Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-02-19
awha. do you meansr asked Martin

"Welly"
sim not so easy as you, Martin. |
didn't like the look of IT,"
aWeli, az far as | can understand,
you're not Obliged 10 look at H."
"Tou won't take my meaning. In fact,
don't like to say il myself, but 70 the
best Of my belief the bill Is In Rebecca
Gerrish's pocketp'
Mr.. Langstrath started, and frowned
Il think you viii find yourself mis-
taken"
Il hope so, for have been really fond
of Rebecca: raised her wages myself;
I've brought her customers.
"And the servants"
mot one has entered the dressing room,
and | locked the door after Rebecca
left.m
"No doubt IL will turn up. II has
fallen down crack, or you've mixed 1T
up with your fallals. ! can believe in
anything sooner than that which you sug-
gest."
"Well, time will show"
Mrs. Random was q widow, living with
her brother, Mr. Langstrath, a single gen
tleman, who kept his own establishment,
and supported his sister and her children
In no niggardly fashion. Rebecca Ger
rish was the only surviving member Of q
family that had "seen better days" as her
customers put IL, partly because 1t seemed
more gentee TO have their dresses made
by gentlewoman 10 whom the romance
OF misfortune clung. Rebecca's grand.
fathers had ridden In their carriage, had
supplied their table with the fat Of the
land, had stocked their cellar with rare
old wines. Her grandmothers had shone
In stiff brocadcs and farthingales, had
had their waiting maids and their jewels
and laces, had slept beneath elder down
and silken canopics; but they had left to
poor little Rcbccca only "a sweet, attract
i've sort Of grace" a native refinement
and intelligence, thai seem the birthright
Of those people whose ancestors have
been gentlemen and ladies for genera.
tons, no matter what their circumstances
may be. Rebecca was possessed OF an
education that would have served her
well enough If il had been her fortune 10
sit in a drawing room aud handy airy
nothiDgs, but which counted for little in
the great struggle for existence.
In those famous old days the Lang
straths and Gerrishes had been intimate
friends, on an equal footing OF wealth and
cultivation but the grandeur OF the one
had fallen into decadence, while the other
still maintained fair show Of prosperity.
So when Rebecca Gerrish had decided 10
learn dressmaker's trade, and go out by
the day TO earn livelihood, remembering
the legends Of the family greatness, and
not above certain respect for good blood,
Mrs Random had been among the first to
give Rebecca patronage.
No doubt il gave Mrs. Random pang
TO regard Rebecca with ever so little dis
trust--it is always disappointment to
find our friends falling short of our ideal;
and then, too, 1t showed Mrs. Random,
what she was slow TO believe, that even
good blood may have its blackslidings;
and, furthermore, Rebecca made the best
fits In town, at the lowest prices. had a
unique fancy for trimming, which she
was pleased to call the poetry Of dress
making; and thus 1t would require a
great sacrifice in her employer to give her
up.
But Mrs Random was not one 10 take
the blame of any accident upon herself IL
there was any proxy at hand besides, she
was by nature suspicious, and when her
mind had once received an idea II closed
firmly upon il, like bivalye upon an in
truding substance and IL would have re-
quircd an angel from heaven 10 disabuse
her mind Of prejudice. Moreover, who
knows il she had not observed the grow
ing interest OF Mr.. Langstrath In the little
dressmaker who spent SO many hours
beneath his roof, under whose hand dry
goods blossomed into such perfect tot
1ettes, which he could not choose but adj
mireY There was no earthly objection to
Rebecca hcrself--every inch a lady, and
AS sweet as new rose. But what would
Mrs. Grundy say should Langstrath ally
himself to working.girl? There were
new people in Elmwood society who
knew not Joseph, but whose opinion was
of value TO Mrs Random. And then there
is class of women who dislike TO sec
themselves supplanted even in the alice
tons Of a brother, or In the management
Of pleasant home. Mrs. Random knew
by instinct that the part OF second fiddle
at Elm Place would prove utterly dis
cordant 10 her feelings. Yet not for the
world, nor for all the Kingdoms thereof,
would she have charged such a thing as
this TO Rebecca's account If circumstances
had not put Ii out OF the question for a
mind constituted like hers 10 repel the
suspicion. If the facts had not seemed 10
prove IT, Mrs. Random would have been
the last person TO willfully imagine such
scandal She did not discharge Rebecca
at once from her employment, but she
watched her, and was conscious that
Lanpstrath watched her too, with sort
of miserable, heartaching anxiety. But
the bill did not put in an appearance,
though they left no stone unturned.
Langstrath ordered the carpet in the sew
ing.room to be taken up: a rat had been
known to carry off yaluables to his nest.
But there was no rathole 10 be found, and
no bill either.
SITS not the money" said he. II
would give all have TO find that fifty
dollar biilw Mrs. Random hardly echoed
the sentiment Rebecca had lately ap-
peared at church In blue silk that
would stand alone. She had not been in
the habit of INDUCING Ia such luxuries;
she could iii afford them.
"Did you see Rebecca to-dayy" Mrs.
Random asked her brother.
"Certainly''--a little morosely, as IL he
thought 1t hard enough upon him to be
Obliged to perceive another proof Of her
unworthiness without bearing evidence
TO IL.
Strange she has never bought herself
n uf1k hafnra Che nvra told rpa that oha