The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-07-14
MISS LAURIE.
"As COMPANION TO A LADY. :"

'I'm very sorry, miss, but / m only
d poor woman myself, and IL you CAM
pay the rent Of this room, / don't see
as you can afford the rent Of the one
up stairs"
Here my landlady rubbed her nose
viciously upon her apron, and stared
straight out Of the very dirty window.
AS this was evidently challenge to
me to reply, / said, rs firmly as I could,
q few words which brought out the rea-
son for the woman's visit that morning.
HAm / to understand, then, that you
wish me to leave ?"
If you please, miss, at the end OF the
week, for there's the gent on the first
floor that would like to have this bed
room
''Very well. Mrs. Ruddock," I said
IL will find room elsewhere.
Thanks, MISS" she said sharply
she left me to my thoughts-and my
tears.
For was weak, faint and heart.sick,
and the coins In my purse had dwindled
down, and 30 that IL did not succeed
in obtaining an engagement in very
few days, / had no resources but to creep
back to the country and avoW my fail
ure.
just three months since, and we were
all so happy in the little country vicar.
age: and then, in visiting one of his
people. my poor father caught dam
gerous fever, while In tending him MY
dear mother was stricken with the
complaint, and ore three weeks had
passed Minna and ! sat in the little
study alone, in deep black; for the
struggle had been brief, and those we
Aoyed lay together in the green church
yard, and we we're only intruders now
In the little vicarage that had been our
home.
We were nearly penniless, too, but a
brother clergyman of my fathers, quite
as poor, came forward and offered us q
temporary home till, as he said, some
opening should occur for us.
i gladly accepted 1t for Minna but
Tor myself, was determined to try
great London, and uDaided battle for
myself. In two years John Murray was
to come back from Australia to fetch me
FOR bis wife, and till then / would be in
dependent. So the day came at last
when, with many tears, we two girls
had to separate, and with aching heart
L left the old Lincolnshire home, and
reached the great dreary void Of Lon
don early one afternoon.
was not long in finding place where
4 could stay, in the shape OF q second |
floor front room in one of those heart |
aching streets near the Founding
streets that echo from morning to night |
with mourniul cries uttered by vendors |
whose goods 1t is impossible to surmise, |
aud with the dismal echoing tones OF |
the various organs. SO painful were
these last to me that often OF an even
ing, when have returned from weary, |
disheartening search for an engage |
tnent, and sat alone and hungry, fear |
ing to spend my money in anything be- |
yond the tea and bread and butter upon |
which / existed, these doleful strains
cheering maybe to some-have had
such an effect upon me that | have sat
and sobbed till, utterly worn out, [ have
fallen asleep, to wake, perhaps hours
after, to find it very late, and crawl |
shiveriDg off TO bed.
AS the weeks passed on and my ad- |
vertisements and fees paid to the various
registry offices had been without effect,
4 used to crawl back to my room, grow
ing more and more disheartened. l was
plain. sallow- looking girl, and
now In my fast-wearing black / began
to feel that was day by day growing
more shabby and weary looking. and
fsn% u nh M n
post were growing less and less.
used to sit and ask myself whether
I had tried hard, and knew had but
twas always the same. Whether | ad-
vertised for a situation as governess, or
went from a registry office TO offer N.Y.
self az companion to lady, it was al
ways the same | noticed a look Of dis
as soon as | entered the
room. for / was neither pretty nor
bright looking, and my mournful black
helped to sadden my aspect: 1t was al
ways the same-the lady did not think
should suit her, and In blank disap-
pointment | had to return.
And now it had come to this: That
NV landlady had grown as tired Of me
as the people at the registry offices,
where / had more than once been told
rudely that I was not likely to get a
place as governess or companion, and
that had better look lower. That af-
evidently suspicious OF my
ability to pay, and perhaps disguised
with my miserable way Of living, and
afraid that I should be left an invalid |
upon her hands, she had-rudely, it
seemed to me-requested me to leave.
In my present circumstances / was
utterly Frustrated by the news, for /
Jared not take lodgings elsewhere, and
! could see nothing now but to sell
portion OF my scanty wardrobe and go
back 10 beg for assistance from my
ather's friend.
What change and how soon had
10y hopes Of independent action been