The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-05-08


ure, sachel and blanket-shawl. She
motioned to Amy to be seated, and her
self, in stiffest possible attitude, ap-
propriated an armchair. She was tall
and gaunt and severe. With sharp
assumptive and grating voice she enter
ed into examination:
Chow old are you ?"
shall be twenty-one in two years."
Too young. Where were you edu-
Gated? What are your qualifications
TO whom do you refer2 What system
do you use in the study of languages 1?
What method do you employ in teaching
music, and in drawing and water-colorP
Give me your answers as expeditiously
as possible. The train starts at IL AS; [;
the carriage should be here at this mo-
ment. 1 am going to Montreal for a
month, and am unwilling to leave my
niece alone. And our cook has given us
warning. 'Tis pity, for although she
has fiery temper, she pleases brother
With difficulty L have persuaded her to
remain a month. The waitress, too,
expresses dissatisfaction; the seamstress,
think, is more reliable; but altogether
the household is in q state particularly
untitled to be managed by a mere child
like my niece Martha, who, however, is
head of the house, and you will call
her Miss Martha, please. And I need
for the place an experienced person.
But really, as this is the last moment.
and you may be better than no one, per-
haps had better engage you for one
month; provided, of course, that your
credentials"
"The cab is at the door, mem, and
says he's late, and must hurry up; and
oh here is Mr.. Rainor himself"
And n gentleman entered in some haste,
merely saying, as he was presented to
Miss Jennings, 81 will see you in a few
moments" and hurried his sister to the
carriage, she all the way endeavoring to
impress upon him how very unfavorable
an opinion she had formed of the capa-
city and experience of the new governess,
= to be engaged only for the month, you
know; and it was necessary to have some
one at once"
Her last act, as the cab drove off, was
to thrust her head through the window,
with an expression of dire solemnity, and
say, with groan, " Brother, we've gone
through the woods to pick up the crook.
ed stick at last"
Mr.. Rainor returning to the parlor,
supposing that his sister had arranged
I'll preliminaries, only said: How soon
can you come, Miss Jennings ?"
Tomorrow morning, if you like"
answered Amy.
"Let it be, then, by ten o'clock 80
that may present my little daughter,
and see you established before go down
town."
"Just what you might have expected
from such wiliul girl, said Amy sister
in-law to her husband, who was petrifed
with astonishment when he learned that
his pretty, sprightly sister, who seemed
to him t' all smiles" and who, "just out
of school" had been received most low
ingly on his part into his afiuent home,
had engaged to "go as governess."
&c 1t is girlish freak" he said; "I
can not consent to it." But Amy shock
ed him into acquiescence by tempeatu-
GUS outpouring of her story of home
sickness and unhappiness: and although |
he was sorely puzzled to conceive how
his wife could have been cruel to Amy,
or rather how Amy could have imagined |
his wife to be cruel, he efnally-censider- |
ing that the engagement was only for a
month, and Mr.. Rainor happened to be |
known to him as one of the most estim- |
able of citizens-gave his reluctant con-
sent, saying to his wife, caressingly, |
"She'll come back to us, Matilda, at the |
end of the month, quite cured of her
girlish homesickness."
So Amy appeared the next morning
by ten O'Clock in the breakfast-room of |
Mr.. Rainor, and was presented to his |
little daughter.
The child was an angular, awkward |
girl, with sharp, delicate features and
immense black eyes that seemed to be |
peering forth from an extremely active |
intelligence with a suspicious vigilance |
that TO Amy was really formidable.
L had hoped she would have resem-
bled her father" thought Amy, despair
ingly. 81 like Mr.. Rainor. But this
child is Mrs. Bdgeley in miniature.
What shall ] do with her ?"
Little Miss Martha, clinging devoutly
to her father, received her new governess
as she would have received the gift of |
some wild and unknown animal, whose |
claws or talons or teeth it were we'll to |
beware of.
Mr.. Rainor, glancing at his watch,
found that he was too late to go through |
the rooms and look over school-books, as /
he had intended; but he said, kindly, as
with Martha's fond assistance he was
putting on his overcoat to go down town,
" You will examine the ground to-day,
Miss Jennings. Matte will assist you.
There will probably be some things that
you will want. Perhaps you had better
make out list, and give it to me this
evening""
Nine O'Clock at evening. Mr.. Rainor
seated at his reading table in the library,
book in hand. Enter Amy, timidly, but
with a secret bravery.
Miss Martha has retired, because |
her head still troubles her. had her |
feet bathed in hot water" >"
Il. = Il -