Daily globe., 1880-04-04
ANYTHING FOR A CHANGE.


the lives of the heroines of fiction. Chest
nut farm was miserable place, in Nellie's
view, and not a bit like a manor, or q
grange, or acastle. Nothing mysterious or
tragic could ever happen on such prosaic
ground, nor could anything extraordinary
occur to any of the people who lived there.
Day after day the same monotonous dra-
ma was enacted. The A train passed
up in the morning and passed down again
In the afternoon; but the passengers SEEM
ed to be always the same people, and GER
tainly it was invariably the same locomotive
and train of cars. Here was breakfast,
dinner, and supper; twice week John
Mortimer paid a visit; occasionally some
one else dropped in, and in this set of
incidents was comprised the entire history
of life.
Nellie was ennuied to death. This lovely
Autumn afternoon she sat in the doorway
of her uncle's pretty farmhouse, book in
her lap and rebellion in her heart. The
wind was sweeping the red leaves from the
trees, and the long, tedious Summer was
fast coming to an end.
Glow much all this reminds me of my
lfe!" unused Nellie. 81 am growing old
without ever having been young. From
the instant we are born we begin to die;
but some Of US more rapidly than others
Good Heaven, will there never be a
change !'
Nellie" said little boy, making a sud-
den appearance from the interior of the
house. "Aunt Mary says you mustn't sit
here, because it's too chilly. You will catch
cold.'
81 hope not" answered the young lady.
with infinite scorn. 81 may come in pres
emily"
"But she wants you to come in mo,v."
persisted little Frank, her mischievous
brother.
81 shall come in when it pleases me-
That's rude, Nellie, and 1 daren't tell
auntie that. There's company in the par
Ior, and she told me not to tell you, and she
wanted to surprise you, and they will be
gone away soon if you don't come IN" said
Frank, with that defiance of grammatical
proprieties which is the pleasant privilege
of childhood.
Company! Some bore, dare say; but
anything for a change. Nothing could be
duller than sitting here"
So Miss Nellie went in. She found Aunt
Mary conversing with the handsomest
young man possible to imagine-tall, dark,
slender, rather piratical-looking, but on
that account only the more attractive. He
might have sat for Lord Byron's "Corsair"
or Clara in fact, for anybody very wick.
ed and very splendid in appearance. Aunt
Mary rather stifay introduced him as Mr..
Lionel Chelmont. Nellie could hardly
speak for embarrassment. Here was her
beau-ideal at last.
1t presently appeared that Mr.. Chelmont
was an author. He was even now engaged
upon book, and, being desirous of rural
solitude until he could finish it, he had call
ed upon Aunt Mary to obtain board and
lodging with her, if possible, for 4 month or
so, or, if impossible, to obtain information
where such accommodation in the vicinity
could be had.
"It is so quiet here,' he said, in thrill
ingly modulated voice; "and quiet is what
I seek. I have lived in such a whirl of
excitement during the Summer, that am
bent on trying theOpposite extreme. Sick
with pleasure, he almost longed for woe, as
the poet says, and really the sentiment ex-
presses my own feeling exactly"
cit is very dull in Winter" said Aunt
Mary.
"The duller the BETTER" laughed Mr..
Chelmont. 81 don't have time for anything
hut my book. should be under load of
obligation if you could accommodate me,
and shan't be in the way at all; and as for
the price, anything you like to ask will meet
my views exactly"
He had such a careless, scornful way of
speaking, that Nellie already half-loved
him. This Indifference about what he
was to pay was so romantic, and in
such contrast with Aunt Mary's penurious
ideas, and John Mortimer's greedy count
ings up of the shillings and pence! And
how admirably he was dressed-at Chest
nut Farm he looked out of place. His pro-
per sphere would be mighty castle of soma
kind-one of those amazing structures de-
scribed in stories-with slaves around him,
and all that sort of thing.
Aunt Mary finally decided to take him
for fortnight at least-his soiourn after
that time to be longer, if mutually agree
able-"and payment" she ccughed, rather
grimly, Gin advance" Atthis Nellie's ears
tingled, it was really so coarse, she thought
but Mr.. Chelmont merely said:
admirably business-ike! respect that
quality; for haven't a particle of it in my
composition. I scarcely know how to count
my own money, and never was able to
learn the multiplication table"
So he paid the fortnight's board in ad-
vance, and was established. Here was a
change at least, and Nellie began to know