Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-03-15
HER REWARD.

" On, htlen DOarueIs. eAClaluleu JO-
sic Marsh, looking both indignant and dis.
tressed.
81 d,d hope we should never come to
that" said Fanny, in an injured tone.
And to think that father was once the
richest man in Barville p almost sobbsd
Louisa.
al know it is very hard, girls" said
Helen Marsh, as she carefully darned a
long rent in pillow slip, g but it must be
done, and we might as well face the fact
first as last. We are in sore need of
money, you will all admit, and the only
way we can make it is by taking EoArders
We have four unoccupied rooms IN this
house, and we ought to have made some
thing out of them long ago"
ut does seem such q degradation,
though, for as TO take boarders, moaned
Fanny. .,
land of course Helen would think it
improper to take in any one nice, SAID
Josie.
"If by nice you mean young gentle
men, Josie, you may be sure Will think 1t
decidedly improper. =,
"And imagine waiting on stutty old
women and catering to their whims, said
Louisa, plaiutively, cor having the house
overrun by crying, dirty children.
1.-THE fat has gone forth, said Fanny !;
eve must make up our minds to the inev-
table. When Helen says thing she
means it, as we all know by experience ;
but l, for one, shall see as little of her
bosrders as possible"
1T is q shame that our Aunt Emma did
not leave US her property, cried josie
" Nv soul burns with Indignation when
ever think of it. If she had possessed a
single spark Of natural affection she would
never have been guilty of leaving it away
from us, and we would not have been re-
duced to such a strait as this.
Helen smiled. for Aunt Emma's lack of
natural affection" was Josie's hobby, and
she rode it almost daily. Aunt Emma had
been their fathers only sister, rich old
maid who had gone to Europe when Josie
was an infant and never been heard OF
since. That she was dead no one doubted,
but how she had disposed of her foItane
remained a mystery. But having been a
very eccentric woman, full Of absurd
crotchets of every sort, it was generally
believed that she had left her money to
found a hospital for lame oats and dogs, a
home for aged spinsters, or some institution
of that kind.
The four sisters who lived alone in the
great old.fashioned house, the only piece OF
property which had been saved from the
wreck of their fathers estate, would have
been only too glad to have received only a
small slice of their Aunt Enmas fortune,
for there was more pinching economy in
the old house than outsiders ever imagined,
and it was only by the exercise of the most
careful management that Helen coLtrived
to make both ends meet. Helen was the
eldest and most energetic, and consequent
w by far the larger part of the care of the
household fell upon her slender shoulders.
She was thoroughly unseltish, and so
sweet.tempered that her sistsrs could i'm
pose upon her with IMMUNITY. They never
seemed to think that she could grow tired,
or have a headache, but appeared to look
upon her as a machine that went by regu-
lar winding through its allotted work.
They were even Jealous OF that portion of
her time taken up by the visits of young
Tom Harding, and looked upon the hours
she spent with him in the dimly lighted
parlor, or the sweet old orchard, as wasted,
not caring that they were a source of re-
taxation, rest, and happiness to her. Oh
course THE girls argued), since she could
never marry him, there was no use or sense
whatever in clinging to her engagement to
him. For Helen was actually engaged to
the struggling young physician, whose
practice was small as yet, and on whose
shoulders rested the burden of the support
of an invalid aunt and an unmarried sister.
The engagement was already five years old,
and there was still no prospect of a wed.
ding But Helen loved Tom, and chung to
him, deaf to the reasoning arguments Of
her world-wise sisters.
Helen had not arrived at her decision to
take summer boarders without many in.
ward struggles, of which she said nothing.
1t hurt her pride to take strangers into her
dear little home for the sake of the money
they would pay her, and she dreaded the
trouble and additional labor larger family
would entail upon her. She knew she
must share alone the care and RESPONSE.
bility Of her venture, and she would never
have decided upon it had not the small in
come from the railway stocks they owned
suddenly become inadequate to provide
even sutiiciepcy of bread and butter for
them all, to say nothing of the clothing re-
quired for the outer adjoining and comfort
of their perishable bodies. Perhaps Helen
was in a measure to blame for the selfish.
ness of her sisters. She INDUCED them to
perilous degree, and never complained OF
reproved them when they shut themselves
ND in their rooms to read novels and moan
over their poverty, leaving to her the work
and care Of the home. But it was not il
Helen's nature to find fault, aud though
she saw the selfshness of her sisters she
did not know how to check it.
The advertisement for boarders was duly
inserted in several of the city papers,
Helen giving her full name and address,
much to the horror Of Louisa, who declared
that now all the world would be CONVEX.
SAINT with their pitiable poverty.
a Mrs. Darby was the first arrival. She
was an old lady with false teeth, false
front, small, piercing gray eyes, and q
mind above the frivolties of fashion. She
wore dresses of the scantiest and plainest
make, and bonnet so Anticipated in style
that Josie could with difficulty repress a
peal of laughter when she saw it. Bat
Helen greeted the old lady with the great.
eat kindness, and assigned her to one OF
the ple6santest rooms in the house, attend.
ing to her numerous wants with such
cheerfulness ard readiness that Mrs. Darby
was absolutely charmed, and blessed the
good fortune which had led her to this
abode.
a few days more and the four spare
chambers were al full, and Helen was
kept so busy that she hardly lad time to
talk to Tom when he came, which fact
caused her keen regret, for she always felt
better and brighter after conference with
him, or a stroll in the sweet old orchard.
Tom mourned because Helens eyes were
less bright, her face less blooming and her
step less elastic than formerly, but she
laughed at his fears that she would make
herself i'll, and was so cheerful wheneye r
he came that he did not suspect her OF
concealing headache, and guessed nothing
of the tears of utter WEAKNESS that she
occasionally shed in the silence of the
night, when body and brain were so over,
wrought that sleep was impossible.
The venture paid, however. The board
ers were delighted with the old.fashioned
house, the big orchard and the quaint gar
den, with its lilac, rose and almond bushes
and neat, box.bordered walks, They stayed