The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-07-07
LOST AND FOUND.

My Aunt Hester declared it to be an
insufferable nuisance living i'll the midst
of mills and factories, having for your
neighbors workmen and mill-hands
Indeed, her august indignation knew
no bounds when the manufactory of Mr..
Shields was erected just outside her gar
den, OH the ground adjoining.
The village was a village no longer
but a town, spreading it's borders over
the hills to the east and west, to the
north and south.
And down in the valley was the throb-
bing heart, teeming with it's busy peo-
pie.
Its factories and mills were being
erected in what had once been the
suburbs Of a village.
My aunt, Hester Stuart, and her
daughters, Geraldine and Clotilde, were
ladies Of fashion, and all that the word
implies they were.
The greatest "catch'' Of the season,
the newest opera, and the styles we're the
sum total of their conversation.
1t was conceded by all the household
that Miss Geraldine was the lady Of the
house.
Even the mamma called her Miss
Geraldine.
1t was high misdemeanor to omit the
important prefix.
Miss Geraldine always had the first
and best Of everything; and Clotilde was
obliged to submit to her, sometimes in a
very humiliating manner.
l, the poor dependent orphan niece,
was chided by one and upbraided by
another, until, between them all my
"lines" were hard ones.
thought if my aunt possessed such
thing as conscience, surely it would
say to her, ''Sleep no more"
When Mr. Shields was building, and
my aunt was unacquainted with his per-
sonal history, this sooty manufactory,
with It's smoky chimneys, was an eye
sore to her faStidiOus taste.
'It ought to be declared a nuisance,
this grimy old factory aid those greasy
WOrkmenl
"What desirable view from our sit
ting-r0om windOwl
ut is outrageous!"
Thus would my aunt comment upon
Mr.. Shields workshop.
But very soon it began to be generally
known that Mr.. Shields was bachelor.
Then she began to cultivate his ac-
Quaintance and to court his favor.
lie was rich.
lie would be such capital husband
for Miss Geraldine.
Siege was laid Immediately, and if
cunning diplomacy was to be depended
upon, surely the citadel must surrender.
MIR. Shields was reported to be per-
fectly imperviOuS to the arts and wiles
spread out for him by mammas and
daughters who were OH the 'siook-outn
SO to speak.
1t was generally supposed that he had
been through ''deep waters.''
The gossips said that he had, when a
jour leyman and poor, loved a lady whose
father would not consent to the match
until he could produce Il stipulated sum.
lie worked hard, and began to amass
fortune.
But the girl was tickle, and before he
was ready had married another.
This embittered him.
Now he was welded to his work,
Business was his idol; money his wife
and children.
He scarcely gave u second glance to
any woman.
My aunt and Miss Geraldine began to
lay thcir plans, and the distant, reserved
Mr.. Shields was often invited to balls
and dinners
Almost any afternoon you could hear
them laughing and exchanging merry
sallies from the window.
AS the days went by often noticed
him looking intently ut me as l perform
ed my daily work.
Sometimes, when I was dusting the
sitting-rOOm, / would chance to look
towards the mill and catch his glance.
| often wondered what he thought of
me, if he thought Of me at all.
Perhaps he was only meditating, lost
in his speculations, and hiseyes happen
Ell to rest on me.
I tortured my brain to find solution
to this enigma, asking myself if l was
vain enough to suppose that Kenneth
Shields was thinking of me.
This indifferent man was only think
ing Of his gains and losses
lie had no possible interest in q girl
who washed dishes and busted rooms in
her aunt's fine establishment.
Shall L tell you how his appearance
struck me, and how deeply became in
terested in him, in those days?
| cannot describe him quite as he
appeared to me.
can tell you only of his sunny blonde
hair and his deep gray eyes, of the we'll
built figure, standing perhaps five feet
seven.
cannot tell of beautiful Apollo,
tall and beyond all men fair; but can
say in pure truthfulness that this calm,
almost graveSface fascinated and drew
me on with powerful hold which other
fairer faces had no power to do.
1 felt my poor heart fluttering when
his eyes rested upon me.
1 crept away to chide myself with re-
newed vigor in the privacy Of my own
apartment.
Thus 1 had grown familiar with him,
and his daily appearance I began to
watch for, and when he failed to come,