St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-11-12
PINKIE'S REVENGE.
Helen Hunt Jackson

here to-day -
"Sh-Sh-, she might hear you :"
"NOnsense She is down in the re-
ception room. | don't suppose if she
is from the backwOOds, she has got
ears that can hear through doors"
"Girls, | am ashamed of you. How
can you be so unfeeling toward your
own cousin :"
IL don't care, mamma, she is sure to
Ice awkward and dOwdy. How can we
have her at the dinner table tonight
! shall die of modification to have to
Introduce her to Mr.. Morris as our
cousin"
"Perhaps she will be too tired to
come down to dinner after such long
ride. 1t is little awkward to add
another to a set dinner party"
"Oh mamma, bless you for the
thought. You can tell her that she is
too tired. You can arrange it,
know -
"Well, I'll try"
These were the sentences which fell
on the ears of Priscilla Bent as she sat
alone, waiting to see the aunt and
cousins whom she had come all the
way from Kansas to New York to Wis
it, of whose welcome she felt as sure
as If she had known them all her life.
IL was 10y blunder of the servant
that she had been shown directly up
stairs into the drawing room, which
communicated by folding doors with
the room where wee sitting mother
and daughters.
"Pinkie What name !" continued
the first speaker. "WhO ever heard of
such name, except for Il dog ?"
"IIer name is Priscilla" replied the
mother, ''but Pinkie was given to her
10y her father, when she was little
girl, on account of her pink cheeks"
"Well. will call her Priscilla"
"And | tOO.n
"Your father will not like it," said
Mrs. Bent. "But we must go down"
A swift rush Of three women down
the staircase, three loud exclamations
of dismay at the sight of the empty re-
ception room, looks of dismay and Il
smothered whisper of veXatiOn.
GLOW stupid of Ben Do you sup
pose she heard ?"
These were the next scenes in the
swift little drama which here began so
inauspiciOusly under Mr.. Silas Bent's
roof this morning. And next to these
followed one which seemed almost a
Justification of all that the Misses Bent
had said in regard to their cousin.
Slowly rising to her feet, grasping her
umbrella firmly in her left hand, rose
"a tall, an exceeding tall young woman,
who exclaimed in nasal voice, ''Well,
| was Jest comm to look We up.
didn't know as that fine black gentle
man a. yourn had cOndescended to let
yOu know ! was here. I'm most tired
to death, tell yeu four days an four
nights in the cars is enough to kill an
OK. But I'll he all right sOOn's | get
my coffee. / reckon breakfasts all
cleared away by this time, but / don't
want much, only n cup of coffee, if the
cook hain't thrown it out. Pm real
glad to see you. s'pOse uncle got my
letter, didn't hew And pausing i'll her
breathless speech, pretty Priscilla
Bent looked sheepishly into the faces
of her equally shame-faced relatives.
If they had not been too guiltily dis
turbed in their own minds by fears of
having been overheard in their inhOs-
pitable comments, they might have de-
tected a strange look on their Kansas
cousins face, a mixture of twinkle and
terror. But they saw or heard moth
ing except what so thoroughly cOrrob-
Grated their worst fears. Even Mrs
Bent herself, who had resolved be-
fore hand to be thoroughly kind to the
child of her husbands favOrite brother,
was thrown off her balance, and in
spite of herself, the welcome she gave
was curt and cool.
But nothing appeared to daunt the
terrible Pinkie. Radiant good humOr
shown in her face her tongue ran like
a clapper, and when the dinner party
was mentioned, Pinkie cried:
"NOt much | amt too tired. III
Just bunk down and by o'clock I'll
be rs fresh as a rooster We don't
often get a chance to regular dinner
party out in Emporia, and don't mean
to miss one this winter. Say-shall |
wear my very bestP I've read about
the Kind of clothes you New Workers
wear to dinners. But, I've got some
A No. gowns, | tell you. Now, you
just show me my room, and I'll go
straight to bed an stay there till din
ner time. You let your black man
bring me up tumbler of milk, will
you, along about o'clock, and a
doughnut or hard tack. I'm used to
eatin' heartily in the middle o. the
day"
When the door was finally shut upon
Pinkie her aunt and cousin exchanged
looks.
Horrible - cried the Youngest
daughter Carrie. ats worse than |
ever conceived. How could papa send
for her p
"He has not seen her since she was
ten years old" said Mrs. Bent dismally.
''Of course he could not dream she
would be like this. He always said
her mother was a charming woman
and they lived in Europe for several
years when she was little. 1t is horri-
BILE, girls ~
Bunk down - calculated the eldest
daughter, Sophia.
Fresh as a rooster ~ echoed Carrie.
"Mamma, / shall go to bed myself and
be too i'll to appear tonight. | don't
believe Mr.. Morris will ever cross our
threshold again"
''Then lac is welcome to stay away
said Mrs. Bent, hotly.
While this distressed consultation
was going on between Mrs. Bent and
her daughters, Pinkie, safe locked in
her room, was holding one with her
self Tears sparkled in her eyes, but
her face was full of mirth.
Il will :" she muttered. al will do
il Ii will be good enough for them.