Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1886-05-27
TERISE'S GRATITUDE.
BY ETTIE ROGERS.


which she was vainly peering for some
missing article.
Terise did not answer. She was just
then busily engaged brushing the daily
accumulation of dust from the gorgeous
ly painted pots of counterfeit tulips
which adorned the spidery stands be-
fore the two windows.
That fifty dollar bill was in the roll
of money l had when went down to
pay the gasman," Mrs. Putney re-
peated, just as she had for each corner
and Granny she had searched. Il
dropped it in this room--I dropped it
here and nowhere else! Are you sure
you didn't see il, Terise?''
Still the girl made no reply. In the
rounded cheeks the damask crimson
became more vivid; over the round
black eyes her curling lashes twitched
the least bit irresolutely; but she main
tanned silence.
You didn't take it, did you, Terise?"
the elder lady asked, with a sudden Gu
rious glance at the down-cast face as
she emerged from under the tasseled
table scarf.
Then the curling lashes flared widely
open, the small head was uplifted fear
lessly, the fairy figure became erect
with resentful dignity.
II did not" she said emphatically
and proudly.
"Well, do you know anything about
it?' Mrs. Putney demanded impatiently,
with another curious glance at the
strangely wavering color in the dim
pied cheeks.
But the question was unanswered
Terise had resumed her busy buster,
and the silence seemed so oddly con-
scious and uneasy
"Io on must know something about it
or you would never look like that, :"
Mrs. Putney remarked with an irri-
tated severity. The bill never went
out of this room unless it was taken by
the hands of somebody. There has
been nobody here but you and Sophy,
and you didn't pick it up, did youp"
she said, " just then daintily attired
young lady tripped into the room.
That is singular question To ask
me, Susan" Miss Sophy said, with n
little half-vexed shrug of her graceful
shoulders.
''Wel1, If neither of you has picked it
up, it must be on the floor somewhere"
said the elder lady, beginning more
vigorous and extensive search beneath
rugs and ottomans and in every posi-
BILE and impossible crevice.
Mrs. Putney was widow with a
modest competence; and Miss Sophy
was her protegee and only sister-a
handsome, INDECENT, luxurious young
lady, with neither special imperfections
nor special talents!
Little Terise was nobody-at least
she had always been regarded as such
until certain wealthy and agreeable
young gentleman had appreciated her
sufficiently to select her as his plighted
bride! And as the promised wife of
Claude Forester she had become per-
sonage of some condescending distinc-
ton in the household.
But she had been an orphaned and
impoverished little waf whom, some
years before, Miss Sophy, in freak of
philanthropy, had brought home and
commended to the generosity of Mrs.
Putney, who just then CHANGED to need
the services of a small maid, and who
was inclined to be pleased with the ac-
QUESTION. And so the child had stayed
and had grown to girlhood in the house,
where she was esteemed sort of adopt
ed dependent rather than as an alien.
And her dependence had not been al
together oppressive to her; il they had
given her shelter and raiment they had
given her confidence and some meagre
affections also; if her tasks had some
times been irksome, her labors had
been lghtened by her omnipresent
sense of gratitude for what had been
benign in their consideration for her.
Toward the dainty and lazily amiable
Miss Sophy her girlish admiration was
enthusiastic, her girlish gratitude i'm
measurable. And with all her scruples
and sweet humility she had vague mis-
givings that in appropriating the de-
votion of Claud Forester she might
somehow have wronged young lady
so much more elegant and desirable
than her own humble self.
Mrs. Putney was certainly inclined
TO deem her handsome sister grievous-
ly sighted. She could not understand
how any sensible young gentleman
could ignore such superior attractions,
nor how he could be allured and capti-
waited by an inferior and unaccomplish-
ell dependent. And perhaps Mrs. Put
ney would not have been MORALLY sorry
If the too captivating Terise might
eventually become less entirely adora-
BILE in the sight of the very eligible
Claude Forrester! And perhaps the
mystery of the missing fifty-dollar- bill
might change everything, she medi-
tated, with more irritation than malice.
as she scrambled around the pedals OF
the piano and strained cramped arm
toward the last UNEMPLOYED niche.
There is no use searching for it, +"
she said, Grossly, as she scrambled back
across the overturned piano-stool and
through a shower of dislodged music;
lit is gone, and somebody knows where
il Is. You are not turning pale and
red like that all about nothing, Terise,
she added, with sharp significance.
That Terise meant neither to admit
nor to deny the accusation was evident.
and Mrs. Putney felt no less perplexed
than wrathful as the girl quietly and
silently finished her busting and left the
room.
''She had taken The bill-there is all
there is about thatr' she observed de-
cisively.
"Oh; you'll find It, Susan.
shouldn't worry about the money II ]
were YOU" Miss Sophie returned, with
lazy indifference.
II had intended to buy her bridal
outfit and give her little dot. too. Mrs.