The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-04-08

And then remember IL for the rest
of your life, suppose" observed Har-
ry; on the principle of marrying In
haste and repentlng at LEISURE Well,
Well, 1 hope my fair cousins will not
he the cause of such catastrophe; but
1 must leave you here, as / have
patient in this house."
And he ran hastily up the steps.
Left to himself, Tom sauntered slow
ly along, thinking of the young ladies
whom he had just seen. 1t must be con-
fessed that little Violet occupied but
very small portion of his thoughts,
which were filled with Ida and Adele.
{" But doubt If either of them ever saw
dlsh-towel," was his concluding re.
Election, as he reached his boarding
house.
Weeks passed on. Tom was devoted
in his attentions to the Miss Renshaw's.
Rumor had assigned him first to Ida,
then to Adele, and waited with impa-
tience for the time when the engage
ment should be publicly announced.
Meanwhile, almost every day brought
some good and sufficient excuse for him
to call at Mrs. Renshaw's pleasant
house a new poem, the latest song, an
invitation for drive, or plan for some
excursion. OF Violet he saw less than
of the other sisters, though they were
very friendly, and he treated her with
somewhat of the same brotherly frank
ness as Harry.
One lovely June morning, he present
ed himself at Mrs. Renshaw's at quite
an early hour, intending to invite the
three sisters to pass the beautiful sum-
mer day in long country drive.
He noticed that there was some de-
lay in answering his ring, which was
not usually the case with Mrs. Rem
shaw's well-trained servants, but at
length he heard light footstep in the
hall, and in another moment the door
was opened by Violet. She had a broom
in her hand, and dusting-cap covered
her bright curls, but she bade him good
morning with as much cordiality as
usual, and invited him to enter, ad-
ding
Please walk in the dining room, for
l am just sweeping the parlors.''
Secretly wondering, Tom obeyed. AS
he turned the handle of the dining-room
door, there was a sudden rush, hasty
bang of door, and hurried exclama-
tion of 20 Violet how could you 20
and he found himself in the presence of
hn fuir A Iala e.
scarcely recognized her in the slovenly
dressed girl, with disheveled hair, who
stood by the breakfast table dabbling the
cups and saucers in some greasy water
and wiping them on towel which, to
say the least, was very far from being
spotlessly clean. She colored, and with
some confusion of manner said.-
"Ah, good-morning, Mr.. Meredith.
So you have come to find us all at work
this morning. 1t happens that we have
for our three servants brother and two
sisters.
They received this morning the news
of their mothers dangerous illness, and
mamma at once gave them all permis-
sion to go home. We supposed we could
get woman who sometimes does extra
work for us, but she was engaged for the
day, so we are obliged to do the best we
can, ourselves. assure you," she con-
tinued, with little laugh which Tom
before had often thought pretty and en-
gaging, but which now sounded false
and affected, "that am by no means
accustomed to such work, nor have
any desire to become so.''
Cannot you allow me to assist you 2"
asked Tom politely. 81 was brought
up on farm, and have often washed
dishes and made myself generally use
full about the Kitchen"
"You exclaimed Adele in such an as
tonished tone, that Tom could not for
bear laughing.
Yes, certainly: why not?" he in
quired.
"Oh-I don't know--only I thought
you never did anything" stammered
Adele; then endeavoring to seem at
ease, she said hurriedly. Yes, if you
will help, please take this heavy tea
kettle into the kitchen, and set it on the
stove.n
Tom seized the kettle, and throwing
open the door leading to the kitchen,
was crossing the room toward the stove,
when his progress was arrested by the
sudden appearance of Ida from store
room in front.