The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-09-18
REVENGE.

uloh fOOIl. i uOn I suppose, ii she is from
the backwoods, she has got ears that can
hear through floors
"Girls, | am astonished at you. How
can you be so unfeeling toward your own
cousin -
Il don't care, mamma, she is sure to be
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 II cousin"
perhaps she will be too tired to come
down to dinner after such a long ride. 1t
is a little awkward to add another to a set
dinner party"
ooh, 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
waiting to see the aunt and cousins whom
she had come all the way from Kansas to
New York to visit, of whose welcome she
felt as sure as if she had known them all
hti nv IL nao ny IL lttiiti u bHt SUI
want that she had been shown directly up
stairs in the ~drawing-room, which commu-
nicated by folding doors with the room
where were sitting mother and daughters.
"Pinkie What a name y continued the
first speaker. ''Who ever heard of such a
name, except for a dog?"
'IIer name is Priscilla replied the
mother, ''but Pinkie was given to her by
her father, when she was a little girl, on
account of her pink cheeks"
sWell, / shall call her Priscilla"
"And too
Your father will not like it, said Mrs.
Bent. 'But we must to go down.
a swift rush of three women down the
staircase, three loud EXPLANATIONS of dis
may at the sight of the empty reception
room, looks of dismay and a smothered
whisper of veXation.
"IIow stupid of Ben. Do you suppose
she heard
These were the next scenes in the swift
little drama which here began so mans
piciously 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 exceedingly tall, young
woman. who exclaimed in a nasal voice,
swell, / was jest a comm to look we up.
| didn't know as that fine black gentleman
o. yourn had condescended to let you know
| was here. I'm most tired to death, | tell
you. Four days an -four nights in the
cars is enough to kill N OK. But I'll be
all rights soon's | get my coffee. | reckon
breakfasts all cleared away by this time,
but | don't want much, only a cup of cof-
fee, if the cook hain't thrown it out. I'm
real glad to see you | 'spose uncle got
my letter, didn't he ?' And pausing in
her breathless speech, pretty Priscilla Bent
looked sheepishly into the faces of her
equally shamefaced relatives. If they had
not been too guiltily disturbed in their
own minds of fears of having been over
heard in their inhospitable comments, they
might have detected a strange look on their
Kansas Cousins face, a mixture of twinkle
and terror. Buttheysaw and heard nothing
except what so thoroughly corroborated
their worst fears. Even Mrs. Bent herself.
who had resolved beforehand to be thor
oughly kind to the child Of her husbands
flvorite brother, was thrown off her bal
ance, and in spite of herself. the welcome
she gave was curt and cool.
But nothing appeared to daunt the terri
BILE Pinkie. Radiant good humor shone in
her face her tongue ran in a clapper, and
when the dinner party was mentioned,
Pinkie cried
Not much amt too tired. I'll just
bunk down and by 6 o'clock I'll be fresh
as a rooster. We don't often get a chance
to a regular dinner party out in Emporia,
and | don't mean to miss one this winter.
Say-shall | wear my very best? I've read
about the kind of clothes you New Workers
wear to dinners. But I've got A No. 1
gowns, | tell you. Now, you just show
me my room, and I'll go straight to bed
an stay there till dinner time. You let
your black man bring me up a tumbler of
milk, will We, along about 1 o'clock, and a
doughnut or a hard tack. I'm used to
eatin' heartily i'll the middle o the day."
When the door was finally shut upon
Pinkie, her aunt and cousins exchanged
looks.
''Horrible,'' cried the youngestdaughter,
Carrie. ''It's worse than | ever conceived.
How could papa send for her?'
'sHe has not seen her since she was 10
years old, +" said Mrs. Bent, dismally. 'Of
course he could not dream she would be
like this. He had always said her mother
was a charming woman ; and they lived in
Europe for several years when she was lit
tie. 1t is horrible, girls y
Chunk 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. never can APP
pear through it; never, don't believe
Mr.. Norris will ever cross Il threshold
again"
'sThen he is welcome to stay away said
NJ. ID.,4 l,A4l-