Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-07-17
Tom-.-An Everyday Incident.


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 that told me that Julia
Lawlor was the belle of Rushton, and that
Dolly was the incest little thing in all the
world 2 III go down and prove the as
sertion."
All this in soliloquy, as Mr.. Thomas Bar
dell donned his daintiest walking-dress, drew
on his lavendar kids, put on his glossiest
silk hat over his crop of curling hair, and, sur
veying his handsome faultlessly attired sell
in the long mirror, sailed forth.
Rushton was collection of country
seats, a mile from 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 Bardel
Place, and on the death of that gentleman
had inherited his entire property, greatly to
his own amazement, Mr.. Julius Bardell. de-
ceased, having quarreled with every relation
he had in the world, and announced his in.
tention of leaving every dollar to a charity.
That he did not but relenting, made a
will in his nephew's favor, which brought
Mr.. Thomas Bardell from a college in Ger
many, where he was finishing his education,
to Rushton.
He was twenty-four, an orphan, handsome
and talented, and had some private fortune
before his uncle's death. That he was un-
spoiled, modest, and one that held all women
as little lower than the angels, may be at
tributed to the fact that he had a mother who
was a Christian lady, who loved him and
whose death, when he had just attained
manhood, was the heaviest sorrow of his life.
Rushton was an unexplored country to
my hero, but DIR. Lawlor being the only
physician in that place, his residence was
easily found.
The hall door stood open, the parlor door
was also stretched invitingly wide, and after
vainly waiting for the ring to be answered,
Mr.. Bardell stepped inside the vestibule.
A voice, high above his head, and in the
parlor, called:
"Tom is that you ?"
The speaker, Dolly Lawlor, whose name,
be it here recorded, was Mabel, but had
been called Dolly from her cradle, being at
the top of high step-ladder, scrubbing
the paint over French window, heard a
voice say at is Tom, certainly"
Hand me my soap, that's good fellow, u
said Dolly, from the lofty perch where she
was seated, facing the back windows; "you
know I'm afraid to look down or turn
around on the ladder, am SO sure to get
giddy."
"Where is the soap ?" came in a voice
mufiled by laughter
"Close down the ladder, where it has just
dropped. Don't dare to laugh at me, sir
| for | am in the depth of afiliction. Papa
has invited the heir of Bardell Place to droI
in without ceremony. Did you ever, and
| Just in the midst of spring cleaning So
left Jane to finish upstairs, and came dowr
myself 10 make the parlor decent. There
goes my brush Hand it up; that's dear.
The brush was handed up, Dolly not dar
| ing to take her eyes from level, alread,
feeling her head spinning with giddiness.
ave can't be grand, of course, and th
house will look mean enough after Bardel
Place, but we can be clean,' she continued
scrubbing vigorously at the paint. Ant
YOU know, Tom, he is sure to fall in low
with Julia, and it is such splendid chanc
for her, poor dear. She does so hate ou
economies She has gone over now to Mrs
Simpsons to finish her blue muslin, aud sh
can't help clean, because it will spoil he
hands, and they are so pretty. Julia
lovely in blue, because her skin is so fair i
her hair and eyes are dark. She will be JUS
perfect when she is rich, Tom. hope sh
will have him, aud papa and can jog alon
forever. We don't mind cheap things a
poor Julia does. There That paint can
be winter I'm coming down, and you ca
move the ladder over to the other windov
for me, Tom"
But, cautiously descending the ladde
Dolly only caught a heeting glimpse of a ia
figure going out at the garden gate.
Well" she said, tugging at the heav
ladder, he might at least have waited
say good morning"
Then, being the sweetest-tempered {
women, though merely passably prett
girl, Dolly assembled the ladder again, au
soon forgot Toms rudeness in the absor
ing duties she had undertaken.
5 In the meantime, Mr.. Thomas Bardel
shaking with laughter, wended his wa
homeward, inwardly determining her equ
librium.
l For that must have been Miss Doll
5 with the natty little boots and pink cali,
= dress. She had lovely brown hair, though
5 could not see her face"
1 The next call made by the heir OF II
Bardell Place found the parlor shining wi
cleanliness Miss Julia Lawlor, real
beautiful girl, arrayed in the blue musli
knitting. The appearance of the blue musl
/ was the result OF Thomas Bardel's apps
c emily careless intimation to busy Dr. La
lor that heintended to drop in that eve
n ing. For wonder the Doctor remember
u the fact and the Lawlor girls were array
u to receive their guest.
II Dolly, in half an hour, decided that S
o liked the new conner very much indeed, al
u that he would make a very nice broth
4 when he fell in love with Julia and marri
IT her, as of course it was his manifest d.
Z tiny TO do.
II 6For Julia really is lovely" thought u
u selfish little Dolly, +" and when he hears
u sing he must lose his heart"
L. Apparently the singing was as powerful
f. magnet as Dolly supposed it would be,
II scarcely day or evening passed that \
K Bardell did not drop in. Tom Lawlor I
$, Doctors nephew and student, declared b
'r dell TO be trst-rate fellow, and was alwa
re bringing him to tea. Then the garden
'e the Bardell Place, as summer came
u offered most tempting opportunities for
= presentation of bouquets to the fair lad
/, at DIR. Lawlor's.
ID To be sure, Thomas Bardell did not kn,
O. that Julia's share always adorned the parl
y while Dolly cried over hers in her own roo
81 and sometimes pressed her rosy lips up
e. the card of the donor,
Sly little Dolly
al For she knew Mr. Bardell was falli
fd deeper and deeper in love with Julia. 1
a be not fairly haunt the house Did
s. not listen entranced when Julia sang, ey
IL upsetting all the orderly arrangements
e. Dollys work-box in his abstraction
e Was not the picnic on the Bardell groun'
TO which all the friends far and near h
10 been invited, solely the result of Julia's wi
ID to see the place
le That picnic
IA Somehow it impressed itself upon Doll,
re mind that Thomas Bardell was contemp
m ing proposal on that June day, when he y
" 10 nlav host 70 all the people OF Rushton.