Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-06-18
BETSEY BLIYEN.

MdlLO EAAAs atANA l. NlNiCUi0lC Llnl L CAN
earn my own living if any body can.
Miss Bliyen was tall, erect and com
= posed, She had seen the world, and
She wasn't afraid of it.
But TO think of Bliven going out
as a hired girl" said Mrs. Midget,
feeble, pink eyed little woman with
chronic catarrh and dejqcted snifiie,
who had been born Matilda Bliven
and attached superstitious respects to
the name.
Whats the odds2n said Betsy.
I've got my living to earn, an2 /
mean to earn it. Now, you, 'Tilda, 3"
with a compassionate glance at the
pink-eyed aristocrat, you're made to
work without any wages. Just for
the satisfaction of being called Mrs !"
And Betsey picked up her bag,
shouldered her umbrella, and stalked
out to meet the stage, whose rumbling
wheels were beginning to sound upon
the road, like distant thunder.
Miss Bliven had visited Boston
intelligence bureau, and there they had
obtained for her the address Of d house
in the northern part Of the state where
a reliable girl was wanted in the ca
pscity OF table waitress and chamber p
maid
Wages demanded Betsey
Fourteen dollars, said the gentle
manly 1nan who stood smiling behiad
the desk.
''PrIvileges?" questioned the young
woman
"A whole day to yourself every
month, and every other Sunday at,
ternoon. y replied the man.
ANY other girls keptl' asked Miss
Bliven.
''Foar, said the man, complacent-
"Humphp commented Betsey.
Family largel"
'Well-rather, admitted the man.
And the situation is very lonely, and
So
II don't care anything about that, "
interrupted Betsey. I'D as soon keep
house for hermit, or &c on a desert
island. Pm not very young, and I've
no followers. Let me sec rand
Trunk Railroad to Black Gorge, stage
coach 10 Bleak aall-yes, I've got the
directions all written down.
AID Betsey paid her fee, took her
card. and creaGed out of the room In
pair of brand new calfskia boots.
Miss BlIven travelled comfortably
She earned her lunch in s splint bas-
ket, and ate comfortably on the road /;
she 5egJiled the tagging hours with
a newspaper, and was not very tired
when at last the conductor flung open
the door and yelled oat BLACK
Gorgel" at the top of = stentorain
pair of lungs.
And Miss Betsey foSnd herself
Standing on the platform, surrounded
by dark pine woods.
Where's the stage2n sac exclai Re
ed.
Lady from Bleak Halle" demand.
ed an insinuating voice close to her
ear
And the next minute she fouHc.
herself lifted politely into close,
dark wagon, with Ieather-cushionet
seats.
Where's the others9" asked the
driver.
What othersl' said Miss Bliven.
THE two gentlemen who were with
you"
There were none. said Miss
Bhven. came alone.
'Alone2' said the driver, glancinc
uneaslly around, @'All the way from
Bostonl
Yes, all the way from Iostolr T.
SAID Miss Betsey, little impatiently.
Why shouldn't Ii You doa't sup
pose | need keepers, do you2"
Oh, ne, ms'am; certainly not, !"
promptly responded the man, as he
climbed iHto his seat and took the
rains.
de drove circumspectly, along a
lonely road, Miss Bhven observed,
uO to The very door &c a great. dark
stone house, he |ged about with fun
eral looking spruces ard cedars, as
betSey could discern in the star
sprlnsled darkness, and a narrow
door vas opened.
I've brought her" sal the driver
TO respectable looking man ia black
whom Kelsey at once concluded to be
the butler. "all alone.
"Alonel Bless my SOUL" cried the
man, 1 hope you didn't have any
trouble7"
None in the least, said the driver.
she's as quiet as lambN
Well, / never" said Miss Bliven.
DO they take me for a raging lioness,
wonderl7
In an instant her arm vas drawn
4 through that of the respectable man
4 "a black, and she was conducted along
dark, stone-paved passage, lighted
only By a swinging lamp that hung
n arove their heads.
Very polite they are here. / must
j say, thought Miss Betsey to herself.
But the idea was scarcely formed IN
II ger mind when she found herself
Il pushed, gently bat suddenly into a
small, stone.paved room with circular
q walls, windows high above her reach,
u aud the sc2ntiest allowance of furnl-
q 'lre that she had ever seen in her life.
auQ. TO her amazement, the polite
~ oaLI.er was accosting her through q
y grated doorway, as if she were wild
. criminal.