Grace
Why, no, can't say I think you
do, but l wish 1 could have brought you
to house all your own, my pet. Never
mind some day you shall reign in
palace worthy of you"
Nonsense, Walter could be hap
pier anywhere than with you?"
Are you happy, love ?"
She rose from her seat and came over
to her husbands side, looking full into
his face with eyes so eloquent that all
the dictionaries in creation could not
have spoken more plainly.
Yes, he knew she was happy.
Mrs. Linley, too, thought she was
happy, and pitied "poor, dear Gracie"
from the very bottom of her heart. No
| servants; no silver napkin rings no
double damask table cloths with en-
brOidered monographs on them no Will
ton carpets, nor brOcatel curtains.
What would life be worth without these?
And then, too, she lived so outlandishly
actually dining in the middle of the
day, and having good fates pork
! and cabbage occasionally and fried
onions! Mrs. Linley was quite sure
that she could not have existed under
such fearful confederation of circum-
stances.
"Of course we must continue to visit
them, said Myra, inhaling the Lubin
perfume from her Valenciennes, edged
pocket handkerchief, but really 1 am
quite ashamed to have our carriage seen
in such a commonplace street"
She is your sister, said Mr.. Linley,
"and Genlis is a good fellow, after all. "
knOwit, but common mcdaniel"
And Myra took ont her pearl tablet to
look over her visiting list.
Grace Genlis knew very we'll that Mr.
Gustavus Linley despised her and her
0 N,Al
pins for that-why should she? Was
she not as happy as Victorias self in her
snug little house, with love to brighten
the low ceilings and beautify the maple
wood furniture
Grace is a pearl of price," thought
the young husband, as he watched her
at her thrifty housewifery, land some
day she shall shine In her proper setting
as well as Gustavus Lindley's conceited
doll of wife. She shall or my name is
not Walter Genls p
It's just as WE'LL" thought Myra,
g for L wanted to give a series of Ger
mans this winter, and l couldn't have
invited them, and of course they would
have been mOrtally offended Now it's
all right =
And the years passed by, and NIyra
Linley I" forgot to answer her sisters
letters so often that, at length, Grace
left off writing, and Mrs. Linley became
q bright star in the world of fashion,
and enjoyed false, artificial life, as one
enjoys a fevered excitement of any
kind.
One evening Mr.. Linley came in late,
but he often did that. Myra glanced
languidly up from the book she was
skimming over, not because she enjoyed
reading, but because it was fashiona-
BILE work, and she wanted to say she had
read it-and noticed that his face was
perturbed.
What is the matter ?" she inquired,
a little startled by his look.
The matter" returned Gustavus,
deliberately seating himself opposite
her, is, that we are ruined p
What do you mean? ?"
"Simply that we are penniless-beg-
gared-haven cent in the world, and
debts enough to sink the Spanish Ar
mazda !"
Myra looked at him in blank dismay.
g And what are we going to dO?"
"DO?" Why, do as other people
| do?' savagely answered her husband.
GO into the second story of tene-
ment house and starve -
Mrs. Linley fell into weak, sobbing
Mysteries. Her husband, not needing
her, sat staring mOodily at the floor.
Z" 1t must be q horrible dream"
groaned Myra !; g it can't be true -
But, unfortunately, it was true, and
in less than a week Mrs. Linley, her
husband, and her three children, found
themselves the inmates of tawdry,
third-rate boarding house, while Gus
IY,lv- fr5n TO "a
somewhere as clerk, and Myra cried and
scolded alternately, and wished so many
times a day that she were dead, that
Gustavus finally lost all patience, and
intimated, daTkly, that :" he wished so
too"
And theu Myra called him a " horrid
brute, and cried more persistenly than
ever.
"A carriage at the door, and to see
me 1t can't be possible ?" said Mrs.
Linley, peeping over the blinds of the
window. 1T was Mrs. Gustavus Lin
ley the lady asked, ma'am-a bright
spoken lady as l ever seen, said the
maid of all work, who had brought up
the message.
Tell her to come up here" said
Myra, recklessly, as she hurriedly
smOOthed down her neglected hair and
twitched at the bottom of her faded silk
wrapper.
Why, Grace Genlis, it isn't you ?"
1t was Grace Genlis, nevertheless, in
n superb black silk and a priceless India
shawl and real diamonds in her ears,
but Grace Genhs all the same-eager,
loving and impulsive.
Eve have heard about Gustavus'
failure, =" cried Grace, hugging her sister
and laughing and crying alternately,
and Walter said we could come to New
York at once and see what could be
done for yOu. We are rich people now,
Walter and 1, said Grace, with a spice
of innocent triumph, and he has con-
ciuded to settle in New York, and Wal
ter owns the Genlis Iron Works, and
we should like Gustavus for bookkeeper
and of course you'll all come and live
with us, and-that's all, isn't it Walter
dear ?"
"All 1 should think it was - said
Mr.. Genhs, who had listened smilingly
to this avalanche of words, land pretty