Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-04-10

20 faseldious. I only wish he were . little
more independent in his circumstances;
of course John will arrange all that"
.Ot course John will do nothing of the
kind" said Mr.. Talbot. with apparent Of:
fort. I'VE might as we'll understand
You know whether I have held back any Of
the money I have worked so hard for all
these years. You and the children have had
it every bit. I have written q letter for
Ellinor, which her maid will give to her,
telling her thai I will continue the
tofore: Anything more is literally impos-
sible in the present state of my affairs,
either for Oracle or herself"
"Gracie!" said Mrs. Talbot, trying to
conceal the blankness of her countenance.
THAT girl is a perfect enigma. Not con-
money their father gave them both for
their trousseaux, and buying herself an
outfit like q Quaker's, she has actually
persuaded Edward that it is better for
them to begin housekeeping at once. They
have been off together luckily it is in a
bave hunted up a two story house with q
box garret-the most dingy, absurd little
mouse-trap you ever saw-on the east side
OF town, in Place. Ibelieve it was oc-
cupied by u dress-maker last. The worst
Of it is, they have actually taken. it, and
to work there. or course 1 did everything
1 could do to talk Grace into an apart
ment. Everybody goes into apartments
now, and you may DO as poor as you please
IN one OF them, and still keep up appear
ances. But Grace says that Edward is too
big tor any apartment she has yet seen,
aud far too NOISY. And Edward says he
wants four walls and q front door step all
to himself. He is as obstinate as a mule, it
IL plain to see, and pity poor Grace when
the honeymoon isover: What will become
OF her music-for she certainly has q
lovely voice, and has had every advantage
In masters-and her languages, and ali,
tucked away in that hole, with that kind
of a set, selfish man for a companion! Just
imagine what kline of a house it must be
when ! tell you that they got it on a lease
for $500 u year!"
II remember, Maria" said John Talbot,
gently, "when we first came here from the
country, and I was a clerk on a small SAL
airy, thai zoe lived in one room of a board
ing-house, and had to be content. Aunt
Hope, I see you taking all this in in your
quiet way, and ! know it astonishes you.
That a mother should reproach her child
for trying to live within her husbands
means l confess astonishes even me-"
Nov, John, when you try to be satir-
ical I always stop" said J. his wife, com
| 4O1UdOlys I1dfou'U yOus III ike 10 KNOW,
always paid every bill without inquiring
into it, and given the children every adj
vantage without counting the cost"
GAY, God help me, so l have" said John
Talbot, getting up abruptly to leave the
room. without counting the COST"
wife. "Don't mind him, Aunt Hope; he is
really the most indulgent creature living.
A true American father, some one called
him who met US at Nice last year. What
puzzles me is this holding back about in
creasing Ellinor's allowance. OF course
he must be talked into it.. A girl of Elli-
nor's tastes, indeed! Ellinor must have
money!"
During a mild week in May, about six
months after the double wedding, Aunt
Hope was again in town. She had called
once or twice at the Hotel Guelph before
at the ~ntrance door took her card, glanced
superciliously at her poke bonnet,
''guessed" that the madame was not re-
ceiving, n after a long delay came back
with the information that Mrs. Eliot at .
p. IN had not yet left her room. At last
Aunt Hope received permission to ascend
to her niece's quarters, aud being inclosed
in an elevator, was carried to the sixth
story of q sumptuous apartment-house. A
boy in buttons answered her touch upon
the electric knob, and conducted her
through q long dark passage-way into
Mrs. Eliot's presence.
Ellinor was lying on a couch in the cen-
ter of q small room Uttered with bric-a-
brac, and crowded with fu.s, heavy dra-
peries and costly rugs. What light there
was came through thin curtains of amber
silk hung beneath massive screens of null
ti-colored glass. A wood fire was blazing
on the hearth, and the air was perfumed
to suffocation with the ordor of roses and
hyacinths, crowded in vases upon every
shelf and bracket. A small stand of gilt
wicker at Ellinor's side contained boxes of
bonbons, fresh heliotropes massed in q
yellow jar, the morning papers, and a
couple of French novels. Amid all this
ll-assorted luxury the young wife lay in
an attitude of utter listlessness, her robe
of white India silk half hidden by a COW
ering Of gold embroidered Oriental stuff
thrown across her couch.
"Humph !" said Aunt Hope, sitting bolt
upright on the edge Of the first chair she
could find. II supposed l had got by mis-
take into the room of some tragedy queen.
What would your Grandmother Talbot have
said to this, l wondery-she who was up
by candle.Iight winter and summer,
sweeping, busting, cooking, mending, to
make both ends meet, and to give your
father and the others what education
she could afford! Seems to me, child,
the size of your rooms isn't III keeping
with all this finery. And, of course,
with a limited income, you hare to live
high up, but that should be no reproach to
you"
81 wonder if you know what we pay
for this apartment" Ellinor said, sharply,
naming q sum that made the old iady's
spectacles fly off in her excitement.
That Aunt Hope had much to learn she
discovered in the course of this memorable
visit. She found in her niece a type of an
increasing class, descendants Of the
thrifty New York merchants of q gener-
alton back-cradled in luxury, and yield
ing to no hereditary mobiles Upon earth
the right to surpass them in personal in
diligence of their lavish tastes. On every
side in the circle of Ellinor's contempo-
raries might be seen the same push and
struggle Tor supremacy in the world of
fashion-a world of self.constituted aris-
tocracy, whereof the puppets represent
ing men and women danced to the far
affected to despise, creating, in a word, a
London at second -hand. In such hands
the vigor of the American Republic is
swathed in eider-down and stifed in at
tar of rose. No wonder that a shrewd
old woman liks Aunt Hope, whose eyes
had been wide open to the interests of her
follows these sixty years past, should
pause aghast at the spectacle! A brief
interview with her niece revealed
far more than Ellinor meant to show.
Already the husband and wife had be-