Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-07-24

relieved herself of the dress hoping il
was in time for the wedding.
4 In time for the wedding, indeed
When that precious box came into. Ads
Hurd's possession 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 hea
lose at once her fortune and her lover:
! For Fred Morgan. who had thought the
exchange of his old anne Tor her money
a perfectly fair one, had found excuse
from his engagement only week be-
fore the gown arrived. Figurativelv
speaking. she believed it with tears.
which really she took care should not
fall on it; but her grief changed to
dumb CONSERVATION when she took the
bill out from its folds and read its ap-
I pallino total. There was absolutely
no money now for such follies; and
what would papa say2 and what could
she write to Mrs. Deanp For papa had
not been consulted on the commission,
and they had trusted to his good-nature
4 over the fascinating result to pay the
bill.
.sBut it's perfectly preposterous, this
BILL cried Mrs. Hurd. ssWhv, 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. | wouldn't say a word. would pay
every penny, though / did think it a
/ bad bargain. But now-now it's total
" impossible, and your father would be
! furious; and shall go straight over to
/ Mrs. Allen and tell her we can't take
! it. She can probably do something
with it. and we can't. that's certain. ;"
And while her resolution was hot, she
swept over to her next neighbours with
the box.
Mrs. Allen was past forty, and d
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 gener-
Gus woman, and she knew as well as
they that the Hurds could not pay for
1t if they would; that indeed it was q
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, s'to some
big dressmaker. perhaps. OF course
YOU couldn't getiUs value, but you could
get something
But Mrs. Allen knew no one in the
city, and had no mind to go huckstering
baJ. cyoyvn amonr STRANGERS
s.I've thought of something Mrs.
Hurd volunteered, coming in next day,
for the dress was really upon her con-
science. ''You know Minnie Wood is
to be married in December, and why
would she not like it? They could af-
ford anything, and it wouldn't need
much altering to fit her.
This seemed more feasible. Mrs. AL
len ordered her carriag e, put the box
on the front seat, and drove the next
day to Judge Woods. She did not
know the lady very well. and she found
her tasA delicate one; but when Mrs.
Wood understood
.sWhy, 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 / think of it. there is
Bell Bent-she's to be married some
time this winter l believe. OF course
the Bents ought not to afford such a
dress, but I've no doubt they would if
only to outdo my Minnie" 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 buXom 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
it. '+And as it's partly my fault" she
added, '.T'll take the dress off your
hands. If l had had strength of mind
enough to snub Ada when she men
toned that she thought of writing you,
we should never have got the elephant.
But hated to seem unneighborlv. and
l thought you would md excuses
enough. l have put the dress away,
and think of labelling the box Mis-
taken Good-nature. ~
s.You might give it to one of the
girls" her hu band suggested. The
girls were half-dozen nieces, all more
or less of 4 marriageab'e age. las
wedding present, you know. Promise
it to the first one who goes of. !"
But Mrs. Allen shook her head.
81 here isn't one of them who is really
able to have such a gown, and fancy
the strife to get it. my dear! No, no; 1
shall manage something, for it's so far
ahead of the style that it will be good
year or two. At the worst. can have
it dyed, aud take the lace for series of
summer bonnets, though it does seem
sacrilege to suggest such a fate for it. -
But though the tale of Mrs. Aliens
Paris gown spread gradually through
the little town and neighborhood, and
various maidenS came to look and LONG,
it lay still, a year after its arrival, in its
box. One mamma found it too dear,
and another too striking, and another's
daughter it would not lit, and to an
Mrs. Allen grew to hate the mention OF
1t, and her feminine pleasure in spread
ing it out for chorused admiration died
away after she had done it a dozen
times. But one day there came a letter
announcing the engagement and speedy
marriage of favorite niece, Alice
Grey. Alice was poor and pretty and
clever and sweet, and she had won the
h If of a fine family, sand was exultant
at once over her luck and her love.
''FoE though it wouldn't have made any
difference to me, and / should have
liked him just the same if he had been
nobody, still, for ones friends, it is q