, 1888-08-01
MISS CLEO'S NEGATIVE.

Eyes, almost. In ten minutes l shall
have finished" The young person ad
dressed is sitting with her back to hel
sister, and all the face and half of hen
head is hidden by the hood of a retouch,
ing frame. She is leaning eagerly for.
ward. Her eyes are riveted on the neg.
alive before her, and her deft, dainty
fingers are making swift, magic strokes
on the work under her hand. ''In ten
minutes ID ore, " the sweet, musical voice
repeats, land when I've lone | shall
place before your astonished gaze some.
thing too utterly lovely, my Lady Jane. ~
Then Janet Heath lifts her head YEARLY
from the cushions of her invalid couch,
and signs impatiently. Cleo's quick ear
catches that sigh instantly.
Are you in pain, Janie?''
mo; not particularly. Only think, /
dare not read aloud to you any more. !
begin to think that comical genius, Sir
Boyle Roche, was exceedingly correct
when he said that the greatest of all
calamities was generally followed by one
much greater 1t seems so actually.
Oh, dear, dearl Why doesn't some good
fortune befall u now, l wonder2 Why
don't some of our rich relatives hunt us
up and insist on making us a present of
a few hundreds2 They could easily
afford to do it; and only think what a
godsend it would be to usi''
"Wel, for your sake, jamie, 1 sin
cerely wish they would. Then you could
have that operation performed ON your
eyes at once, and 1 should be able to get
you all the nice, nourishing food that the
doctor recommended, and that fine wine
that he said you ought To-. Now, see
thisl' and she handed Miss Janet the
negative.
Eyes" Miss Janet says, after regard
ing the negative critically, ''you GER
tainly have done splendid work upon it,
and it is really an exceedingly nice face;
but / have seen you %retouching many
and many n one hat was far hand
somer."
"Well, 1 will admit all that the girl
answers, receiving the negative back and
gazing down at the face. ''Still, this
n has interested me greatly ever since
/ began working upon it. But, good
gracious, this won't dol Only look at all
the time I've been wasting! l must
scramble into my things, and take this
work to the gallery at once" she breaks
forth suddenly.
Then she flies to the closet, takes out n
very odd, quaint poke bonnet, ties it on,
and, catching up the package of well
done work, hurries to the door.
"Well, jamie, here j am at lastr' Cleo
exclaimed an hour later, flashing into
the cool, dark in a breathless sort
OF way, with her cheeks much deeper in
color than when she left, and a pair of
wild, oddly excited eyes. Then, putting
away her "things," she sits down in a
very stiff backed chair, and fans her hot
cheeks f~uriously.
We'll, jamie, do you know the most
romantic incident has occurred this after
noon2 Really, 1 do actually begin to
hin there must nave been some one
around practicing black art, whatever
that may be. There, now, don't COM
mence to lose your patience, and I'll be-
gin and tell you the whole odd occur
renee right from the start. l went to
the gallery first, of course, and gave in
my work and got my money, all of it
three big, round dollars. if you please.
Then went to the market to get some
thing nice for you. From there 1 went
over to Mr.. Norton's drug store, and l
told him l wanted a flask of his very best
wine, and l wanted it just as cheap as he
could let me have it, and do you know
now don't say a word. / know you are
fixing to scold me for my shameful ex-
tr~avagance, but you needn't, for 1 haven't
got any" she explains with a mysteri-
u little smile. "Let me see; where
was II oh, yes; and do you know, that
dear, kind man gave me a splendid flask,
with his compliments to the invalid, and
he hoped it would do her a world OF
good Yes; l know by that look that
you are going TO ask me where it is, and
II you'll just give me time, I'll make a
full confession. Don't run away with
the idea that l drank it, though, because
L didn't. As soon as I'd thanked him /
rushed out, and 10 and behold you, it had
clouded up awfully, and was beginning
to rain right smart, as the countryman
said. When l saw that, l really didn't
know h to do. OF course, ] wouldn't
have an umbrella. That wouldn't be my
luck, you know, l had SO many little
packages that 1 couldn't hold up my
clothes, and was in a dreadful dilemma.
finally decided, though, that the best
thing would be to make a scamper
for home as fast as my feet would carry
me. So I took a fresh grip on all my
bundles, and was just striding along
with my most Elizabethan like strides,
when that most exasperating shoe of
mine came untied-of course / would
have ON those thin, low things. That
was in the plot, you see. / was going
wildly along, breaking my heart, think
ing how muddy my skirts and the tas-
sells were getting-you know these are
my grand state occasion shoes, she re-
marks, looking despairingly at them
"when somebody came dashing fran
tically along, with an umbrella far over
his head, and knocked slap up against
me, and down went that precious lash
and was shivered into sixteen million
pieces!' she cries. jumping up and
striking a tragic attitude.
why, what was the matter with tha
man? Where were his eyesl" Janet
asks, Grossly, sitting up very straight.
Collie, diarrhea and summer complaints
are dangerous at this season of the year,