The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1884-03-08


and she said they were worse than
poison. / don't know where she got
the labels, Pm sure, but she appears to
rejoice in them very much-more than
if she had mastered the verbs, without
calling them poison"
She laughed again, and Philip noticed
in her voice and speech the same refine
ment as that which had struck him in
her sister; while in her manner there
was a distinction, polish and per-
feet absence of atlectation, fresh girl
ishness, which were charming
Then you don't think so badly of
French verbs YOURSELF" he said.
'I--no. | think the French they give
us here is baby French. l can do all the
lessons we have except the arithmetic"
"You find the arithmetic pretty stiff"
al find it impossible to bend it at all
so as to suit my weak intellect. Those
dreadful sums about express trains
starting off at so many miles an hour,
and other ones having to go after them
and overtake them in a given time.
Dreadful -
Philip laughed!
Those are simple enough. Perhaps
you are not fond of arithmetic
81 am utterly without the capacity to
do it," said Mabelle, resignedly "But
Angela says l must study that more
than anything else if l want to get my
certificate, and ! suppose ] must man
age that, whatever happens"
" Angela" repeated Philip, pro-
nouncing the name lingeringly, for the
sake of uttering it. Angela and Ma
belle Fairfax. 1t was no Irkford name,
any more than they Che was quite GER
tain) were lrkford people.
." My sister, | mean. You are the
gentleman who lives next door to u.s.
And is that lady your sister-the one
with the dark eyes, who is SO hand
some?'
." Yes, that is my sister-Grace, ="
said Philip, secretly feeling extremely
gratifed that he and Grace had been
objects of notice and speculation TO at
least one Miss Fairlax-possibly 20 the
other, too.
4" l thought she was. Sometimes she
goes to college at the same time that |
90 to school. Oh!'' continued Mabelle,
as they caught sight of an omnibus,
which Philip made no attempt to take,
/" how 1 should like to ride on the top
of an omnibusr'
Would youp You can not think ii
is pleasant mode of conveyance"
{" 1 suppose not. But l have never
even been inside one" (This admis-
sion spoke volumes to Philip can
gela thinks they are dreadful, but she
is obliged to go in them sometimes,
when her pupils live quite out OF
town"
"Pupils?" echoed Philip, interrog-
atively.
"Yes. She teaches music to a great
many girls at the High School, and
she has other pupils out of town. 1t is
when she goes to them that she has tc
ride in the omnibus"
az see" said Philip, greatly desiring
to ask several questions, but feeling
with instructive delicacy, that to do sc
would be to take mean advantage
of her. She had betrayed the fact thai
they were poor. He would have giver
much to know if they had always been so
''Is it your sister whom | have Otter
heard playing and singingP" he in
quired, venturing on that question as ,
safe one.
"Yes. Does she not play well, anC
sing, tooP Only she says that giving
lessons is enoug h to take all the must,
out of one. l don't know; think i
one has music in one, nothing will
drive it out
They had now got into Carlton Road
and just as Philip was wondering how
many schoolgirls were in the habit o
having such thoughts. and so express
ing them, she turned to him, saying:
"Thank you for carrying my books
but will not trouble you any longer
He put them into her hand, feelin!
that though he was q stalwart youn,
man of siX-and-twenty, and she a littl
schoolgirl of some fifteen or sixteel
years, he had received his dismissal il
a most decided shape. Mabelle, wit
a gracious smile and digniGed We
: cordial little bow, wished him good
! morning and continued her way t
school.
He watched her until she had disap
{ peared within its gates, and then h
) hailed a hanson, and while he drove t
' town he sat staring at his wet UNI
! brella, wondering and conjecturin
nightly as to the past, present an
future of his neighbors.
Angela Fairfax he repeated t
: himself. "And she gave music lesson!
and she has that little darling of a si
ter, What sweet, bright, dgnifie
; little lady she is! Such a lady, too!
: thought Philip, raising his eyebrow
4 "By George! She must be a contra
I to some of her school-fellows!"
| Lost in reflections upon this subec
[ he arrived at the office.
CHAPTER V.
~ ANGELA.
u "There he angels, and some be of light, al
: some be of darkness"
d "Come, Philip, aren't you ready?"
If was the voice of Grace which hrol