Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-11-22

i
] not enough in the house, and if we were
to fall short at the last, good gracious!''
After a moment given to bordering
on the dire possibility, she suddenly
| started up again in an agile manner,
and pulled the bell. Then she said to
| the servant who answered her summons
6 Bring some tea, and tell Miss Bar.
rington that if she is at liberty should
| like to speak to her.
With which she again sank into hel
chair and waited, her lips moving now
| and then, as if she mentally apostro-
phized some loved object. It was not
| so, however. as those who knew hel
| would easily have surmised. Could her
| meditations have been heard, they would
i have run
Il suppose I must trust to his re-
Numbering it, but men are so careless.
Unless their wives look after them they
really do behave like imbeciles in some
things. Men and cooks-I don't know
which are the worst
Here maid came in with the desired
tea. While she was clearing one of the
innumerable small tables before alluded
to for its reception, the door was a Sec
ond time opened, and young lady en-
tered, at whose appearance the ex-
hausted looking matron in white and
blue raised herself, and testified signs
of renewed animation.
"Oh, here you are, Margaret! Come
and have some tea. 1 don't know what
feel as if l should never come round
again. And do think you might have
helped me more"
"My dear Laura, you know this en-
tertainment is against my principles in
every way. How, therefore. could
help you without perjuring myself?
and then, know the more trouble such
an affair gives you, the more you enjoy
it,
"Well, considering that all the trouble
is on your account"
'But not at my desire, nv dear. I am
sure you will not maintain that I asked
you to give Il ball for my coming of age.
Why, when people are one and twenty.
should they 90 and advertise the melan-
choly fact aloud to all their ill-natured
acquaintance, who would ALWAYS have
hold upon them in after years, when
perhaps they would be glad enough to
appear young? 1t is simply giving ali
the gossips you know handle when
they want to say ill-natured things
"Pooh! Stuff! Some people may want
to conceal their age. Heiresses never
need. Oh, but tea is truly refreshing.
Do take some!''
"Thank you," said Margaret Bar
rington, with an odd little smile as she
poured cupful of the beverage out,
and carrying it to the bay window. stood
in that recess and looked out while she
drank it.
She was a considerable heiress, and
great many people said she was
beauty. This day she attained her ma
jority, and entered upon full and I'M
controlled possession of her fortune and
property. Margaret's mother had died
at the girls birth. Her father had
taken no second wife, and she had lost
him when she was thirteen years old.
She and he had been alone in the world,
so far as having any near relations went.
Mrs. Pierce was Margaret's own cousin,
though many years older than herself
She had been Miss Cathcart, poor and
pretty, and she had at an early age mar
ried Robert Pierce, rich manufacturer
of great city, whose money was abun-
dant, if his family was doubtful. To
him-Mr. Pierce-and his wife, the
guardianship of the young heiress had
been consigned, not because the late Mr.
Darlington considered them the most
desirable persons to bring up young
girl-not because he liked their style,
or their friends, or their mode of life,
but because Laura Pierce was the only
relation his girl had, and because, with
all her foibles, she was a kind-hearted
woman, and because Mr.. Pierce, if not
gentleman, in Mr.. Barrington's sense
of the word, was also a kindly natured
man. and away from his home, where
he was indulgent to weakness, was q
keen, shrewd man of business, and hon.
est withal--who would take care of
Margaret money as if it were his own.
Stringent provisions for the education
of the young lady were made in her
Pierce's plaintive expression, "enjoyed
every advantage which the best schools,
the first masters, the most accomplished
Eistresses, could give. She had passed
with honor examinations bristling with
difficulties; she had imbibed an immense
amount of condensed science, condensed
art, condensed theory of music, general
facts, music and languages. She had
never been allowed to 90 out alone; she
had been taken to hear the most cele-
brated singers and musicians, to lect-
ures, to concerts, to literary and scien-
tific tournaments; she had been strictly
kept aloof from anything like woman's
rights ON the one hand, and vulgar
Irritation on the other. With the best
in the world, her pastors and
had employed every energy to
make her into model young lady-a
model in social. domestic, benevo- |
lent point of view. The Established |
Church had seen after her morals and |
religious belief; she had, /" learnt po-
litical economy, because she would some |
day have an estate to manage; many |
other things had been done to improve |
and make her what she ought to be.
And with what result? The result |
that when, at nineteen years of age. she
was committed into the hands of her
guardian and his wife as a finished |
young lady, it was found that all her
had not spoiled her; had not |
been able to prevent her from decidinr