The Red Cloud chief., 1883-12-14

NbGAjG1 le5ll6ed sien
q snimasionL
here yOu Aro, Margaret! Com
and have some tea / dom know VIII
you feel like, but / am 60 exhausted
feel Is If I should ' come noun
again. And I do think you might hav
helped me more"
"My dear Laura, you know this en-
tertainment is against my principles il
every way. How, therefore. could
help you without pcrjuring myself
and then, l know the more tr0ub;e s,,c]
m affair gives you. the more you enjol
it" 49,
swell, considering that all the troubl,
is on your account"
But not at my desire, nv dear. Tan
sure you will not maintain that I asker
you to give q BAH for nv coming of ACE
Why, when people are one and twenty
should they so and advertise the melan.
eholy fact aloud to all their i~ll-natured
acquaintances, who would always have
a hold upon them in after years, when
perhaps they would be glad enough to
appear young? 1t is simply giving all
the gossips you know a handle when
they want TO say ill-natured things"
"Pooh! Stuff Some people NAV want
to conceal their are. Hciresses never
need. Oh. but tea is truly refreshing.
Do take somev!
"Thank you." SAID Margaret Bar
rington, with an oSd little smile ne sbe
poured q cupful d the beverage ont
and carrying it to the bay window stood
in that recess, and Noked ont while Che
drank il.
She was a considerable heiress. and a
great many people sid she was a
beauty. This day she AHMED her ma
jority, and entered upon fU and nm
controlled possession of her ktnne .nd
property. Margaret's mother al S;aJ
at the girls birth. Her fathSA h.J
taken no second wife, and she hadSnSt
him when she was thirteen years d
She and he had been alone in the wOrlds
SO far as having any near relations went.
Mrs. Pierce Was Margaret's W cousin,
though nan wears older than herself.
She had been a Miss Cathcart, poor and
pretty, and she had at an early age mar
ried Robert Pierce, a rich manufacturer
of a great city, whose money was abun-
dant, if his family was doubtful. To
him-Mr. Pierce-and his wife, the
guardianship of the young he ress had
been consigned. not because the late MIR.
harrington considered them the most
desirable persons to bring up a yPng
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 . kind-hearted
woman, and because Mr.. Pierce, if not
a gentleman, in MIR. BarringtOn's sense
of the word, was also a kindly natured
man, and away from his home, where
he was indulgent to weakness, was a
keen, shrewd ma of business, and hon.
est withal-wEo would take care OF
Margaret's money as If it were his own.
Stringent provisions for the education
of the young lady were made in her
fathers will; she had, to use Mrs.
Pierce's p~laintive expression. "enjoyed
every advantage which the best schools.
the first masters, the most accomplished
mistresses, could give. She had passed
with honor examinations bris.ling with
| difficulties; she had imbibed an immense
| dlllOuIl vi SOuuCIIoCu SCICllCC, SOIlNtCuSCu
art, condensed theory of music, general
facts. music and languages. She had
never been allowed to go out alone; she
had been taken to hear the most ccle-
brated singers and musicians. to le.t-
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 a vulgar
Irritation on the other. With the best
intentions in the world, her pastors and
masters had employed every energy TO
make her into a model young lady-a
model in a social. 4 domestic, a benevO-
lent point If 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
training had not spoiled her; had not
been able to prevent her from deciding
for herself on many matters; had not
made her less incorrigibly natural and
outspoken. She did not altogether be-
lieve in the Church of England. She
said she did moi understand Wagner's
music. She said she thought there was
a great deal Of truth in what the
woman's rights ladies said for them
selves. She said she did not see any
harm in n Irritation. She said she did
not believe that her first duty was to be
sure she married a man who would
look after her money and take care of
her. She said she vas not going to
marry any one at all until long after she
was twenty-one-untl she had tried
whether she could not look after her
money for herself. She said many 9TH
er things of a like nature, not loudly,
but with a very soft, delightful voice.
and with a smile at nee soft and bright.
Moreover, she SAID she did not care
much about girls, and she thought it
must be because she had never known
anything but girls. She had no special
friend to whom she wrote daily half a
ream of paper, and called it a letter.
She had struck up a great friendship
with Master Thomas Pierce, the eldest
hope of her guardian. and Laura, his
wife. Thomas and his sisters adOred
her. She had early gained from Mr..
Pierce the soubriquet of The IncOr-
rigible," and he had called her by it
ever since.
Yet Margaret, as she stood in the
window, silently slipping her tea, and so
! allowing me time for this long digress-