The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1877-05-19
TOM.
BY S. ANNIE FROST.

not to stand upon ceremony, so I'll run
down to-day. 1t is dismaly 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 world?
I'll go down and prove the assertion"
All this in soilOQuy, as Mr.. Thomas
Bardell donned his daintiest walking
dress, drew on his lavender kids, put
on his glossest silk hat over his crop of
curly hair, and Surveying his hands
some, faultlessly attired self in the long
mirror, sailed forth.
Rushtown vas collection of country
seats, mile from a populous borough,
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 Bardell Place, and
upon the death of that gentleman had
Inherited his entire property, greatly
to his own amazement Mr.. Julius Bar.
dell, 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
will in his nephew's favor, brought
Nj. Thomas Bardell from college in
Germany, where he was finishing his
education, to Rushtown.
He was twenty-fOur, an orphan,
handsome and talented, and had some
private 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 q mother who was
true christian lady, who loved him, and
whose death, when he had just attained
manhood, was the heaviest sorrow of
his life.
Rushtown was an uneXplored coun-
try to my hero, but DR.. LawlOr being
the only physician in the place, his resi-
dence was easily found.
The hall door stood open, the parlor
door also was stretched invitingly wide,
and after vainly waiting for his ring to
be answered, Mr.. Bardell stepped in
side the vestibue.
A voice, high above his head, and in
Che parlor, called:
tom, is that you ?"
The speaker, Dolly Lawlor, whose
name, be it here recorded, was Mable,
hut 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.
at is Tom, certainly"
"Hand me my soap, that's good
fellow" said Dolly, from the lofty
perch where she was seated, facing the
back windows; "you know l am afraid
to look down or turn around on the
ladder, | am so sure to get giddy."
'Where is the soap?" came in voice
muffied in 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 af-
Fiction. Papa has invited the heir of
that splendid Bardell Place to drop in
without ceremony. Did you ever, and
we just in the middle of spring clean
ing? So left Jane to finish up stairs,
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 level, al
ready feeling her head spinning with
giddiness.
eve can't be grand, of course, and
the house will look mean enough after
| Bardell Place, but we can be clean" 4"
she continued, scrubbing vigorously at
the paint. "And you know, Tom, he
is sure to fall in love with Julia, and it
is such splendid chance for her, poor
dear. She does 80 hate our economies.
She has gone over now to Mrs. Simp-
sons to finish her blue muslin, and she
can't help clean, because it will spoil
her hands, and they are so pretty. Ju.
liza is lovely in blue, because her skin
is so fair, If her hair and eyes are dark.
I She will be perfect when she is rich,
! Tom. hope she will have him, aud
| papa and | can jog along forever, We
don't mind cheap things as poor Julia
does. There That paint can't be any
whittier, Pm coming down, and you
can move the ladder to the other win-
dow for me, Tom"
But cautiously descending the ladder,
Dolly only caught a lleetiug glimpse Of
a tall figure out at the garden gate.
"Well," she said, tugging at the
heavy ladder, "if Tom was in such a
hurry that he could not move the lad.
der, he might at least have waited to
say good morning"
Then, being the sweetest tempered OF
woman. though merely pAssably pret-
| ty girl, Dolly ascended the ladder again,
and soon forgot Toms rudencss in the
absorbing duties she had undertaken.
In the meantime, Mr.. Thomas Bar.
dell shaking with laughter, wended
his way hone ward, iuwgrdly detvT-
mining to make his next call at DR..
Lawlor's wh3n Miss Dolly was less en-
crossed in the task of cleaning paint,
and the difficulty of maintaining her
equilibrium.
"For that must have been Miss Dolly,
with the natty little boots, aud pink
calico dress. She had lovely brown
hair, though could not see her face. "
The next call made by the heir OF the
Bardell Place found the parlnr shining
with clranliuess, Miss Julia Lawlor, a
really beautiful girl, arrayed in the blue
muslins at the piano, Ind Dolly, also Ia
blue muslin, knitting. The apptac'