, 1879-07-10
Ircne's Auction.

E1r i'm. her air bctokcning utter help
Io..ness as she looked pitifully toward
.ho heoutitnl Girl WHOM she addressed
"Nothing, mamma" answered the lat
+ar drawing nearer as she spoke and
tnacI;uc ut the others side, while she
laid her finger caressinsy upon her
mothers pale chcel,-"oniy each other:
hut papa's death has taught us how much
that is. Don't worry, dearest. | hope
tbe sale will enable us to buy furniture
more suitable to the few rooms which
for time must be our future home, UNI
I'll | can secure some pupils and get the
little home in the country where YOU
are to live, surrounded by birds and
flowers, and forget that the red flag ever
waved from your door"
They were brave words, bravcly
spoken-so bravely as not to betray the
effort they cost the speaker.
Six months before, Irene Arthur had
reirned belle in her fathers magnii-
cent home, when like u thundclholt
from n clear Summer sky, came that
fathers failure and death in quick sue
cession, with the lessons only experience
teaches, of friends deserting in the hour
of need-little by little learning the
necessity of standing alone and seeing
hope drifting further and further in the
distance; until the present, with its alb
solute emergencies, reused her to action
The small head, set so ragally upon
the slight, sloping shoulders, held itself
more regally still; the red, full curved
lips were pressed more proudly together,
as Irene ebuckledon herarmor for thefray.
The hardest part was overnow. Her
mother had been told the worst that
could befall them. She must now take
her from this spot, hallowed by memory,
before the desecrating foot of strangers
entered it,
A few days search, and she was re-
warded by finding in quiet house,
very comfortable suite of rooms
which met at once her purse and her re-
Quirements, in sad contrast to the ele-
CANT mxurance, with which she had been
surrounded her life long, but where, at
least, her mother was saved the sight of
the red flag, which seemed to her to be
dyed in her hearts blood.
as there nothing you would wish 10
save, Miss ArthurF questioned Il voice
at her side, the morning of the sale.
She turned haughtily toward the
stranger, but something in his clear blue
eyes bent upon her witnessed the words
held honest meaning,
81 beg your pardon sir, she answered,
unable to disguise wholly the pride these
latter days had developed so forcibly-
81 have not the pleasure of your ac'
quaintance."
at is for Inc to beg pardon. for
got | might not be known to you per-
sonally, though | am the auctioneer ap
pointed by the estate. Your father
once did me a great Kindness, and though
would not appear intrusive, | should
very much like to preserve any article
you may DESIRE
"With many thanks, sir, | desire TO
receive no favors," she replied coldly,
and passed on, to take one tlecting look
ere she fled to the place she must now
learn to call her home, to be haunted all
day by the sound of the auctioneers
hammer, and the voices of strangers,
desecrating the halls.
But when, in the dusk of the evening,
cart stopped before the door, and one
by one articles hallowcd by association
her fathers chair, her own desk, her
mothers favorite picturcs-wcre brought
In, the feelings so long repressed gave
way to burst of tears.
Who had done this thingl For one
moment the honest blue eyes which had
met her own that day rose before her.
but, no such delicacy belonged not to
their owners rank in life. Nor was it
strangers work. Some one must have
Known her well to have selected the few
things it had been such bitter warfare
to part with.
They were, indeed, like old friends
sent to comfort her, us, in the weary
days that followed, her eyes would rest
upon them in her bitter struggle for the
daily necessities of life for herself-the
luxuries which to her mother had become
necessities.
Business had thrown her moro than
once with Earl Kenneth, the owner OF