The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-02-12
MY AUNT'S WILL.


ter, with an aggravating laugh. II d.
not claim to be a paragon, by any means
and it would take qualities little short O
saints to poke down in the country ant
hobble through life at the beck of frac
tious old woman. I shall not 90, To-
onel"
"Carolinei" said mother, in a milo
tone of rebuke.
Poor little soul! She rarely ever as
serted her authority before the elder
girls. They were all Rushtons, every
inch, and poor little nanny had learned
all about the Rushton blood years before
was born. They were stern, proud
arrogant set, and, in her meek eyes, were
more like queens and ogres, than he,
husbands relatives. How Gerald Rush.
ton came to marry poor country curate's
daughter remained MYSTERY of his fami-
~ to the day of death, and with wom-
ans instinct freshened by the memory OF
my mothers sad face and fearful eyes, /
think she had puzzled over the enigma
through many lonely hours, only the
question might have;been put to her con-
seriousness little differently. As, how
was it that she had been brought to hold
in idolatry a man ofmy fathers temper.
ament.
He was very unlike her imagined hero,
quite unlike the lover she had expected
would come up the rose walk at Aubrey
rectory to ask her to marry him. My
mother rarely every spoke of her later
years as wife, but often with even en-
thuslasm of their first meeting. And the
childish tondness with which she regard
ed him.
It had been made matter of reproach
TO her always by his relatives, and my
father, I think, never entirely forgave
her for her share in mis- alienation from
his family. He died with that antago-
nism in his heart, and my mother had
suffered silently, rearing her three giiri, girls
as well as she could on the slender pat
rinony left her, with just enough Of
the old curate's dignity Of character to
restrain her from appealing to the great
people down in Kent.
Caroline, now in her twenty-third year,
had been waiting some years, rather i'm
patiently, for duke orsviscount to come
down into the country and marry her for
her peachy cheeks and sloe-black eyes.
But nowadays dukes prefer bad COM
plexion and 100000 year to captivat-
ing young person whose sole dover is in
mere personal attraction.
Edith was already twenty-one, and felt
aggrieved at her sister for not having
made match, leaving the field to her.
Not strong like Caro-, Edith was, how
ever, a pretty girl, with fine, ladylike
hands, and carriage s princess might
have envied.
I believe was seldom thought of by
any one until it was discovered I was
too much grown to utilize the cast-off
frocks of the other girls, and was now a
tall, awkward girl of eighteen, with
large elbows and sandy complexion,
like the Aubreys. It was also discovered
about this time that had made much
of my musical chance, and, what with a
few lessons from the village organist and
the drumming through long winter eve-
nings on the old harpsichord in the sit
ting-room, had suddenly became pro-
icient in a small way; enough so, at
least, to admit of my taking few Of
Miss Harmon's schoolers in the after
moons. The money earned in this way
seemed, no doubt, prodigious sum to
poor nanny, whose common condition
was state of perfect impecuniosity
Mother had often declared that both
Caro- and Edith possessed the hands OF
musicians, so slender, supple and white,
while mine were overgrown from the
wringing of dish.clothes, and red from
boiling water.
Providence had given me my bony
hands with music in them, and won.
derful voice, which Miss Harmon had
declared made me almost seem pretty
She never knew, kind soul, how she
made my heart ache with dull, horri
BILE pain, when she dealt me this depre
catory praise.
The girls aud nanny were in the lit
tie dun colored morning-reom, which
had once been my fathers study, will
closed blinds, ripping up an ancient chat
upholstered in a grand Arab pattern o
scarlet and gold, to construct an over
dress for Carolines cherry silk, tn
sleeves and bodice of which were quit
beyond repair. The chair had bee
sh1ouded in gray holland for the las
dozen years, and the silk really was un
worn.
Who ever thought letter would fin
it's way from tie outside world to on
sober little house behind these polar
willows, like so many transmigate
Rushtons, tall and angular, still keepin
guard over nanny and her brood.
"Do open it, mamma" said Edith, i'm
patiently. every likely it is from som
forgotten creditor of poor papa's."
"Poor little mammy's ribbons tremble
and futtered while she read the fe'
words, written, it might be, by an article
clerk in Lincoln Inn Fields, the letter
were so aggressive. ..
swell, girls'-w;th a faint attempt
cheerfulness- there's chance for one
you, at last. This letter is from yo'
aunt Ruth Rushton. your fathers eide
sister, who never married, and who new
spoke to him after he married me-
. &. . F. Z 81 4 "a