Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-07-05
ROW. Az EVERYDAY IyCIBENr

TOM; ~ nv IERl ia INtIDEN .
Il suppose l must call. Eleven o'clock.
The old gentleman said | was not to stand
upon ceremony so I'll run down today. 1t
is dismaly 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? III go down and prove the asser-
ton"
All this in soliloquy, as Mr.. Thomas Bar
dell donned his daintiest walking dress, drew
on his lavender kids, put on his glossiest silk
hat over his crop of curling hair, and survey
ing his handsome faultleSsly attired self III
the long mirror, sailed forth.
Rushtowu was Il 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 1t was COM
posed Thomas Bardell, my hero, was the
nephew of the late owner of the Bardell
Place and on the death of that gentleman
had inherited his entire property, greatly to
his own ama2ement, Mr. Julius Bardell, de
ceased. having quarreed with every relation
he had in the world, and announced his in
tention of leaving every dollar to charity.
That he did not. but relenting. made n will
in his nephew's favor, which hrOdght Mr..
Thomas Bardell from college in Germany,
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 attrib-
uted to the fact that lie had another who was "A
Christian lady, who loved him, and whose
death, when he had Just attained manhood,
Wns 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 oasi-
ly found.
The hall door stood open, the parlor door
was also stretched invitngly wide, and after
vainly waiting for the ring to he answered,
Mr. Bardell stepped inside the yestibule.
A voice, high above his head and in tho
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 a high step-ladder, scrubbing the paint
over a French window, heard voice say
1T is Tom, certainly"
Hand me my soap, that's II good fellow,
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 y came IN n voice muf
fled by laughter.
CLOSE down the ladder, where it has just
dropped Don't dare to laugh at me, sr, fol
| | am in the depth of Rillictou. Papa has in
vited the heir to that splendid Bardell Place
to drop in without ceremony. Did you ever
and We Just in the midst of spring cleaning
| So left Jane to finish up stairs, and came
| down myself to 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, already
feeling her head spinning with giddiness.
1--WE can't he grand, of course, and til,
house will look mean enough after Bardel
Place. but we can be Clean" she continued
scrubbing vigorously at the paint And yot
| know. Tom, that lac il sure to fall in Low,
with Julia. and it is such splendid chance
for her, poor dear. She does so hate oul
economies She has gone over now to Mrs
Simpsons to finish her blue muslin, and sh,
can't help clean, because it will spoil he
hands, and they are so pretty. Julia is love
ly in blue, because her skin is so fair if he
hair and eyes are dark. She will be just per
feet when she is rich, Tom hope she viii
have him, and papa and can jog along for
ever. We don't mind cheap things as poo
julia does. There! That paint can't b,
winter I'm coming down, and you caI
move the ladder over to the other window TO
me, Tom"
But cautiously descending the ladder, Dol
| ly only caught "a tleeting glimpse of u tall fig
ure going out ut the garden gate.
We'll" she said, tugging at the heavy lad
der, he might at least have waited to sa,
good morning"
Then. being the sweetest-tempered of WON
en-, though merely passably pretty girl
Dolly ascended the ladder again, and sooi
forgot Toms rudeness in the absorbing dutie
she had undertaken.
In the meantime, Mr. Thomas Bardell
shaking with laughter, wended his wa
homeward, inwardly determining her equi
librium.
For that must have been Miss Dolly, witt
the natty little boots and pink calico dress
She had lovely brown hair, though coul
not see her face"
The next call made by the heir of the Bar
dell Place found the parlor shining witt
cleanliness. Miss Julia Lawlor, really beau
tiful girl, arrayed in the blue muslin, knit
ting The blue muslin was the result o
Thomas Bardells apparently careless intima
ton to busy DIR. Lawlor that he intended T.
'drop in" that evening. For wonder tn
Doctor remembered the fact, and the Law
lor grls" were arrayed to receive their guest
Dolly, in half an hour, decided that sh
liked the new conner very much indeed, am
that he would make very nice brother whel
he fell in love with Julia aud married her, a
of course it was his manifest destiny to do
For Julia really is lovely" thought unsel
fish little Dolly, ''and when he hears her sing
he must lose his heart. "
Apparently the singing was as powerful