Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-02-21
HER SECRET RIVAL.

oh, you may think it very degrading,
said Milly Monkton, coloring to the
very roots of her bright brown hair.
Perhaps it is. But we poor people can t
stop to pick and choose over professions.
And you needn't be alarmed, Paulina
Howard | shall never claim kinship
with you!
Miss Howard was sketching, or max
ing believe to sketch, in graceful at
titude, where Persimmon Greek took its
abrupt bend through mass of cedar
trees, and Virginia creeper' vine had
hung its scarlet festoons over rock,
just where it was reflected wildly in the
water. Diamonds glistened on her
hands her dress, ostentatiously simple,
was of ecru China silk, and her Gains
borough hat of ruby velvet, with long
dropping plume, formed a back ground
for her luxuriant blonde hair. Milly
Monkton, on the contrary, was dark
eyed, rosy-cheeked girl in plain nader
red calico, with a simple straw bonnet
tied down by rather faded cherry rib
bon. There were no artistic effects about
her, no falls of creamy lace, no nodding
plumes nor folds of lustrious silk-and
in her hand she carried nothing more ro-
mantle than basket of eggs! But her
features were small and straight, be-
witching little dimple lerked in her left
cheek, and there was certain resolve
in the level lines of her black eye-b rows,
which betokened no ordinary nature.
Mrs. Howard shrugged her shoulders,
across which Spanish lace scarf was
gracefully folded.
There are so many other openings for
a woman, nowadays, said she, that am
surprised at your selection, Amelia.
so many other openings, are there?
retorted Nilly, pausing beneath the
hanging fringe of the scarlet lace Well,
| shall be very much obliged if you'll
tell me what they are.
Madam Aubrey has made fortune
out of her school, suggested Paulina.
Yes, and she opened it in brown
stone palace on Madison avenue with
servants in livery, and regular flourish
of trumpets in the way of advertising.
| haven't the means for any such extern
sive business, said NIilly.
Miss Orestes has succeeding beyond
her expectations in the province of art,
remarked Miss Howard.
But as | have neither been taught
either to draw or paint, / shall hardly
rival her, retorted Milly. And if were
born genius, to whom should | sell my
pictures? To the rocks? the trees? the
waterfalls? Does this sort of thing
look like an art-center? with a contemp-
tuous glance around the ravine No.
no. Paulina, we country girls have to
earn our living as we best can. And |
don't fret that | have degraded myself
in the least by helping Mr. Orion make
beds and dust furniture for ten dollars a
month, at the hotel
That is your way of putting it, said
Miss Howard, with curve of her lips
Other people say that you are chamb-
ermaid out at service
Let them say what they please, re-
piled Milly, vexed to see the hot blood
rise to her checks. ! am supporting
myself and my mother. And Mrs Or
ton is very good to allow me to come
home at night, becasue mamma has i'll
turns now and then, and | should not
like her to be alone. But it takes all
my income to live-and that is the rea-
son, Paulina, that | can't subscribe to
your Helping Hand fund!
oh, it's of no consequence, said
Paulina, tracing the outlines of the old
rock on her sketching- board, Only Mr.
Avenel requested me to ask you, that is
all.
He might have asked me himself,
said Milly, coloring once more.
4 suppose he hasn't time to ask
every one!' said Paulina, CURLY.
so | come under the category of
every one, do ? said Milly, biting her
fresh, red lower-lip. But it makes no
difference have no money to help the
heather abroad, while my own dear old
mother at home is so sadly in need of a
new cloak. According to my ideas,
charity begins at home. Good-by Pau
lina-Im sorry you are not suited with
my choice of profession!
She walked haughtily on. Paulina
Howard looked after her, with lazy
scorn in her eyes.
My second cousin, she said to her
self And chambermaid at the Under
cliff HOTEL Well, Tn very glad she
isn't going to claim kinship with me!
And yet what a fine head she has-and
her color is like the heart of an apple
blossom. And how gracefully she
moves, as she goes down the side of the
hill. Heigho-I only wish was eighteen!
And Miss Howard, who was eight
and-twenty, with made up complexion,
and false bangs on her forehead,
heayed sigh as she went back to her
sketching.
Not until Milly Monkton had reached
a secluded spot in the woods did she
pause to think over what Paulina had
said, with burning cheeks, and eyes
trimming over with the tears which she
was to proud to shed