Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-08-15

take a deep interest in the wedding
gown of a girl she had never heard Of.
She took charge of it to please her
friend. who had social designs on Mrs.
Dean; but her feelings may be fancled
when, safe in her hotel in New York,
she took the dress out to forward, aud
found she had lost the address.
81 haven't an idea what it was" she
said to her husband; "but It's a we'd
ding dress, and it may be wanted at
once, and anyway can't carry 1t about
with me. What Shall we do?"
"Cable, of course" MIR. Draper said.
in anything but a cheerful tone; and,
Maria, if you ever again are SO foolish
a to bring clothes for another woman
through the Custom-house l'll never
forgive you. To think of the trouble
we might have got into If the inspector
had found it! You couldn't have pre-
tended, you a woman of fifty, that it
was yours; and as for paving duties and
trusting strangers to make it good-no,
thank you. What is Mrs. Deans ad-
dress, now"
| don't know at all. l never saw
the till she brought me the
dress"
''lhen we must send to Mrs. Grover,
and have her hunt her up. l hope it
won't delay us here a day or two.
If she happened to be out Of Paris
for a few days-a pretty mess alto
gether!!"
But Mrs. Dean was at home; the
answer came at once; and Mrs. Draper
relieved herself OF the dress hoping it
was in time for the wedding.
In time for the wedding, .indecds
When that precious box came into Ada
Hurd's possession a wedding was the
last thing in her thoughts. How could
she know when she ordered it that papa
was on the ragged edge of failure, and
that when the crash came, and he went
under, unhappy fate would make her
lose at once her fortune and her lover?
For Fred Morgan. who had thought the
exchange of his old name for her money
a perfectly fair one, had found excuse
from his engagement only a week be-
fore the gown arrived. F%igurativclv
speaking, she believed it with tears,
which really she took care should not
A"IA OA ~, OuU 11CA N1lC1 SAillOCN w
dumb CONSERVATION when she took the
bill out from its folds and read it's APP
palling total. There was absolutely
no money now for such follics; and
what would papa say? and what could
she write to Mrs. Dcaup For papa had
not been consulted on the commission,
and they had trusted to his good-naturc
over the fascinating result to pay the
bill.
'l'ut it's perfectly preposterous, this
BILL" cried Mrs. Hurd. "\Nhy, with
express and all, it has cost nearly
double what we expected. It's pretty,
of course, very pretty, and if things had
been as they were, and you could use
it, l wouldn't say a word. Would pay
every penny, though l did think it Il
bad bargain. But now-now it's total
ly impossible, TN your father would be
furious: and | shall go straight over to
Mrs. Allen and tell her we can't take
it. She car probably do something
with it, and we can't, that's certain
And while her resolution vas hot, she
swept over to her next neighbours with
the box.
Mrs. Allen was past forty, and a
great invalid. She had no daughters;
she rarely went out; she had absolutely
no use for this airy combination of lace
and satin and velvet spread before her
astonished eyes. But she was q gener-
Gus woman, and she knew as well as
they hat the Hurds could not pay for
Ii ii they would; thai indeed it was a
final stroke that this symbol of her lost
happiness should come to poor Ada
now. What she could do with it she
didn't know, but she took it at once off
their hands.
''You might send it to the city to be
sold" her husband suggested, "to some
big dressmaker. perhaps. Of course
you couldn't getits value, but you could
get something"
But Mrs. Allen knew no one in the
city, and had no mind to gohuckstering
her gown among strangers.
''l'ye thought of something" Mrs.
Hurd volunteered, coming in next day,
the dress was really upon her con
science. "Iou know Minnie Wood is
to be married in december, and why
would she not like it? They could al
ford anything, and it wouldn't need
much altering to fit her"
ILLS Stclllcu more lciSlDlc. MIS-. AL
len ordered her carriage, put the box
on the front sea-, and drove the next
day to Judge Woods. She did not
know the lady very well. and she found
her task a delicate one; but when, Mrs.
Wood understood
why, we have Just ordered Minnie's
dress from New ~York-direct from
Madame Bulbul, you know. Otherwise.
perhaps, we might have been glad to
take it. But, now l think of it., there is
Fell Bent-she's to be married some
time this winter. l h%elievc. OF course
the Bents ought not to afford such a
dress, but I've nc doubt they would if
only to Quito my Minnic.' And with
that idea in mind. it was certainly good
natured in Mrs. Wood to remember
them.
But an examination of the gown
showed Mrs. Alien plainly that by no
possibility could it be stretched to Bell
Bent's buNom beauty. Besides, she
hated the idea of that coarse girl wear
ing pretty Ada's lost gown. She was
genuinely sorry for her unlucky neigh
bors, and that feeling softened her
heart when she wrote her sister about