The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-10-17
this fae,,y young lady in our humble

| w nat cOuIu ddut W, LnlUAiUS dUOut!
True, she didn't know exactly how poor
we were, for we'd been too proud to &C
knowledge our extreme poverty in our
| few and 7far-between letters. On the
contrary, ! am afraid we had led her to
i believe that we were in quite flourish
ing condition. 81 But for all that, she
ought to have known that we were not
fourishing enough to support . delicate
| and beautiful girl, used to luxury, ten
derness, and devotion. for even few
months. Was ever any thing so mall
! apropos and ,vexatiousp OF course Miss
| Ashbell would look with scorn on our
seven-roomed dwelling, with back
garden twenty 1fve by twenty and
a courtyard ten by ten. And suppose
las aunt. with . short-sightedness very
unusual with her, complacently remark
ed-Carrol should fall in love with herp
i, The proud English girl would no doubt
regard him as q fortune hunter, and in
vidiously compare his frank, impulsive,
rather brusque manners with the repose
and "awful !" dignity Of the languid
swells of her own land.
| And somebody else might be attract
ed toward her--men are so susceptible
to woman's beauty-somebody who now
| thought nay brown face the sweetest in
the world. The very thought made my
heart stop beating. ]" ga5@ 5s,~ q.
7 And the maidp Even if we could
make arrangements to accommodate
her-and it seemed utterly impossible
for us to do So Betty, our faithful serv-
ant for /. the, last fifteen years, would
| look upon her in the light of an inter-
loper, and treat herlas such. Betty had
/ been used to being monarch of all she
. surveyed !" Even in house cleaning
| times those times that tries mems souls
and .women's soles-she scorned the
idea of an assistant. .h.'t'li VT
| "No, ma am, I'll have no strangers
l pokin' roun' me. When Pm not able
to do the work of this house alone,
I'll go.'' r., Is. # ii#d. tjsl
And mother-dear, shrinking, grief
stricken mother-how would she bear
the advent of this dainty Miss AshbeIl?
But we could do. nothing to. avert the
impending misfortune Even if we had
thought Of disobeying our fathers last
icommand, and refusing aunt the favor
she had not asked, but, in her usual de-
cisive way, taken for granted, the young
lady twas on her way, and would be here
in day or two. =, i.'I.,5 NJ. \ s' s.9 !.
The news must be immediately broken
to mother and Betty. 1, being The
housekeeper, tihdsrso oh to sfaeesst6e lat
ter. win confess did it with fear and
trembling. She heard me grimly, never
ceasing to pare the potatoes she held in
her lap, and when had ended, looked
4 up with a sharp nod Of her head ], and
. said, slowly and emphatically, Betty II
4 have to 60 now, sure. She can't stand
no fine young ladies and sassy young
ladies-m maids about for nothin'.''
/ Helen went to mother, put her arms
about her neck, and with kiss and a
smile told her of the expected visitor,
adding, with an assumption of gayety !:
(" She shan't come near you at all ,mam-
ma dear, if you don't want her; but you
know aunt has been so kind to us, and
father loved her so dearly, it would be
impossible to refuse the first favor she
ever asked of u.s. ;, ~ .t.l u
Mother said never a word, but began
] brushing the hair back from her tenn
piles with both hands in a nervous way
she had when any thing grieved or an
! noyed her. 5.o - >
And then we began preparing for
Miss Ashbell. Wills room was to be
given up to; her., and Will (Carrol's
room was scarcely large enough for HIM
self and his art-traps. ashe called them)
was to be slowed away in the loft
4 proceeding which he viewed with i'm
mense dissatisfaction. "I'll smother
up there in hot weather. he said, with
a wry face. "Oh, I wish there wasn't
any Miss Ashbell! Why don't she go to
a hotel?n ~ ~ ~ ~ -
+ "Why don't she?" echoed L. - GA
I said we began to prepare for her,
! but for lack Of the aforementioned
silver and gold, our preparations were
of the simplest kind. Carol made and
put up two pretty brackets, and hung,
with sigh-for he hated to part with
them the few pictures he possessed on
the walls. Hoped back the white cur
tains freshly washed and ironed, with
much grumbling, by Betty. with new
j blue ribbons, and covered the trunk
ottoman with bright chintz, and with
He1en's help made new mat to place
before the bureau, and we turned an old
table-cloth into napkins, and bought a
new napkin-ring and two or three cut
sfglass goblets and lovely china cup and
saucer, and when all was done, waited
with anxious hearts for our unwelcome
guest. sFl ia5 i.ls !. !
Mother had shut herself up ia her
EToom early in the morning of the day
j we expected her, and had remained
there; and the rest Of us were all as IN
comfortable as poor, proud, shy, sensi-
tive people could be at the thought of a
/ perfect strangers ingress into the very