The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-04-04

oib sure VI lls tIleu ClceTlul
Grace. And I'll go there with you
this very day to look at the place,
and will rent it three months on trial.
And | can paint You sign to hang
over your door. Homemade bread
by Mrs. Deborah May And I'll
hem you some curtains, and arrange
the shelves in the low window! |
almost wish | was going to be your
shop girl !" she added merrily. "But
| can help you in the evenings, you
know"
Grace CraxalIs prOphesies proved
correct. Aunt Debby's delicious
homemade bread, whiter than pow
dered lillies, sweet as ambrosia, soon
acquired reputation. and the old la.
dy could scarcely bake it fastenough.
People came half dozen blocks to
buy the yellow pumpkin pies and
delicious apple tarts; children brought
their boarded pennies to invest in
chocolate sWeetmeats, vanilla cara
mels, and cream cakes with puffy
shells and delicious centres Of sweet
ness. The little money drawer grew
fat with coins, and Aunt Debby'S
dim eyes grew bright and hopeful
again.
And one day Herbert Valance,
walking by with Medora May, stop
ped and looked in.
"Isn't that your cousin Grace" he
said, "behind the counter?"
"My cousin Grace! No, indeed !!
We are not-in trade"
What possessed her to utter this
deliberate falsehood Medora could
not afterward have told. Partly the
sting Of false shame, partly a disin-
clination for Herbert Valance to
know that her relations were not, to
use her expression, "IadieS and gen
tlemen."
Mr.. Valance looked up at the sign
over the door.
1.-THE name is May" he remarked,
indifferentIy.
"Yes," said Medora, angry at her.
self blushing 50 deeply, "but we are
no relation"
Mr.. Valance thought over the mat
ter; he afterWard met Miss May at a
party given by a friend, where pret-
ty Grace Craxall was also present.;
he had taken rather fancy to the
bright blue and delicate blonde beau
ty of the former, Valance Hall, on
the hill just out of the city, was soli-
tary enough now that his sisters had
all married and gone away, and per-
haps man might find less attract
i've wife than MedOra May. But he
could not be mistaken, he thought,
in Grace CraXall's identity.
And so the next evening. about the
same time, he sauntered into the
shop.
Grace was.behind the dantily clean
little counter, taking some newly ba-
ked maple caramels Off the pan. She
looked up with a smile.
"Good evening, Mr.. Valance, "said
she.
80" he thought, Il wasn't mista-
ken after all. And the little blue
eyed seraph is mortal enough to tell
a lie in spite of her angelic appear.
ance !"
But he looked serenely at Grace.
81 didn't know you were in trade u
said he.
"Didn't'you ?'' retorted Grace, 81
am my Aunt Deborah's shOp-girl al
present. | always come here in the
evening to help her, because" she
added, with a sweet shade Of serious
ness coming over her face, "aunt was
old and poor, and she didn't quite
know how to maintain herself in in.
dependence; and, unfortunately, my
wages at the factory are not enough
for us both. So advised her to open
this business and she did, and she is
doing well; and she bakes the most
delicious bread and pies you ever ate
so," with saucy twinkle under hei
eyelashes, "If you know of any Gus.
toners, will you please recommend
our firm ?"
ITO Re sure l SHALL" he answered
in the same spirit. "And | am very
glad. Miss CraXaIl, to see that you
: are not ashamed of being a working
girl"
"Of course | am not" said Grace
"Why should l be ?"
"But your cousin Medora is."
Grace gave a little shrug of he
shoulders.
"Very likely" said she. Medor3
and l differ in many things"
Mr.. Valance bought pound o
caramels and went away.
"She is a beauty" he said to him
} self, land she is a sensible beauty into
n,,, ~ th,,, .,y,s,y.