The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-11-01
TOM.

TOM.
81 suppose l must call. Eleven
o'clock. The old gentleman said Twas
not to stand upon ceremony, so I'll run
down to-day. 1t is dismally lonesome
here, and somebody said the Lawlor
girls were the bellies of the place. Who
was it told me that Julia Lawlor was
the belle of Rushtown, and that Dolly
was the incest little thing in the worlda
I'll go down and prove the assertion
All this in soliloquy, as Mr.. Thomas
Bardell donned his daintiest walking
dress, drew on his lavender kids, put
on his glossiest silk hat over his crop of
curling hair, and, surveying his hand
some, faultlessly-attired self in the long
mirror, sailed forth.
Rushtown was a collection Of coun-
try seats, mile from populous bor-
ough, and the Bardell Place was one of
the most stately of the many superb
houses of which it was composed.
Thomas Bardell, my hero, was the
nephew of the late owner of the Bar
dell Place, and on the death of that
gentleman had Inherited his entire
property, greatly to his own amaze
ment, Mr.. Julius Bardell, deceased,
having quarreled with every relation
he had in the world, and announced his
intention of leaving every dollar to a
charity.
That he did not, but, relenting, made
a will in his nephew's favor, brought
Mr.. Thomas Bardell from college in
Germany, where he was flashing his
education, to Rushtown.
He was twenty-four, an orphan, hand
some and talented, and had some pri-
vate fortune before his uncle's' death.
That he was unspoiled. modest, and
one who held all women as little lower
than the angels, may be attributed to
the fact that he had a mother who was
true Christian lady, who loved him,
and whose death, when he had just at
tanned manhood, was the heaviest sor-
row of his life.
Rushtown, was an unexplored coun-
try to my hero, but DR.. Lawlor being
the only physician in the place, his res
idence was easily found.
Tho ,hail door stood epor tho nn-in-
door also was stretched invitingly wide,
and, after vainly waiting for the ring to
be answered, Mr.. Bardell stepped in
side the vestibule.
A voice, high above his head. and in
the parlor, called,
"Tom, is that youPr
The speaker, Dolly Lawlor, whose
name, be it here recorded, was Mabel,
but who had been called Dolly from her
cradle, being at the top of high step
ladder, scrubbing the paint over a
French window, heard voice say:
sit is Tom, certainly
Hand me my soap, that's a good
fellow" said Dolly, from the lofty perch
where she was seated, facing the back
windows; 'you know am afraid to
look down or turn around on the ladder,
l am SO sure to get giddy.''
where is the soapp" came in voice
muffied by laughing.
''Close down by the ladder, where it
has just dropped. Don't dare to laugh
at me, sir, for / am in the depths of
affection. Papa has invited the heir to
that splendid Bardell Place to drop in
without ceremony. Did you ever, and
we just in the middle of spring clean
ingp So ! left Jane to finish upstairs,
and came down myself to make the par
lor decent. There goes my brush, Hand
it up; that's dear"
The brush was handed up, Dolly not
daring to take her eyes from q level,
already feeling her head spinning with
1--WE can't he GRAND. of course and
the house will look mean enough after
Bardell Place. hut we can he clean
she continued. scrubbino vigorously At
the paint. ). And Won know. Tom he
is sure to fall in love with Julia. and it
is such a splendid chance for her. poor
dear. She does SO hate our economies.
She has gone over now to Mrs. Simp-
son,s 10 finish her blne muslin and sha
can't help clean. because it will spoil
her hands, and they are so pretty.
Julia is lovely in blue. because her skin
is SO fair, if her hair and ewes are dark.
She will Just be perfect when she is
rich, Tom. I hope she will have him,
and papa and | can log along forever.
We don't mind CHEAP things as Door
Julia does. There! That paint can't
be whittier. Pm coming down, and you
can move the ladder over 10 the other
window for me, Tom.''
But, cautiously descending the lad
der. Dolly only caught Is tieetinr
glimpse Of tall figure out at the
garden gate. 2
.Weil,r she said. Juggling at the
heavy ladder, g if Tom was in such a
hurry that he could not move the lad
der, he might at least have waited to