The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-11-11

it might have been accounted for by the
fact that a blonde haired person in a
blue cambria sat beside him, and looked
wonderfully picturesque, too, in the
white shawl she had thrown about her.
Il have thought of a costume" she
said, with a pretty hesitation, as they
parted in the dim hall-that is, if Aunt
Hannah will let me- she added,
mysteriously, and vanished up the
stairs.
"What be they up to now?" said Mrs.
Clegg, fretfully, pausing over the
breakfast dishes. next morning. to
listen to the sound of voices proceeding
from IN upper room.
"It's nv DOING" said Aunt Hannah,
regretfully. You see, jamie leased so
hard for 'em that I didn't jest know how
to say no."
"Eh?" said her sister, blankly.
"She wanted my old spinning wheel
and Grandma Phillips old yellow silk
dress, and that old BACKBONE [ USED to
wear" Aunt Hannah explained. "That
feller's going to make a picture OF her
that way"
Mrs. Clegg sank into a chair.
"How could you a done it," she
queried. "The more she sees of him, the
better she's a.going to like him; and he
don't want nothing of her! I do be.
~lieve," Mrs. Clegg concluded, beginning
to cry into a corner of her apron, ''take
it all together, I'm the most unhappy
critter that ever was!"
Poor Aunt Hannah churned away in
conscience stricken silence.
"You couldn't have hit upon anything
more perfect, Miss Clegg," George Day
ton was saving at the same moment, up
in the big unfinished upstairs room.
jamie was charming, indeed, as she
sat there smilingly the quaint
short sleeved, high wasted yell
low silk dress falling in shimmerlng
folds about her: her soft hair brought
up higher than ever, and crowned by a
tall BACKBONE; the fax on the old
wheel at her side held lightly in both
small hands, n slippered foot pressing
the treadle.
"I'm glad you like it," she said, de-
murely.
Like itr' cried the young man, de-
lightedly. "I'm entrancedm
And he rushed down stairs for his
painting materials.
"Where did you get it," he inquired,
eagerly, with a nod at the spinning
wheel, as, with easel before him and the
inevitable paint rag across his knee, he
began studying the scene with narrowed
eyes, and Unlocking il in"
Its Aunt Hannah's," JAMIE respond
ed, with a laugh-"aud such a time as [
had getting it,"
There's a corner in my studio at
home" said Dayton, musing'y. (which
q spinning wheel would ill exactly. A
studio isn't complete without one, any
how. You don't suppose-turn a little
to the right, please; that's it--that Aunt
Hannah could be induced to part with
it2'
IT don't know" said jamie, dubious
ly; ''but I'll ask her."
She would have undertaken a much
more arduous task, with the young mans
bright, dark eyes fixed upon her in that
tenderly persuasive way.
DAYTON worked hard, and jamie
watched him with interest, squeezing a
drop from this and that small tin tube,
and mixing colors almost fe%rociously,
adding a vigorous stroke, and stepping
back a few PAGES to note the effect.
Altogether it was a delightful morn
ing, and it was an unwelcomc Interrupt
ton to both when Mrs. Clegg put her
head in ct the door, surveyed the scene
with q frown and an audible sigh, and
then told jamie to come down and set
the dinner table.
Dayton sat in deep reflection when the
yellow silk had obcdiently swept itself
away.
He had not meant to be inquisitive,
and certainly jamie had not been garru-
lous; but he was in possession of the
facts concerning the little scene at the
supper table. last night.
They were few ard simple.
Janie's father had died three
years ago, leaving a h~ve-hundred dollar
mortgage on his little home, in CIRCUITS
hands.
Three hundred and fifty of this, by
dint of chicken raising, butter making
and an occasional summer boarder, they
had paid; the remainder, the girl said,
with a soft sadness in her voice, had
seemed hard in coming, and their credi-
tor was growing excusably impatient:
Dayton cleared his palette, covered his
canvas and took his brushes down stairs
for a rinsing, rather mechanically, wore
an absent smile at the dinner table, and
was still preoccupied when he started off
on a tour of discovery, sketch book In
hand.
He had taken a resolve.
The painting progressed rapidly.
Davton's desire to finish the picture
for the exhibition had grown into g per-
feet frenzy, which puzzled ever jamie.
The changing light forbade afternoon
sittings; but the pretty model was ready
at eight every morning, at the spinning
wheel-it was Dayton's now; aunt Han
nah's consent to the one-sided bargain
had been easily won-and the artist
worked steadily until twelve.
'No, I don't want to look at it," said
Mrs. Clegg, severely. when JAMIE came
to leg her to look at the finished paint
ing. II shouldn't think you'd ask me
to-"
And she turned away from the be-
wildered girl, and wiped her eyes on a
corner of her apron, already limp with
previous outbursts.
Aunt Hannah, however, discrcetly Sc
Letting a moment when her sister was
not observant, went up stairs, guilty,