American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-11-22

ions tnat she could not have asked &
prince of the blood royal; and if any
body ever looked like II prince of the
blood royal it was Arnold Parnell. That
he was madly in love with Sarah
there wasn't the least doubt in my mind
and doubt if there was any doubt in
Sarah's, although | dare say that about
some things one is hardly quite sure till
the articles are signed and sealed. But
she was such n proud and stately piece
that she would have died sooner than
have given him, or any body but me
nobody ever minded me much
one sign concerning her feelings
and all we exactly knew was that il
young DIR. Parnell had given us Il good
chance, we, at least, should have been
equally madly in love with him. But
then Sarah wasn't like the rest of us,
and had never said as much as this about
him before.
''Oh no." answered her on this oc-
casion, d" she won't go out of her way To
make herself disagreeablc.
{" She won't have to-" said En-, COM
ing in with Kate, and overhearing me
- 1t is just going to destroy our home
having that woman here. She'll have
| the best chair, the best corner, the best
morsel, the best room, and the best
manners all the time. There'n never
| lee bit of freedom; we must speak
with bated breath; we don't know how
she II like this or take that; she's strict,
and we're liberal; she likes IL lot of peo-
pie we hate; We'll have TO mince our
words and pare our speech; III want
! haricot when we want roast; she will
want hot bread when we want cold :;
We'll hate pies and she ii hate buildings;
she'll want breakfast ut daybreak and
dinner ut noon-;tnd oh, dear! dear!"
And she did. All these things came
true. Miss Dchonc naturally had the
best corner and the best chair in it; of
course she had the best room-there
wasn't any other for her; and of course
l helped her to the best cuts-what else
could you do To an elderly stranger at
table? and of course we were on our
what we said in her presence. She was
dyspeptic and had to have little messcs
made for her; and she did get up before
dawn, and look very thankful if any
body else crept out of bed a couple of
hours afterward, and seem to be re-
proach to lazy young people; and she
did look over the tops of her glasses at
Arnold's goings and comings in such Il
way that it was quite plain that if she
said nothing, yet, like the silent parrot,
she kept up Il great thinking. But then,
as L said to Sarah once, she paid for it
ALL As yet we hardly felt any addi-
tional expense; and if things went on
comfortably, we could really think of
buying the new carpet that we had de-
SPARED of, and so rid ourselves of the
disgusting task of covering up holes and
darns by means of artificially arranged
shadows of chairs and tables; and the
next thing would be the new dress for
mamma-she hadn't had Il fresh black
silk since papa's death, and now silks
were cheap.
81 don't care if she does,'' said Sarah.
" Money can't pay for every thing;
here you are making yourself sick wait
ing on her by inches; and if you don't,
of course / must. And then l never
shall be able to have an hour for myself
for Arnold She stopped, for she
hadn't meant to say that. "There! l
don't care if it does burn my face and
CRIME my hands, she cried; al can't
have you doing all the nursing. There'n
be nothing left of you in a year, with
carrying up trays for breakfast, and
making beef tea, and whipping up eggs
for refreshers, and stirring a custard
now and a panada then, and filling hot
water bottles, and shaking up cushions,
and running up and down stairs, and
being a perfect drudge in general"
50 Nonsensei'' said l, when 1 could
break in. You know l like to do it.
1t is always pleasant to me to-
''Then if it's so pleasant, said Sarah,
"Tll have some of the pleasure. If the
little creatures going to stay-and /
suppose she isl shall take care of her
for the future. I'm sure you've enough
to do in waiting on mamma and seeing
to the housekeeping. Mammals enough
to set one by the head
Mamma wasn't our own mother, by
the-way; she was papa's great mistake.
But then we all got along nicely togeth-
err, and were, on the whole, very fond of
each other, for all Sarah's remark; but
you know the best of friends are some
times exasperating. As mamma came |
of an old and stately but impecunious
family, she held herself of little more |
worth than we were-we who had
sprung from the soil, so to speak; and, |
to tell the truth, we did have to wait |
upon her-how we did have to wait up
on her! But somehow we always liked |
suppose, having the two of them made |
it too much of good thing. And l
must say was surprised to see Sarah |
taking the matter up SO, and it did put
ing on the Witch of Endor, say-Sarah
was so splendid and superb, and then
she usually did look like an Eastern
Princess i'll disguise, whether she was
holding a toasting fork over the blaze,
or snufling Miss Dehone's wax candle
for her; and Miss Dehone always would
have wax candle. As for En- and
Kate, they kept school, and were the
chief of our support, and could not, of
course, do any thing else.
III IL. IL |