Middletown transcript., 1883-11-02
PRETTY MISS BRoADLANDs.
BY MARY N. PRESCOTT.

Some people seemed to think that it
was almost pity Miss Broadlands
should be SO literally endowed. "She
is so pretty, and she is so rieh," they
said, little sadly, and they appeared
to owe her a grudge for having so
much. If she had been simply pretty,
or simply rich, it would not have been
so hard to bear, and they could have
forgiven her more easily. Lovers :?
Of course they were always about her.
Sending flowers and bonbons, writing
verses, and dedicating symphonies to
her charms.
"Quite natural that a girl with a
fortune should not lack suitors," a
friend said to her one day. How
many do you think you would keep,
dear, if you were as poor as my girls ?"
Few, no Doubt" she answered,
gayly; but the shaft went home.
She became more Indifferent than
before; but this very Indifference piqued
and pleased her admirers. Every one
Of them believed himself able to over
come it; they wanted all the more what
was out of their reach it surrounded
her with an atmosphere of mystery /;
they could not understand her. Con-
slant Stanley, however, fiattered him
self that he had penetrated her fine
reserve, and perhaps this was merely
because Miss Broadlands was nearer
being in love with him than with any
one she had ever met since she half
suspected that her personality attracted
him, and not her purse that her money
was but dross in his eyes because she
was more receptive to his batteries, did
not laugh at his half-tender nonsense,
and toss it back to him with pretty sar-
casm and raillery.
eff 1 am ever obliged to earn my
living" she said on one occasion, when
the subject of woman's wages and work
was under discussion, '' shall become
a nurse"
Heaven grant that 1 may be an
invalid at that time !'' said Constant.
'And l." put in another admirer,
I" will be the attending physician.
You could do something better
than that,n Constant added, aside
"you could keep house for me-
If everybody were only sincere"
she thought, regarding him, land
never flirted or talked to pass the time
merely if money were not the root Of
evil y
Miss Broadlands was all alone in the
world, with her beauty and her money,
but she filed her splendid house with
company, or she passed the time at
some gay summer resort with friends !;
sometimes she made a pilgrimage to
her. man of business, Mr.. Stanhope,
living in neighboring city, in order to
know how she stood, she said. After
her return from one of these visits at
one time it was observed by few of
the sharp-sighted that she no longer
entertained as freely as before; pres
emily she had sold her saddle-horse.
II am going to try walking she ex-
claimed. The doctors think it is
healthier for me''
But you are the picture Of health, :"
said Constant, with tender glance.
" Yes; but an ounce of prevention,
you know, is worth a pound of cure. "
Presently it leaked out that she had
sold a lot from her ample garden, and
one day the town was electrified to find
the Broadlands estate under the ham
mer. Miss Broadlands had gone away
some months before, and it was ru-
mored that she was in a training school
for nurses-a rumor which was con-
firmed when she returned to enter a
hospital Of the city in the capacity of a
nurse. Those who had grudged her
her good fortune now said "She is so
pretty that pity is thrown away upon
her; beauty is dover enough. No
doubt it is hard to lose money, but it is
harder still never to have had any to
loose" And her lovers ? "She is so
busy" they said, we can not see her
unless we fall i'll or go mad" How
ever, there were no more flowers heaped