Democratic messenger., 1881-10-15
A VERY MODERN LOVE STORY.
Notes from the Diary of a Lady
Tutor.


nor hysterical, but at this moment l am
sorry that l have mislaid my smelling
salts. A MANA young man-said to
be good-looking-has been admitted
here into this house, and is actually
unpacking his portmanteau in the room
over my head And this is q boarding
house for girl students and he has
been admitted by Mrs. Williams, our
landlady and my old friend
Mdy 7M.-I am better now, for
have heard the whole story. The gen.
tleman, whose arrival and admission
into this house last night produced in
me, and indeed in all of us, such an
extreme degree of astonishment, is Mr..
Arthur Lindsay. 1t seems that he has
known Mrs. Williams ever since he was
a boy at school; and she says that she
feels like a mother to him. She is in
the habit of saying that she feels like q
mother to us girls but that is a diff
ferent thing. / have known several
young gentlemen since they were boys
at school but don't feel like q mother
to them, and | am sure they don't feel
like soDs TO me. Mrs. Williams says
that Mr.. Lindsay arrived here at half
past ten last night from the East India
Docks, having come straight from the
ship Wellington, of which he is first
lieutenant. He lived with Mrs. VIII
liams and her husband six years ago,
before he went to sea and, arriving in
London, hers was the first house he
thought Of. He knew nothing of the
change that had come over her eStab-
lishment; that is to say, he knew moth
ing of us. We are the "change." There
were no female students when Mr.. Lind
say boarded with Mrs. Williams.
When Mr.. Arthur Lindsay said that
he had come to stay with Mrs Williams,
Mrs. Williams said that it was impos-
sible. She explained to him the situa-
ton. She said that she now received
only lady boarders, students of Queen
Anne's College, and could not take him
as a permanent boarder. Mr.. Lindsay
caught at the word permanent almost
before it was ont of her mouth, and
said, "Oh, but shan't be permanent.
i have only two months leave; in nine
weeks l must be on board again. Dc
take me in, dear Mrs. Williams, for nine
weeks. ] need see nothing of the ladies,
and they need see nothing of me; and
what could possibly happen in nine
weeks ?"
Ethel Austin demurred to the first
part of the last sentence; and Lola
Brown said that ga great deal" could
happen in nine weeks. She said that
her Aunt Sarah had married her Uncle
George in six weeks, and separated from
him in three.
"The end of it all was, dears," said
Mrs. Williams, "that / consented to
take him in. You see it is only for
nine weeks after all, and I have always
felt like mother to him"
May 11h.-Ought / to tell Miss
Grindle? Miss Grindle, as Principal OF
the college, and responsible to some ex-
tent for the surroundings of the stu
dents, not only in class, but at home,
would, / am afraid, object peremptorily
and decidedly to Mrs. Williams's new
boarder.
Should there ever be any reason to
regret the admission of Mr.. Arthur
Lindsay into this house, l fear that il
will be in great part provided by Lola
Brown.
Nevertheless, 1 will not tell Miss
Grindle; at least not yet. Nine weeks
will soon pass, and L will keep near tc
Ethel and watch Lola.
May 18Th. 1t is a week to- day since
Mr.. Lindsay came into the house, an6
nothing has transpired TO alter my re
solve of not acquainting Miss Gr1ndlt
with the circumstance. We have none
of us seen him. Lola does not disguise
her impatience, but 1 lose no opportu
nifty of reproving her.
Nay 15th.-Lola Brown, as fate ol
her own determination would have it
has been the first of us to see Mr.. Ar
thur Lindsay. She met him on th'
stairs when coming down, more lat
than ever, to breakfast this morning
Ethel questioned her eagerly, and sh'
vouchsafed the following description
"Ligbt hair, five feet ten, and jolly,
tell you" At dinner this evening Loli
appeared in new necktie of extrava
CANT color, which she was bold enough
to tell Mrs. Williams was her eva
color" To MS III private she made NJ
scruple of her intentions to ego for
our gentleman boarder. Mrs. William
and took her apart privately and rea
soned with her. We showed her wha
was due to herself as a young lady o
name, position and tender years; to tn
great college of which she was student
to Mrs. Williams 8 establishment, which