The Penn's Grove record., 1888-04-28

tuiuS Ill II.
"Ihat is right. Respect her reserves.
And by and by she may forget the
thing. 1 hope so. If we keep her. And
it looks as though it were meant we
should"
"Well, if ever there were two young
fools who ought to have guardians
appointedp' cried Aunt Juliet, coming
over later. "Of course you can always
find a lending of Providence where
you want it. But l hope you are going
to keep her in the kitchen and make
her of some usel"
"You don't mean to send me awayP'
cried a voice behind us. and Nina
that was the name we called her, Eer
mothers pet name-stood there, tip
toeing, her great eyes glowing and
darkening, her hands wrlnging one
another. "You can't mean to send me
away when you've brought me here,
when I've got nobody else but you,
when l love you sol" And the tears
that her great despair and neighbour
hood to death had not called forth,
FLASHED over now in large drops. "You
know she said, THAT l will take care
Of Ellie, and run Roses errands, and
sew with Jane all day long, and l Will
teach Efie her letters, and l can wash
dishes and pick over berries, and l can
dust and feed the cats, and put ice on
your headaches, and air the news
| paper-"
"For goodness sake, hold your
tongue, child" cried Aunt Juliet. 81
should think she went by machinery.
OF course you'll make yourself useful.
a nj T aynnof - cI,a cold u~ornfp0lv fn
me, that she'll eat you out OF house
and home. The idea Of taking in every
beggar's brat you come acrossl"
But Nina had no idea Of staying In
the kitchen. On the cont airy, wherever
l was, she was, and / soon found that
she considered herself OF the footing of
a ii tie or e d II daughter.
For a while now, Nina was very
quiet; sometimes she cried a little all
by herself, but quite gently, over a doll
she played with; sometimes she came
and stood by me, hanging an arm
ABOUT my neck, silent for a long while;
sometimes she sat ia the big window
and cIooned her old ballads to Ralph,
for whom she had developed an ex-
~travagant devotion. "He is lovely.
Isn't hep" said she. "Oh, if 1 could
only do something for him! If it would
do him any good to walk right over me
l would lie down under his feet-in.
deed, l would!'
"That is very strong language" said
|. 81 can't see how that would do
him any good. And it would hurt
you"
Il should want it to hurt me!'' she
exclaimed passionately. Il can't do
anything for him except to be hurtl"
But after a season this feeling seemed
to abate somewhat; for Nina went to
| school, and the new interest and excite
ment there diverted her, till she began
to hate her lessons and defy her teacher,
AMI presently to beg to stay at home.
And when Ralph told her she was his
| little girl, AMI must have an education
suitable to his little girl, she declared
she was nothing of the sort, but was
his little servant. Aunt Juliet had
said so, aud she needed and would
have no education at all,
or course this phase ended by the
teacher giving her a reprimand before
the other children, and with that she
became, as you may say, uproarlouS.
She after that was more likely to be
found wading the river up to her neck
when the school bell rang. or swinging
in the topmost bough of a tree, or
walking around the caves Of the house
with her arms balancing her steps,
than picking up her hat and books.
Once, indeed, having her school
luncheon strapped over her shoulders,
she stayed up in the tree all day and
all night, in spite of my efforts. Ralph
happening to be absent, and l felt that
she might not have come down at all
If she had not seen the doctor call for
little Efie-of whom she was passion
ately fond, and into whom she had con-
tidently told NE, the soul Of the little
dead baby must have gone-which
sight brought herdown so incontinently
as to bring a multitude Of scratches
and bruises with her. Neither entreaty
nor force could bring her to leave the
room after that till Effie was pro-
nounced out of danger.
ats Just as l said," declared Aunt
Juliet, who being the person of means
in the connection, took the liberty of
saving what she liked. "You've taken
a little hussey that you don't know
anything about into your hearts to
break them!'
Nina was still, at Is years, a little,
lean, brown thing with owls eyes, and
as farouche and shy a. anything Of the
woods, when Lance came home. Lance
was Ralph's brother, and had been
away at the naval school and then sailed
around the world, and had not been at
our home in these six years. "Well,"
he said, ''what imp OF darkness is
this2" And she heard him. And
nothing could bring her into the same
room with him during the whole time
of his stay. But by and by she hung
over the balustrade to listen to his
voice, or she hung over the balcony to
see HIN on the lawn-all if he were not
looking-0r she flashed like a freely
FIR ON window to window to watch him
if he strolled around the river path and
behind the fringe of birch and beech
with Flora Penny, Our pretty neighbor.
81 always did hate a white GIRL" she
muttered. II like dark people," she
said, like you and me. We are
alive.n
Once or twice during Lance's stay
Nina went into the kitchen, and with
a strong hand compelled old Rose. the
cook, to show her how to prepare GER
tain dishes, and then she watched out
side the door of the luncheon room to
learn of their reception, which was
tolerably favorable.
II always knew I could do it if l
wanted to-" she said.
Then she might have been observed
bent over work In hidden corners till
she had finished a little purse of steel
beads.
UHere," she cried over the banisters,
the morning Lance was going away,
You take this! There's lucky penny
in IT."
He looked up and saw her bending
there-the strangest lady, so serious
and dark, and witch-llke, that ever sent
knight on his deyoir.
81 will take it," he said, "if you
will come down and give 1t to me-"
And step by step she came down, as
# he drew her forward and some In
willing power held her back, and laid
the little brown leaf of a hand in his.
And then Lance drew her a little