Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-12-30
your convict theory" said mother, AJAX

iously, one day.
sit doesn' t matter. Wen keep her if
she were Lucretia Borgia herself" 1 aaid
uxuriously leaning back in the rocking
chair on the porch. 1.-THE idea of being
free from pots, pans and brooms at last!''
| We tasted our comfort at leisure:
brought out some fancy work and book
which we had never hoped to find time tt
read.
Then came letter from Julia Webb.
was a thunder clap in our clear sky. Julis
was cousin only the sheerest courtesy; .
beauty; a spoiled heiress; belle with q
dozen lovers. She was coming en- route to
Newport, to spend week with us.
Every likely some of these troublesome
men will follow to find how your hermi.
tage suits poor little butterfly me-" she
wrote. ssBut you will make them welcome
darling auntiel There is a Count Pasco
who is my chief nuisance just now. such
a charming, ridiculous creature! I shall
be delighted to give him peep into an
American iddle-class interior. And it
will be good opportunity for you and
Cousin Martha to have a glimpse of a fore
ign nobleman. Your gloomy life needs a
little cheering
tore the letter up, little viciously,
confess, and mother laughed.
ssNever mind Matte, = she said. ut is
true; we are middle-class people,
ut isn't that. But you know, mother,
even if the potatoes turn out well, we shall
not have dollar over when the year is
out. How are we going to meet this high
tide of company and fashion and foreign
nobility? Julia is quite capable Of staying
a month if the whim for hermitage life
seizes her,
'sWe can do without our winter dress
es," said mother, thoughtfully. ''But
even with that, the table must be very
plain"
1 wondered secretly if the blessed wo-
man had put this calamity in the care of
the angels. Afterwards, believed that
she had.
Julia came; so did the lovers; SO did
Count Pasco.
There was a regiment Of them at the
village inn, but they took our house by
storm all day.
There were charade-parties, p1cnics, ex-
cursons. Julia trailed her magnificent
silks or gauZy lawns up and down the wet
meadows; she called the old homestead
ssa charming old rookery;" pointed out the
magnificent sweep of hill and valley to the
east, with the great glittering plane of the
bay beyond, as mice little effect" and
told Count Pasco that mother and were
'squeer bits of human bric-a-brac."
But she was so pretty, and brilliant, and
willful, that nobody could be angry with
her.
.One day I found her in the kitchen in
blue silk wrapper, perched OF f1our-bar-
rel. while Christina, standing before her,
wringing her hands. Tears too, had wet
Julia's rose-leaf cheeks.
'What is the matter Can you under.
stand her ?'' I asked
pretty well. You know [ passed a
summer in Norway, and picked up good
deal of the language. Poor thing She
was brought up here by mistake
s'By mistake ?"
Eyes. 1t seems they were frightfully
poor--her mother and brother and herself
and she went as nurse with some trades
man s wife to Bremen. When her time OF
service was out she was sent home, but by
! some mistake, at night, was put aboard
the steamer for Philadelphia instead of for
Christiana
"Why! We ought to send her back
again !" [ cried, feeling as if had been
concerned in a case of kidnapping.
''No. Better bring her family out here.
She says it is so beautiful; so plenty to eat;
it is like the Garden Of Eden. If her mo-
Their and Jan could come, she would have
nothing more to ask"
ssShe might save her money and send for
them"
cit costs good deal. 1t would take her
years to earn so much. Besides, Jan is
under bonds to pay debt of his fathers.
I don't know how much. One or two
hundred dollars. No; she'll have to carry
her burden like the rest of US. Where's
the count ?'' and she skipped out of the
kitchen humming gay song, while Chris
tina turned hopelessly to her work.
The few stammered words in her own
tongue, however, had made the poor girl a
slave to Julia. She followed her around
from that day, waited on her; told her
| story a hundred times,
81 am horribly bored by this unending
talk OF 'mutter. mutter,' and Jan, Jan,
said Julia, stretching her tiny mouth in a
yawn.
''It is the only thing she knows" said
mother, gently.
DO keep her away from me to-day,
then, y impatiently.
'sTo-day'' was to be sgnalized by an
oyster-bake on the shore of the bay. The
count and four other worshipers were sup
posed to act as cooks and servitors, but
Christina did all the work.
She built the fire Of drlft-wood; cut the
bread; made the coffee and baked the oys-
tiers, running necessarily to Julia with the
biggest, her round face as red as peony.
1t was gray, gustv day; too gusty for
ua to use the little sail-boat which was
drawn up on the beach. This disappoint-
ment offered Julia chance for pretty
wilful pettishness.
"Too provoking! I set my heart on a
sail !" she cried. pouting. II will wager
rose against pair of gloves that have
it yet, Count" her eyes suddenly spark
ling.
The bet was taken. Half an hour after
wards we missed Julia, and the next mo-
[ ...a.>t le. chal Of hot