Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-05-18
PHTR f..
CHATTER i.


But what can you do, my dear?'
Keep the accounts myself
Child, are you made
Why should | not keep the accounts my
sell? DO you believe a woman has no lucid
intervals"
Phoebe. it would never do. Why, every
body would know it. 1t was bad enough TO
work the mill at all in our own name, but to
manage 1t yOursef-it would be an unheard OF
sling.
mill, If people didn't sometimes do unheard of
things Phpbe laughs. I've got the mil
working. Martha, and mean to Keep it So
And disgrace yOurSelf?'
It's no disgrace. | think il is more dis
graceful 10 run into debt: and Laurie will run
into debt If We don't send her money. And
where else Is the money 10 come from"
mo AShe was ever in business before,
Phgbe. / am ashamed to look the GeTraTdS IN
the face: and think the MainwaTings cut us
coming out of church last Sunday. That
dread, ul mill is nightmare To me- j wish 1t
would burn down, or blow up, OF be inunddt-
Ell. or something!
"If papa built it, suppose he meant it to
work. fhrbe maintains SJOTtly. H didn't
mean il 10 be- a failure.
He never meant TO work it himself, am
very SaIe. .,,t..ousons. ,o,,., IT., ,,,.,
ness a biz more than you do. my dear; but |
like il better than owing money. | can't stand
ilat. And don't like starving, either. Why
nave We no butter this evening"
Because there is none
There! You prefer that state of things to
business"
Miss Ashe shakes her head She is a woman
Of thirty, or Whereabouts, feebly pretty, prettly
feeble, not in the least like her young sister
Laurie, the second girl, Is away on a yi>i,
They have great vague hopes that Laurie will
do something to benefit the family one of these
GayS-make great marriage, Tor instance. To
this end they send her all the money they can
spare from the household expenses. She has
great many rich women to dress against at
UeTne Court; but, if she IS To- do great things,
she must not be ''Scimped for clothes. She
has been away now for more than three months
and as yet no returns have come in for the
money spent upon her But they have great
faith In Laurie, though they are beginning to
think she ought To make haste. She is seven
and-twenty, though she does not look it, and
has been engaged five times She IS certainly
very pretty: but she is unfortunate with her
cases, as she frankly acknowledges and some
people call her tiIrT.
They will never invite you to Herne Court
Phoebe. if you do such a thing as this, Nj lrtha
Ashe ProphesieS, with another shtke OF her
pale cOlOred curIS. :" Nobody will ever take
any notice of you, believe me-
They have never taken much notice of me
that know Of Phrbe answers airly. rney
are welcome 10 snub me as much as they like.
10 you think il will trouble me if the Misses
Mainwaring pass by on the other side, or old
MIS- La IOuchc puts up her eyeglaSS 10 stare
NE out of cOuntendnce?
1t never does to outrage society,"" Miss
Ashe asserts. - People have their ideas of
propriety, and, if you run counter To them, you
must expect to be tabOOed."
Then let them IA boo me :" Phoebe exclaimS,
pushing up her cup. NO = no more tea.
Martha, thanks. want some milk. Your tea
reminds me of the MainwdriNgS-WiShy-W dShy
IL the las; degree.
Phoebe.
Now I've shocked your ideas of prOpriety
Well, never mind. Matte. I'll 90 down To the
mill at six O'Clock IN the m lrning and you can
keep up the dignity of AShbrOOk-yOu and
Laurie. IL any one calls, You needn,t mention
where l am ii you don't like, and perhap
they'l think | am out Sketching, or making a
collection OF wild flowers down at the law
And don't be suddenly overcome by a morbid
impulse Oask them the riddle about the mile
and his white haJ-Of which l cOull never sc
the point. And now / am going To look 70
some raSpbeTrieS in the garden
You won't find any rdSpberrieS.''
Have you been eating them, Martha -
18th suspicious look back AT her sister.
NO, but know there are none. The rasp
berTy-plOt Is wilderness of weeds"
Il saw some nearly ripe few days ago. |
thought they were pretty safe, because NOBODY
would venture through the nettleS for them
but myself. And l promised them To little
She opens the glass door she has been hold
ing i'll her hand, and finds herself in q green
alley of cherry and apple trees, very grassy
undeTfOUt, very damp and shady now that the
sun has gone round To the west. AT the end
Of the alley garden door stands a jar. Phoebe
passes through with preOccupied frOwn Oh
her face.
Miss Ashe was right when she stigmltised
the raspberry plot d wilderness Of weeds. Fine
whole garden Is a wilderness In IL are TO be
gOOseberry- bushes, checked with bindWeed
roses With thistles struggling for eSpiLl,
grassy borders, beds OF dock and wild Sorrel,
grated roses with long OraInJ Die branches as
sorting themselves from the parent stalk, i'll
weeds taking this rare opportunity of not only
growing ai'ace, but overlapping their neglect
ed nelghbOrs of finer growth, here and there
red rosebud OF d white Ohe showing among
IhiCkeJS Of coarse duCk-IcdveS and n tiles or
the faint perfume Oi self SOTn misnOnneCte
coming from waste of cnickwted and dande-
"A mr4- hA Ash
gathers her ski. about her and Walks circum-
Spectly-bTOken glass and big black SuailS are
not pleasant undeTfUOt nor does contact with
dewey-wet grass or goO>eberry bushes improve
the most dIIdpidated brown holland gown.
rough headed old man with wheelbarrOw
block up one OF the paths.
Fine weather for the weeds Nick" re-
marks Miss AShe, making of necessity a DE-
tour among the cabbage sta Ks.
at 5 the likes of them furnishes always"
old Nick asserts, dropping the handles of the
NheelbarrOW. LIST true, Miss PneDe, tnaE
Tom Townsend has took the mill?'
Its true that he has thrown up the man
agement OF Ii, Nick. But il 5 not likely he'd
take it, since he says il will never pay"
Don't You mind him, Miss Phoebe. He
wants 10 get II altogether. Don't know Tom
Townsend? Ii was a bad day you mad any
the mill you should have put al honest man
into 1t.
True enough. I'm not going to deny il.
But il WASH Tor you he managed. Don't give
iii TO him, Miss Phoebe. You're the first of
Your race as ever did the like, and sorry was
10 see you; but Sick To il now, since you've
begun. wouldn't give Tom Townsend the
satisfaction OF putting me from under my own
roof
Hell not do that, Nick" Phoebe declared.
Don't you let him, Mis-, Phoebe He thinks
You can't gel get on SlIhOlSnlIn, but Id show
him The difference. Ia faJher take Aaron
Graham than shut up the mill now
- / won't take Aaron Graham, Nick neither
will shut up the mil. In going TO keep the
accounts myself.
Old Nick looks at her, wiping his forehead
with a dingy-red handkerchief.
Il doub; If you'll mana e il, Miss Phoebe.
But wouldn't give in, any way-uOt to them
1oWnsendS It's the house above they'll be
trying TO get next, and they sailing about in
SILK gowns, and riding TO their business of a
morning, and sending their children 10 board
ing school,, though their grandfather was
common pl0uSnInan when yours drove his
carrlage-and four through the town! And
now 10 see blood, bone aud beauty, going d
begging, and them butteTmik things having
II al their own way IL Comes alween me
and my Ie Il, IL do
VI eli, we've got rid of Tom Townsend no V,
Nick, so make your mind eaSy," Pntebe
laughs, belns accustomed 10 tne old mlns
TRADES. "Wlen he inSinuated that he
stared on AZ The mill 10 Oblige me- aud for
nothing else, OF course 1 wouldn't Keep him |
don't want 10 be under an obligation To Tom
townsend
Not you" Nick calculates INDIGNANTLY
Under an obligation indeed. It's som thinr
rs for az AShp A a - "A