Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-12-13

,
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 him on the lawn-all as If she were
not looking-or she flashed like fire.
fly from window to window to watch
him if he strolled around the river
path and behind the fringe of birch
and beech with Flora Denny, our
pretty neighbor. II always did hate
| a white girl!'' she muttered. II like
dark people" she said, like you and
me. We are alive
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 cer-
tain dishes. and then she watched out
side the kitchen door of the luncheon
room to learn of their reception. which
was tolerably favorable. II always
knew could do it if l wanted to, she
said. And then she might have been
observed bent over work in hidden
corners till she had finished little
purse of steel beads. Here" she
cried over the bannisters, the morning
Lance YVES going away. You take
this. There's d lucky penny in it. }"
He looked up and saw her bending
there. the strangest lady, so serious
and dark and witchlike, that ever sent
knight on its deUoir.
81 will take it, he said, elf you will
come down and give it to me-"
And step by step she came down, as
if he drew her forward and some un-
willing power held her back, and laid
the little brown leaf of a hand in his.
And then Lance drew her a little
nearer, and. bending from his lordly
height to kiss me goodbye, turned and
bent and gravely kissed her, too.
In another instant she had broken
away and had raced out into the orchard
and hidden herself in the long grass;
and when she came in, some hours after
ward, she announced that she was
never going to wash the spot upon her
face that Lance had kissed.
''The girl is a fool" said Aunt Juliet,
who had dropped in. l don't know
whether the fact that her foot caught
in croquet wicket and threw her
down on her way to the gate afterward
had any thing to do with the remark or
not.
Shortly after this Nina said: You
know 1 always said any body could do
any thing if they only wanted to. /
wanted to cook those things; and you
know what he said about them. WANT
ed to make him a purse and there
wasn't a knot in the silk. Now | want
to learn French and music and all that
white thing Flora Denny knows. And
you'll see." And she did.
Not all at once, of course, did we see
the desired proficiency, but she had a
natural aptitude for music and for art,
and presently strange quietude
seemed to have fallen on the house,
and now, instead of little brown imp,
there was slender, dark young girl,
whose angles were turned into curves,
on whose olive cheek ruddy
tint was poisoning, whose lips
wore a bow knot of scarlet.
and whose eyes-there never were
such eyes out of gypsy's head!
The swift capriciousness of movement
had become sort of flashing grace,
Indifference to dress had changed to q
wondrous taste for the picturesque.
and carelessness for the feelings of
others had vanished before her old in
tense tenderness for one and all of us.
''She has been going through the
chrysalis STAGE" said Ralph. "And
what gorgeous butterfly she is going
to be-"
''She is not going to be a gorgeous
butterfly at ALL" said /. ''All this has
resulted from some dream of Lance.
And Lance will marry her white enemy
then, of course. and she will sadden
into little brown moth of some sort"
Nonsense" said Ralph. Lance
only opened her eyes. Every girl,
every boy, has to have half dozen
chances before the real one comes
along. Don't you remember 'Romeo's
Rosalind?' Yes, Lance will marry
Flora, and much joy go with them.
But our Nina shall do better?"
Ralph was right. One day Flora
came in quietly with a letter in her
hand, and told us in her gentle-voiced
way of an engagement to Lance; and
if Nina had had dream the dream was
over. But | was not at all myself;
Nina did not sadden to any extent nor
for any length of time, and before we
could account for it ourselves she was
brighter and sweeter and even gayer
about the house than any household
fairy. ''You had better call me your
Brownie" she said, when | began to
perceive from how many little tasks
she saved me, how much she looked out
for Ralph's comfort, how absorbed she
was in Effie. how she beautifed the
house with her pencils and her flowers.
what a bit OF vital hearth fire she had
become.
But while the peacefulness wa de-
We Oping at home there was trouble
brooding abroad. Ralph's business was
in sad way, and creditors were cruel,
and disaster was impending. And one
day it came. The great operation on
which, outside of his legal business,
Ralph had been engaged so long fell
with a crash, and all our hopes of the
future and all our certainty of the pres
fs11 al. +1,s, ff>1 >,