The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-06-28
PHYL.
P
THE o

fH1Ls
CHAPTER I.
THE COUNTRY MOUSE.
"Phyllis,'' a my stepmother, Mrs.
Maria, looking up from the letter she was
reading, with a tinge of excitement on her
face, "my sister, Lady Janet Ponson-
by, writes to say l may expect to see her
our sakes, you will tone down your appear
ance into something approaching decency."
"You will never alter Phyl, Maria" said
my father, polishing his bald head impa-
tiently, $50 why can't You leave the girl in
one to her old father, isn't it pussf" And
the dear old man pinched my cheek affec-
tionately.
"Fancy,n he continued "Janet coming
to see us after all these yearsi Dear mel
what a wonderfully pretty woman she used
to be, with the neatest foot and ankle I ever
sawl How time fiesl why, she must be
sixty. That reminds us, Maria, thatwe are
getting old"
Speak for YOURSELF" Iremark, laugh
ingly; Mrs. Maria cannot bear to be told OF
the fact that she is getting old and fat"
My step-mother remarks, looking out into
the old-fashioned garden, where my pretty
sister, in a bright morning dress, is busily
tending her roses: N need to beg Rosie
to do us Justice; she never fails us. l wish
you were more like her, for your own sake
d we'll DIS OuTSs
I answer hotly that 'I would not be like
my commonplace weak-mindsd sister, for
all her beauty"
My father, shifting wal in the air, asks
me to follow him, as soon as / can, to the
surgery, to write some labels and roll some
pills. "And," he continues, entreatingly,
"if you don't mind, Phyl, I should be CRATE
full If you would run into the village with
q few bottles of medicine. That wretched
errand-boy Bob has been fighting again
with Frank, and has two such beautiful
black eyes. When does that boy return to
school, Maria? Soon, I hope, for all our
sakes. He keeps the house in an uproar."
10, don't sayyou wish Frank gone, dad,"'
] say for my step-brother is the plague and
pleasure of my life.
phyllis always encourages all his
TRICKS" complains my step-mother; and
seeing the deluge returning in the shape of
tears, my father and I make our escape.
I am considered like my dear old dad,
but, then, as Mrs. Maria says: "What
makes a handsome man makes an ugly
woman" and, catching sight of myself in
the old green-shaded glass in the surgery,
as I busily roll my pills, l confess she is
not far wrong; for the glass shows me a
tall bony girl of twenty, with a sallow COM
plexion, immense dark eyes, and a head
running over with crisp dark curls, giving
full of strong white teeth; and a pair of
~ill-tempered eyebrows. Added to this I
am attired in a plain dress of rough dark
serge, warranted not to show ink-stains,
and round my neck is a boys plain turn
DOWN inen collar.
My sister Rose is my direct opposite; a
small, fairy-like creature all pink and
white, a perfect bunch of roses, only she
insipidly lacked their sweetness. She had
always been my step-mother's favorite
since she first came from her Nosty spin
sterhood to set my pool old dads house to
RIGHTS on6 ha ifc naicfrocc whon Rnco rroS
a pretty doll of a child, easily managed
through her very stupidity. / was then a
tiresome, ugly, spoiled child of seven, with
q fine high temper n a sharp shrewd
tongue, and, therefore, the very bane of my
step-mother's life. Unlike my more tract
able sister, I would not call her mamma,
but saucily named her Mrs. Maria, an ap-
pellation she bore, as far as ] was con-
cerned, from first to last.
I believe 1 should have owed my sister
better had she not always been dangled
before me as a model. AS it was we were
but my dear father and handsome unman-
ageable Frank loved dearly.
A few days later, returning from a row
on the river with Frank, l found seated in
our parlor, as though she had been there
all her life, cooed over by Rosie and ad-
Janet Ponsonby, a handsome old lady, who
looked every inch what she was, a high
bred woman of the world. 1.-THE Lady Jane
was tall n slim, the Lady Jane was
fair" and was dressed in somewhat too
young a fashion, making the most of her
well-preserved looks; for when can a
woman forget that she has been beautiful?
She gazed at me through her gold-rimmed
glasses; then remarked to Mrs. Maria, as
though l were not present: "If this is the
ugly duckling, pom my honor she does not
strike me as so plain as she has been
painted; and were she not habited in a
costume fashioned by a Goth, she might be
made to look something better than a bath.
i~ng-woman."
"Win your ladyship be good enough to
remember l am in the flesh." l ask, "and
not a figure from Tussaud's? If this is the
breeding of the town mouse, give me that
OF the country"
With a little laugh, she answered, still
toying with the annoying glasses: "To
quote b; j; Byron, Il like this girl, she is SO
jolly rude.'"
1 could hardly help smiling at her cool.
ness; so | threw off my hat, and taking a
book, sat down on the sofa to read. ]
started up again with a little scream, for a
shrill voice close to my ear said: "Curse
your impudence! dare to speak againi"
Turning round sharply, l beheld on the
little table at my elbow, sheltered by the
thick lace curtains, a gilded cage, and
within it a r~akish-looking parrot, who is
regarding me ~attentively with one round,
bright aye.
"Don't be startled,' said Lady Janet
sits only poor Poll, from whom 1 am never
parted. She is a most amusing bird, her
only failing being that at times her Ian
guage is too pronounced for polite ears,
You will soon get used to her, and not
notice her naughty tongue"
That afternoon the ~rector's wife called tc
invoke our aid to assist at a fancy fair
and upon the good lady saying she had
twisted her ankle over a stone, Polly
shrieked out: "Serve you right, thicl
head!" After that Polly was banished tc
her mistress bedroom.
After the r~ector's wife had departed
Mrs. Maria begged hard that [ would give
up all idea of attending at the fancy fair
She was so urgent in her entreaties thai
her sister asked the reason, and was in
formed that at a former fair, held in no
July, l had made an exhibition of mysel.
by keeping a penny-ice stall, with Bob thu
errand-boy and Frank dressed up a.
walters.
Sh was honest enough to confess that
did the best in the whole fair. But" shs
added, with eyes and hands turned up ''tt
see the crowds of young men, boys anc
fast young girls that crowded round, gorg
ing, was shameful" And the memory o
it haunted her with shudders.
The tale tickled Aunt Janet's fancy, and
laughing a little, she said to me, admir-
ingly: "You droll creature, how daret
you do it,"
Lady Jane stayed with us four weeks
then surprised her sister greatly by askin,
my father to allow her to carry me bacl
with her to the great city.
Mrs. Maria looked much annoyed, as sh'
had coveted this distinction for her favor
tie, Rosie. My father left it for me to de
eide; and l, fearing to be parted from m,
beloved ~scribbling, said curtly: "Tak
Rosie; she will do you greater credit, aunt
Though l am grateful to you, 1 do not car
1t is because you do not care to go tina
l intend to take you,' said Aunt Janet, /"
will put up with no denial"
And so, after a while, the old lady carrie,
her point, and l went up into my shabb,
little bedroom to pack together my man,
inky-manuscripts, Tor underwriting wa
my hobby and my one ambition. Alread,
a few of my stories had appeared in a pc
riodical, and 1 was very vain of my littl
success. Since Lady Janet's arrival 1 ha,
not written much; I was too occupied il
reading the many novels the old lady len
me. She was a great reader herself, an,
Mortified Mrs. Maria by reading novels on
Sunday, when all the respectable worl,
was at church.
The old lady would not allow me to tax