Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-06-06

soft football at the door, and closed my
eyes, for l couldn't bear to look upon
her. She went softly away again, only
to come shortly after and look at me
again. The next footstep heard was
Toms. Coming on tiptoe in my room,
which made his boots squeak all the
more, he found my eyes wide open and
staring upon him. He started back in
alarm, for suppose he saw something
wild and strained about them.
"Why, my dear old Prudy-" he be-
gan.
But 1 drew him closer to me, and
whispered, fiercely: "No more night
work for Daisy. won't have it. DO
you understand Pray God it may not
be too late to save the child nowr'
His face took serious expression,
and he pulled at his mustache. "Now
see here, Prue," he said, "dOn't, for
Heaven s sake, get any nonsense of that
kind into your head. She couldn't
drop out now, you know; the very devil
would be to pay"
Yes, you have said it," l replied,
bitterly; "it is the devil who reaps the
profit. God help! what am l to doPn
And seeing Daisy trembling in the
doorway, held out my arms to her;
her sweet eyes filled, and she threw
herself, sobbing upon my breast.
hated to hurt the child, l hated to
shock Tom, but something must be
done at once to check these evil ways;
and while 1 strove for word to begin
with, Tom said that some old woman
had been meddling, he supposed.
40, Tom, was the witness to my
own miseryW And then keeping
Daisy's face hidden near my heart, /
told them of all my fears for Daisy's
increasing vanity, my awful doubts
about the glitter of her beauty, and at
last the discovery of the dreadful stain
upon her cheek.
expected to see Tom fall back
aghast. l thought that Daisy would
sob the more, and hide her face the
closer. To my surprise, Tom blew a
long, low whistle, and Daisy raised
her head and looked at him.
There's no use talking, Tom; won't
60 on with it if it makes Prue feel so
badly. l couldn't, Tom, if L made a
| thousand dollars night" This was
what Daisy said, and began stroking
my hair and fondling me again as if |
were the diseased and pitiable one. 1
thought should go mad with bewilder-
ment when Tom spoke again.
&C Now see here girls,' he said, "no
more melancholy pumping, please;
there's misery enough in the world,
without going out of ones way to find
it. The best way to convince Prue
that every thing is right is to let her
see for herself. propose to take Prue
down with us tonight"
ITO the-the-h faltered Daisy.
"To the insurance office" said Tom.
"She can remain there, and watch us
at our work; and if, taking into consid-
GRAFTON the fact that we must earn an
honest living in some way, she finds
this one altogether Objectionable, we'll
let it slide. Now dry your tears and
call it a bargain. Suspend further
agony till tonight, and in the mean
while I'll 90 out and look at my Gull
nary venture"
He went out, and l heard him whistle
as he went. 1t was very bewildering
that he should take so grave matter
in that way.
"Is this the little girl, Daisy" l
said, solemnly, " that has lain so many
years at my heart-my pure, innocent
little sisterP'
"Yes, yes, Prudy, a thousand times
yes," she cried. "rm a great deal
better and happier than ever 1 was, be-
cause | can help along with the rest"
Then l kissed her and turned my
tired head to the pillow. was only
too glad to take brief and troubled
respite. And shortly after arose and
dressed, and toward evening Mrs. Bal
briggan called to tell me that Tom had
asked her to go with me in the evening.
| did not like this foolish and fussy
woman as witness to probable shame
or discontinue, but hadn't much time
for any further worry. Mrs. Balbrig-
gan, finding it it impossible to induce
me to fix what she called my front hair,
devoted her attention to her own, and
gave way at times to an unseemliness of
mirth which l thought sadly out of
place; but she had always been
ridiculous old woman. We got into the
cab that Tom had provided, and shortly
went into what Tom called the side en-
trance to the insurance office, and made
our way into guady little curtained
stall, with a lot of tiddlers twangine
away within a hand s-breadth. o the
bitterness of that moment! Tom, the
lad that had loved and trusted,
had tricked me into coming to the
theater to assuage a misery that
he could not understand or comfort,
and had given me over to the company
of this crazy Balbriggan woman, who
was already pulling upon her pudgy
hands pair of yellow gloves many
Nv
bursting. 1 looked about me for a
means of escape, but the play had al
ready begun, and the stage was filled
with motley crowd of women and
sailors. One of these exchanged a
glance with Mrs. Balbriggan, siding
up to the box, and another of them
followed her. Mrs. Balbriggan nudged
me with her fan, and asked if l had
ever seen them before. And one of the
poor creatures giggling up in my face,
couldn't but see the startling resem-
blance to Jane Balbriggan, while the
fat little tawdry thing by her side was
the image of her sister Susan. Scarce
recovered from this bewilderment, | !
saw that one of the sailors was John;
and another poke of Mrs. Balbriggan's !
fan drew my attention to a fine, hand |
some young officer Just striding upon
the stage. Before he began to sing l |
knew twas Tom, and sank back in my
seat.
"It's quite a family party" said
Mrs. balbrlggan. There's lots Of
'em from the choir in the Lutheran
Church" But a loud burst of ap-
plause drowned her voice, and before
that awful Balbriggan began jogging
me with her fan knew the awful mo-
ment had come. L suppose l was
fool. Other people might have been
proud of her beauty and talent and sue
cess, but the tears rained out of my
eyes; and as she stood there in the big
bonnet that only served to see off her
lovely face, and bowed to the gaping
crowd | felt az manv another Nyratabad