Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-03-07
A GLOVES EVIDENCE.
a STORY.

''Put up the shutters Tommy, and fasten the
door called Mrs. Toppin from her snug parlor
behind the shop.
faint seven vet Wants five minutes by
the church clock" objected the boy, who, with
his hands in his pockets, was standing on the
doorstep watching the heavy thunder shower.
DO as you're bid. lad Wherein Tommy
went out reluctantly to perform his task. He
had fastened the last bar of the shutters, re-
entered the shop and was about to close the
door. when he felt it pushed gently from with
out
ooh. please let me in, implored the soft voice
of q giti. who was enveloped from head to feet
III a long waterproof, the hood OF which partly
concealed her face.
But we,cr shut up for the night. miss"
comfy the window:eand l don't want to buy
woods or embroidery cotton or anything of that
sort. wish II see Mrs. Toppin.'
Ion business?'
YES
The boy disappeared into the parlor, and Mrs.
Toppin at once came into the shop.
''N eli? she said. not by any means with a
coGciliatOTy tone or manner
- wish 10 enter my name for situation.
You keep n registry office, believer
i door servants" And the woman looked
with practised eye a little obviously at the
tall. graceful figure of the girl marking her
soft voice and refined manner as she asked. Law
IN" shilling on the counter, '.WiIl You write
down my name, please
MIS- 1oppln put on her business manner with
her >Hectacles, Iu q moment, and, having de-
sired her boy to light the gas, she took a large
pooH from drawer, dipped a pen into the ink
and said, oracularly:
Margaret Johnson"
'Twenty-two"
az hat capacity?"
Anything
~ suspec, you've not been out before young
woman You II require character, you know
me girl took letter from her pocket, which
she silently handed to Mrs. Toppfn.
Canon RVweIi hers To certifr
johnson-..:....C Church of England well edu-
Gated thigh moral character.........Go her
tutor, died penniless few months since..-..
daughter left 10 support herself
Having made entries in her book to the above
edect, Mrs. 1OppIn gave back the letter and
turned over several leaves of the volume before
her. Then, running her forefinger quickly
down the page. she arrested ii suddenly / ooI1-
ing up sharply over her spectacles, she said:
Lady JakeS wants maid immediately To
a qualified young person q liberal salary will be
preferred
II am afraid cannot fulfil these require
you're the Hkeiiest I've seen. You speak
gentler than theSdo, for the most part about
here-more like a Londoner. Her ladyship
To get suited. Here's the address. rs the
large house with a lodge and iron gates at the
END Of this street You'd best apply at once
And | wish her joy of the place, poor young
woman If she gets it! She's rare hard TO please.
is my Lady lakes" calculated Mrs. TopIfn, as
She removes her srectacles. wiped them, and
transferred them t. their case.
The rain still poured down in torrents but
Margaret Johnson walked on regardless of the
storm. She had no difficulty in finding the
lodge and iron gates But when the door of the
large house was opened by smart footrnan
she fel, not little nervous as SD explained her
GRAND. In few moments she was shown into
d room, the amber and gilt furniture of which
looked all the more gaudy when contrasted
with the lady sitting there-a lady dressed in
the deepest and most expensive of widows
weeds. She was little woman of florid com
pIexiOn, with light blue ewes bright and Vi
vaciouS in manner and looking Younger than
her thirty years. Despite her somb Der crane she
wore many diamond rings, which glittered on
the fingers OF her small white hand, and the
white lisse arrangement on the top of her fuzzy
light hair was secured there by diamond pins.
- young person after the place, my lady"
announced the foOtman.
'Where have You livede'' was the first CUES
ton OF Lady Ja>eS, when the door was closed.
Margaret preferred the letter Mrs. Toppin had
read. The lady ran her glance quickly over it,
Canon Byweil? she said, as she gave it back
"On- what a canon says-eSpeciaIly q canon of
D must be true. My last maid left me
because she didn't seem to know her things
from mine. She wasn't honest. AT all events
can have no fears on that score respecting uou
with such character as this. But can you
robe in repair Make and alter my morning
dresses? In Tact do all that tddys lady IS maid
10 the best of my belief, madam, can do all
this
You must always say my lady when you
speak to me-.
''Gc-,.........rny lady"
Put back your hood. take off your hat and
let me have lock at you
The girl Obeyed. Lady Jakes looking scruti.
nizi1gly at the sweet face blUshng beneath her
bold inspection, remarked that the large gray
eyes met hers without fiinchiug, and that the
classically-shaped head, round which the
smooth brown hair WI simply coiled, carried
itself as proudly ~ Z queens.
~ OUT do. said the lady shortly with nod
81 engage You for month on trial at twenty
pounds "a year As this is SATURDAY. and am
terribly in want OF maid, you had best remain.
/ Will SEND :0r your things, wherever they may
be, tonight"
Preliminaries being thus quickly settled Mar
g3ret Johnson turned over Il fresh page in her
history and began her new life in the character
OF ladys maid.
Lady Jakes was the daughter of a rich country
brewer. A year before this story opens she
married an old city knight, whom good living
in general and port wine in particular killed a
few months after marriage During the pre-
scrlbed period of her mourning, Lady Jakes
elected TO live in the house left her by her faith er
the large stone house with the lodge and iron
gates IN he county town where she was born.
she brought a large retinue from London
among them dishonest lady's maid whose
place she hoped now she had efficiently sup
Piled.
The new maid, however. had not been many
days IN Lady Jakes' service before Il bere me
painfully evident 10 the latter that t'.ere was
more OF the lady about Margaret Johnson than
about Lady Jakcs herself This knowledge
gave rise 70 an uncomfortable feeling which
lleF lttINSitap IN VAIN tr1ed 10 diSpei. At first
She resented the fact, but ultimately de-
termined TO turn it TO account. 1t is true the
country brewers daughter had received a fair
enough education at large school, but if WINS
somewhat humiliating to find that the daily
com panionshlp of refined girl like Margaret
johnson opened outa new branch of learning
II showed her her own DEFICIENCIES. She knew
herself to be loud, abrupt in speech, quick and
gaUche in manner. Her maid. on the other
hand, spoke slowly, softly, with few words: but
those see used We're spoken in q low sweet
melOdiouS voice. Her movements were the
plaiD-were of soft black stuff that chung CLOSELY
10 her figure, with the narrowest rim OF white
al throat and wrists. She was in mourning for
her father, who had died few months back
she said but on all matters referring to herself
or her antecedenLs the girl was reticent in the
extreme.
Lady lakes loved TO have her hair brushed
she was q VivaciOus little woman and eXcitable.
perhaps the action soothed her. She would sit
by the hour before her toilet glass in an eIabO-
ratel y-trimIned peignoir. while Margaret stood
bruShlng with slow monotony the thick, ra Their
coarse light hair, which afterwards had to be
plated and curled and frizzed.
One day, little more than month after Mar
garets arrival, mistress and maid were thus en-
gagged, when the former said abruptly:
on wear no ornaments, Johnson
"No my lady
MANY mistresses forbid their servants To
wear Jewelry, but that can't be your reason for
wearing none. What is it?'
i do not think jewelry suitable with deep
mourning, my lady
But am in the deepest mourning and wear
these.' Ana Lady Jakes, holding up both her
little white hands, smiled as she saw the dia-
mOndS flash. ~
1T is a matter OF feeling, suppose. nv ladv. -
DO yon THINK 1t bad taste-in plain English,
rttgdr to wear these splendid rings ?''
L iS