Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-04-28
CINDERELLA.
1.-THE ArgOsY.

ClNDHRELLA.
GThe Argosy |
There are more Cinderellas nowadays
than the world imagines The old story is
enacted under different circumstances, with
varying details, in many an English house
hold. The daughters of the land may be
fair, but there are too many of them, per
haps, for the anxious man9uvering mother
to pilot among the shoals and quicksands OF
society. Now and then younger one is
kept out in the cold for little; forbidden
to cross the borderland between the school
room and the drawing g-room-not exactly
forced to sit in ashes, but repressed, hidden
away in the dim background. There may
be reason, plenty Of worldly wisdom in this,
andy the girl woman is apt to wax re-
| belious; her sisters triumphs fill her with
envy. All sorts of radiant visions of posi-
| BILE and impossible delights seem to beckon
to her from that unknown world. Why
must she, poor little Cinderella, waste her
sweet bloom unseen and unheeded?
One fears Mabel Templeton had some
su sii tfl oughts as thesess she watched half
sadly, haif-enviousy the progress of her
sisters toilets one bright June afternoon,
and also the packing of two wellfilled
trunks, into each of which Rosalie was de-
posting perfectly new and dainty ball
dress. For Mr.. Templeton had consented
to take his two elder daughters to Oxford
! for the Commemoration; and though there
was no mother in this case, Aunt Selma,
who was also of the party, had fatty refus-
ed to act as choper0n to moro than two
nieces at time.
sDisagreeable old thing.' muttered Gin
derella, with a curl of her pretty lips. She
was trying to brave out her disappoint-
ment in this fashion, but tears lay very near
the surface, for the poor girls heart was
very sore. ''It is snch a shame, too, when
Owen is my own brother, and | have never
seen his rooms, or his cap and gown; and
papa took you both last year,
eyes, but it was not Commemoration
time; everything was as slow and stupid as
possible returned Violet placidly. 'Don't
be cross, Nab; neither Pauline nor l can
help Aunt Selina's fads. You know papa
does not like to cross her, because she is so
rich. 1t was not possible for me to put in
word"
She spoke in a tone of good-natured ban
ter, and patted her sisters shoulder kindly
as she passed. "a.
'Don't, Vii" returned Nab, rather irri
tably. at is all very well, your saying
that about Aunt Selma, but you know that
neither you nor Pauline said one word; you
never even mentioned me; and yet Owen
begged SO hard that should go this year"
ooh, Nab how tiresome you are p OBJ
served Pauline, as Nab paused in her in
dignant speech. All the Templeton girls
were handsome; but though Pauline was
very fair and stately, one or two old friends
of the family had predicted that Nab would
one day bear the palm. 81 wish you would
not provoke me into saying it, but | must
own that l think aunt is quite right, and
three would be too many. 1t is our turn
this year, but next Commenoration, who
knows?" And here she stopped to survey
herself in the glass.
| Mabel gave little stamp with her foot,
| but she had sweet nature, on the whole,
and she wisely resolved not to give vent to
the feeling that oppressed her. She was
cross, she knew-dreadfully cross-but, oh
if they only imagined what this disappoint-
ment meant to her, how really unhappy she
was. But that was just what she could not
own to any one.
| Nab had her own little secret, though she
was only eighteen, and neither Pauline nor
Violet would allow that she was quite
grown up. Why, it was only this week
that the governess had been dismissed
And she was quite right in her surmise that
neither of her sisters wished to include her
in their party. 1t is difficult for girl to
be perfectly honest on all occasions. Nab
was hardly telling the truth-that is, the
whole truth-when she alleged her fondness
for Owen and her desire to see him in his
Undergraduate garb as a reason for wishing
to go to Oxford. Owen was certainly very
dear to her, but it may be doubted if some
one were not becoming dearer still.
Last vacation Owen had brought friend
home with him, and the two had been a
great deal in the school-room, where Nab
still did some pretence Of lessons with Miss
Dalton. Nevertheless, her demure man
ners in the drawing room of an evening
were as ggownup as Pauline's could be.
What would Mr.. Beauchamp think when
he saw only Violet and Pauline? And yet
he had begged her SO earnestly to come
down for week.
''You will be out then," he had said
quite eagerly. "ATiss Dalton tells me she
is to leave in June"
"Ob, yes. l shall be ont then. | am
quite grown up now," Nab assured him
with much naivete and little dignity; but
she blushed like rose over the young mans
next words:
every well. I shall look for you, and
you must give me your first dance at the
University ball. l will dance with no one
else until you appear. Do not disappoint
me. / shall know what to think if 1 see
you 1t will show you care a little for my
wishes, in spite of all your teasing-for you
have teased me sadly, have you not, Miss
Mab?'
But to this Mabel made no sort of rejoin-
der except by that blush.
She sat and thought about it all when the
carriage had taken them at last to the sta
ton, and she was left alone in the sunny,
deserted drawing room. Miss Dalton was
gone; all the lesson books were put away:
she was gownup young lady, as she said.
Her time was her own. AT the present mo-
ment she was mistress ofthat greenhouse, and
had half dozen servants at her command.
When the carriage came back she was at
liberty to get into it, and order the coach
man to convey her round the park. Her
sisters might be shocked, perhaps, at such
independence, but then they should not
have left her. And yet, in spite of all this
freedom and grandeur, no Cinderella sitting
among the ashes could have felt more for
lorn or miserable.
Owen, dear old fellow, would be bitterly
disappointed, for Nab was his special sister;
but, as he would be coming back with
then, such disappointment would be borne
But what would Mr.. Beauchamp think
when he saw only her sisters? That she
had not cared to come-that his wishes were
nothing to her-that she meant only teas
ing and fun, and nothing else. And all
that after all his kindness to her, ''the lit
tie Faerie Queene," as he had once called
her at Christmas party.
ooh, it is too hard ! II is bitterly
hard p sobbed the poor child. And though
she was not imaginative, at least not more
than other happy young girls, dim, ,shadowy
feeling came over her that it was just some
such cross accident as this that had spoil
ed many an innocent young life, marring
its fair beginnings and tangling its golden
threads. ''And should not have minded
/ should not be half so miserable if had
not teased him so much and made him look
sad,' finished Nab in a little outburst of
despair.
And any one who knew Ned Beau
champs character would have believed she
had cause for her fears. The young man
had already gone away. sadly telling him