The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-11-06
s:El,lZA."

a." eiciiS.tl oVIlSHluc, Stllll
MIR. Villars. "Look at her, with that
scarlc. ribbon at her neck and those
coils of hair waving b~!ue-black in the
intense light! 1t is like 81 dream of
Italy
Yes" said Mrs, Leeds, "she is
very pretty. but that don't signify
SO much. She's a good, smart girl,
and don't loose any time looking at
herself in the glass, like some I've
Where did you pick her up?"
asked the young clergyman, carclessly
drawing the newspaper from his
pocket AS he sat down on the carpet
OF pine needles under tho b,g ever
green tree.
Didn't pick her up anywhere"
said Mrs. Leeds tartly (for this was a
part OF the transaction hat had never
been quite satisfactory to her business
like soul). ''She came along"
Game along?" (with u slight &C.
cent of surprisc).
"les-looking for work"
Mr.. Nillars lifted his eyebrows.
Then how do you know who she
is?' he asked.
81 don't know!' retorted Mrs.
Leeds, unconsciously b%etraying her
weak point by this %irritability of man
ner; but | know what she is, and
that's more to the purpose. She's the
best washer that ever crossed nv
threshold; as docilc as a kitten, and as
smart as a cricket; does twice the
DIRK of anyone else that Fever had;
: 'd if she's ever tired, she don't say
Mrs. Leeds hustled off to interview
"mcr Parks for moro 2Aldernev
IN for the summer boarders. now
oh the house was beginning to fill
Mr.. Vlllars %improvised a pillow out
OF his coat, folding it -cylinderwise and
placed under his head, and closed his
eyes i'll a sort of summer dream among
the pine boughs and butterflies.
And Eliza, spreading Il blackber-
rics to dry on the board platform that
had been erected along the garden
fence. began to sing softly to herself.
She was very silent ordinarily, but
somehow it seemed as if the sunshine
had thawed out her very heart to-day.
Mr.. Villars had been right. There
was something of the atmosphere of
Italy about Eliza her ayes were so
deep and dark, her hair so glossily
black, her check stained with such a
rich olive. I'll
Moreover, she did not move like the
girls Of rock bound New England.
There vas 4 subtle, gliding motlon-a
languor Of grac~cf,llncsssin her gait
which was foreign to all her surround
lngS.
The girls OF the vicinage did not
fraternize with Eliza when, at rare in
~tervals, she accompanied Mrs. Leeds
to church, saving circle, or village
gathering; for in S%tapleville the en-
oloyer and employc occupjeds one all
comprehensive social platform.
They said she was odd" they
looked at her askance; and Eliza, al
ways very quiet IN bcr ways, made no
effort to %insinuate herself into their
sood graces.
Why should she? What did it sig
aify, one way or the other. whether
Deborah Smart. and kezlah Hayes,
and Abby Jane Clark liked her or not,
- long as Mrs, Leeds was n:eased with
/? 80
Butathe-;h} ge girls mad one error
in theirs calculations. They had not
intended, as the time crept on. to en-
phasizs their antipathy to Mrs. Leeds,
Eliza so strongly as to awake q par
tisan feeling in Mr., Villars' breast;
but they did SO, unconsclously to them
selves.
"Why do they neglect that girl SOP"
the young clergyman asked himself.
.Can they net see how infinitely SUI
pcrlor sheis to them? It's a shame!"
And SO Abby Jane Clark, tie De-
borah Smart, and; Keziahf Hayes
sealed their own doom, so far as Mr..
Villars was concerned.
There was not one of them but
would have been delighted to win a
smile, a glance, a pleasant word from
thesyouug man who was summering
at the Leeds farm house. a
But, alas! like the priest and the
Levlte, he passed by or the other
side; and when the village girls, in
their afternoon muslins and ribbons,
sat at their windows and wondered
why che came not" he was. in nine
cases out of ten helping Eliza to
gather peaches for tea; standing be-
side the brook. while she spread out
towels and Observation-Disclosures to
bleach, or ever explaining to her tho
difference between the notes of the
thrush and the woodlark, the spccklcd
eggs OF theo robin and the pearl gray
treasure Of the whtp-poor-will.
ale seems to be taking n notion to
her" sad Mrs. Leeds to herself, as
she eyed the pair shrewdly from her
milkroom window. Well, why
shouldn't hep It's true he's minis
ter, and my own nephew; but in my
mind El,za is good enough for any
man. Ny sakcs! won't Abby Jane
Clark be rad? If ever girl wanted