Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-06-17
a GOOD Story.
MISS PEVERILL'S PRIDE.

me Wha6 business mas he TO love me he
never would have dared write like this if
if papa were alive and we had not lost our
money"
You may thank yourself for this" said
Grandma Peverill, looking over her specta-
oles with an air of concern. You have
amused yourself considerably with Harold
Helper, to my certain knowledge. When
one dances, one must pay the piper"
81 don't understand you, grandma. 1
certainly never gave him the shadow of en-
couragement | have guessed for some
time that he-that he didn't dislike me, you
know but never dreamed that he would
dare say as much. Papa's clerk Why, I've
seen him sweeping out the Office. and his
fingers as inky as Oaddy Jellybys."
"Men are audacious creatures" observed
grandma but if you knew that he didn't
exactly hate you, you oHghnt to have ac-
cepted him as escort, when you were learn
ing to ride. When your papa brought him
home to dine, you needn't have made your
self 80 attractive, need you You might
have headache in your room, or an invita-
tion out You needn't have talked pretty
nonsence with him by the hour, while your
father and l took our after-dinner maps,
need you ?"
OuoO OllelD lbIle, Siduullhs
What with ones fathers clerk And
no doubt one can't help working him slip
pers and braiding watch chains either"
Why, of course, one gives birthday and
Christmas gifts to all ones acquaintances,
even to old Bddy, the pauper. One doesn't
expect them to presume on that however"
And 80 you think that Mr.. Helper is
presuming, when he offers you his hearts
love and all his worldly prospects Why
so ?"
II think him presuming because the
Peverlls are not of his order. grandmamma.
They came over in the MdWtOl1er they are
descended from Lord Peverill they have
graduated at college, have enjoyed elegant
accomplishments ever since the flood, and
have never soiled their hands with the CRIME
of labor while Mr., Helpers ancestors were
illiterate mechanics, who murdered the
kings English. Why, his own father was
stono-cudier. I've heard papa say So"
And supposing that yours had been
mechanic, what objection would you have
urged ?'
Why, it's not supposable case, grand
mamma-a Peverill stone cutter !"
"But supposing you were not Peverill?'
My imagination is not bold enough for
such flight. You sec, have all the preju-
dices of my class. | would choose unhap-
piness sooner than marry beneath me-.
Then | am to understand that you con-
slider yourself superior to Harold Helper.
1t ls some years siuce he figured as your
fathers inky fingered clerk, remember
Since then he has written book, he has
invented machine, he has lectured to
scientists Wherein does your superiority
consist What have you been doing in the
mean time p
g have been rubbing papa's gouty toe
and accepting the attention of Miles Bond. ~
You don mean"
" mean that L shall probably marry
Miles Bond, some fine day if nothing hap
pens"
Marry Miles Bond !" repeated grand
mamma, as if she had said that she was
going to marry the Khan of Tartary.
You seem to be astonished grandmam-
ma"
Yes-a little. He's born aristocrat."
Exactly-there's pair of us. l shall
be entitled to consideration in the beau
monde as his wife, don't you see p For it
must be confessed that since Mr.. Peverll's
death and insolvency the beau monde had
looked coldly upon his pretty daughter, in
spite of the Peverill coat of aims and the
luxurianca Of the family tree.
g Then you do not care fig for MIR.
Helper ~
SIS it necessary for me to deny the soft
impeachment when have .olmost made up
my mind to accept another =
!" When 1 was girl" began the old
lady.
" You loved brocades and brocatelles as
well as your grand daughter"
So But did not sell myself for them. And
so you are really engaged to Miles Bond,
and there's no help for it y
Well, not really engaged / won't give
my word-at least not quite yet. You see,
grandmamma, one hesitates to rlvet the
chain, as they say in noyels. And then
Miles says he will wait !; he won't hurry me
he'd rather wait a century, in sweet sus-
pense, as he calls it, than to be refused at
once. But 1 suppose it will all end one
way"
" And what will you answer to Harold
Helpers
Heaven only knows. 1t will not do to
tell a man who offers one his heart, that he
ought to have known BETTER"
g Nor that you will not marry him be-
cause his father was stone-cutter."
Mr.. Helper accepted his refusal, however,
with good grace. He made no fuss about
it he merely assured her that her happi-
ness would always be dearer to him than
his own.
"Thats the letter of gentleman" said
grandma, @ if his father was forty times a
ston e-cutter
Pshaw ?" said Miss Agnes. tearing it
into fragments but curiously enough,
gathering them together as soon as Mrs.
G6NbTll . DdCh Mho tuAhONg do IL buoJ M6Io
sweet to her as scattered rose leaves Per-
haps she was thinking of the days when
Mr.. Helper was her fathers clerk, and had
taught her chess of winter evenings days
when she was not so worldly-minded, and
more romantic, and didn't guess the worth
of position and long descent. Perhaps she
regretfully remembered the spring morn
ings when they pushed through the woods
for wild flowers and ferns. when he had
made quaint album for her of pressed
sea-weeds-she had hidden it away some-
where now.
SIT would never do, she said half aloud,
answering some unspoken thought. "
should always be hankering for family and
money. One must give up something it
may as well be love as anything. Oh, if
my father had only been stone. cutter
too y
Grandma Peverill met Mr.. Helper in the
street, later. 81 hope you don't mean to
desert u.s." said she, q" because that foolish
chit of an Agnes doesn't know when her
bread is well buttered. Remember it's a
woman's privilege to change her mind. If
t,au1apt