The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-02-12

though ! do not remember it against he
now. ] have always thought Of Ruth q
being q superior woman very superio
woman. I have heard your father 90
she spoke four languages in her youn,
days, and that she was great belle. then.
This brought out q contemptuou
"Humph! !" from the girls. This was th
} letter which proved the turning point i,
my life:
''SIsrnR7 1N-LAw: ! hear you are bless
ed with three daughters. I am child
less, bedridden old woman with no on,
to care for me. I need some strong
active young person daily and hourly
Send me niece. She shall be paid fo
her trouble, l suppose you consider
them all paragons; but beauty is not in
dispensible. Honesty and good moral.
are. Let me know at once. Your ODE
dent servant, RUTH RUsHTON,
'of the Pines Kent"
''What an insult!' said Edith. "Hor
rible old womanl After all these years
of neglect, she would now make a maid.
servant of us. shall not co."
Then Caroline delivered the address al
the beginning of my story.
"Poor nanny picked the padding
from the back of the stuffed chair like q
bird pecking at barley; all the time a
cloud creeping over her pale face.
mo; of course you'll neither of you 20,
after this letter; but it seems like flying
in the face of Providence to refuse. It is
not like going out to service, you know,
after all. The coming winter will be
very hard on me, and can't see my way
out very clearly. There's Agnes-we
might let her go; although I should miss
her sadly. And she has not a decent
gown to go in. Her next quarter will
not be due for long time yet.'
"What does it matter?" I said at last,
my heart filed with bitterness. II should
not be expected to dress greatly. l am
ready to go just as am.'
sob, dare say" said Caro-, in high
disdain. "Play1ng Cinderella is quite in
your like; but there's to be no godmother
nor prince in the story. You're going to
druid &c and slave for a hideous old tyrant,
and wear her ridiculous fnery for pay.
But anything for an excuse to leave the
drudgery here to Edith and I, you un-
grateful thing"
"I've done it all my life uncomplain-
ingly." plucked up spirit to say, con-
tident it would not help my case. how
ever.
"Dont quarrel now, just before separat-
ing" said poor nanny, almost sternly.
And so it was settled that I should
leave home; the letter was posted to nv
hard aunt, who was to look for me Tues
day fortnight, some little time being
allowed for my preparations. These were
ridiculously simple. Ny few things were
to be "gotten up" as the clear starchers
say, and I turned a changeable silk gown
of mammy's the snuffy side out, and
could have wept at the thought of how
should look in it. This, and my old
black, and one or two prints, were what I
packed in my mean little trunk, with
many sobs and tears at bidding farewell
to poor nanny, who cried SO bitterly,
her thin arms wound about my neck, 4s
if all her poor heart left her by misfortune
was bursting in twain.
Goodbye, NANNY darling, I shall
write often, and if there are any earnings
they shall come to YOU"
"One would think that Agnes were on
the eve of starting to America, .sneered
Edith, shaking my hand coldly, and Civ
ing me datby kiss on my tear stained
check.
Oh, never knew what a dear little
dun-colored home it was, until I had
turned my back upon it in the chill Sep
TENDER rain.
A eraY-haired servitor, in gray stock
ings and rusty small clothes, met me at
the station, with an ancient affair on four
wheels, drawn by an animal not at all
unlike the solemn old man. who said his
name was Dark, and whom shocked I'M
utterably by calling HIM Mr.. Dark.
had plenty of time for reflection as
we left the highway, turning up through
an avenue of paternal hemlocks, to the
no less forbidding old house, with
quantity of wings and windows, a ram
bling porch at the side, ana one or two
statues on the terraces ali soggy with
rain, and Uttered over with droppings
from the pines, whose funeral branches
had for years kept the sunshine from that
gloomy portal.
A staid, elderly woman, in a respect
able silk gown, met me at the door with
the intelligence that my aunt was quite
put about at having kept the tea waiting
a quarter of an hour, which I accepted
as an omen of bad beginning.
She was already sitting at the head of
the table in the dining -room-a gaunt
apartment, with high ceiling, heavy
mahogany furniture, and tall silver can
dlesticks.
A pallid old woman, with snow-white
hair and burning black eyes, with all
their old fire still smoldering in their
depths.
She held out one hand, shrouded in a
black lace mitten.
"Come here! And so you are my
niece? But you are no Rushton. She
has sent me the plainest one, of course.
Well, I cursed your mother tor her
beauty years ago. am glad shall not
be reminded Of it in you. Sit down
there, at the foot, don't keep me waiting.
Hand her the tray, Stevens"
| The pale, ghostly glimmer of the wax
lights on the Rushton plate, the whis-
pering of the wind in those gloomy
trees, the rustic OF the silk gown as Stew
ems came and went between my new
mistress and I, taken with the strange